Frequently Asked Questions

How can I get on Scrapheap Challenge?
To apply for the show, follow this link, which will take you to the relevant part of the website of RDF Media, the production company that makes Scrapheap Challenge. Here you will find an online form on which you can fill in your details and send on to RDF. They will use these forms to send out applications at a later date.

Is there going to be a children's or teenage version of Scrapheap Challenge?
We are considering a format that would involve older teenagers. We haven't, however, worked out a way of doing a series with kids. You are welcome to suggest ways that Scrapheap could be made with younger contestants – a format that would have to be be, first and foremost, safe while still exciting to watch. Use the forum to give us your views.

What happens to all the machines after filming is finished?
Many of the contraptions made on Scrapheap Challenge are returned from whence they came – that is, to the scrapheap to be recycled into other machines or shredded to bits. Occasionally someone takes enough of an interest to save them from this fate. For example, the steam cars were on show for a while at the Midland Model Engineering Exhibition at the Castle Donnington Exhibition Centre. The bridging machines are rotting away at their test location, Liscombe Park, simply because they are far too long to transport with ease and the owners of the park are happy to accommodate them.

If anyone has a particular use for any of the vehicles they see on the heap or any that the teams make, we are usually happy to let them go (although the viewer has to collect). However, everything from Series 3 has now been disposed of.

If there was enough interest, we could put on an exhibition of all the vehicles remaining and all those created in the future. If someone out there has any ideas how we could do this very cheaply, do get in touch: dom@rdfmedia.com

Where is the Scrapheap site? Can anyone go and look around?
The site for this series of Scrapheap Challenge (and the last one) was in Canning Town in East London, near the Millennium Dome. There is a good description of it in the 'Scrap Goes to the Movies' article in the Find Out More section of this website. The very first 'pilot' programme – when hovercrafts were built – took place in Bristol, and the first series was filmed in Brentford on the outskirts of west London.

With filming now finished, Scrapheap's scrapheap has all been demolished. Unfortunately, we have had to move out after the real scrapheap we were based at was taken over by a new – and Scrapheap Challenge unfriendly – firm. We're now looking for a new home.

In any case, visitors to the scrapheap have always been severely limited for safety reasons – it's a dangerous place!

Is there a Scrapheap Challenge book?
At the moment, all we have is the Best of Scrapheap Challenge (available – for £12.99 – in the shops now or by calling the Channel 4 Shop on 0870 1234 3 44), but other possibilities are definitely in the pipeline. Keep checking this website for news.