Trollied

Trollied is a British television sitcom about employees in a fictional supermarket named "Valco", which debuted on Sky One on 4 August 2011 and ended on 23 December 2018. The series was filmed in a purpose-built replica supermarket in the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol throughout April and May 2011 for the first series with the second series being filmed in June and July 2012.
At the conclusion of series 1, Sky 1 confirmed that the series had been recommissioned for two additional series of 13 episodes each, and a Christmas Special in 2012. The third series began airing from 22 August 2013 and ended on 7 November 2013. A second Christmas Special for 2013 aired on 24 December 2013. On 20 March 2014 it was announced that Sky had commissioned a fourth series of Trollied which aired in October 2014. The fourth series started filming in Bristol in June 2014 and began transmission on 3 November 2014 and concluded on 22 December 2014. A fifth series began airing on 2 November 2015 and ended on 14 December 2015. A Christmas Special aired on 23 December 2015. In April 2016, Jason Watkins confirmed that a sixth series had been commissioned, with filming to begin in June. A sixth series began airing on 7 November 2016, ending with a Christmas Special on 19 December 2016. A seventh series began filming on 11 July 2017, with a Christmas Special set to precede it. On 28 November 2017, it was announced that the Christmas Special would air on 24 December 2017. A seventh series began airing on 2 January 2018. On 23 August 2018, it was announced that Trollied would end with a final Christmas special, which broadcast on 23 December 2018.
The show takes place in the fictional supermarket of Valco in Warrington, Cheshire, where the hapless staff deal with the everyday problems of running a value supermarket in the north west of England. The show explores the relationships between the staff, customers and managers as romances and rivalries blossom on the shop floor, along with a realistic supermarket atmosphere that customers and store employees in reality can relate to. This includes customer stereotypes and rivalries with other store branches such as Valco in Wigan.
Originally the show was going to be set in Bradford, West Yorkshire where the creator Anne Marie O'Connor is from.
Guest appearances on the series include, Louise Redknapp (2011), Ian Botham (2012), Kelly Brook (2013), Geri Halliwell (2013), Carol Vorderman (2014), Kay Burley (2014), Andrew Flintoff (2014), and Richard Wilson (2015).
The series was filmed on a set built by Sky TV at the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol, UK. Between series 3 & 4, the BBC2 motoring entertainment show Top Gear destroyed some of the set by driving through it with three 1980's era hatchbacks. The segment aired on Top Gear Series 21, Episode 1.
Trollied episode 'The Wedding', was partly filmed at the cruise terminal at the Port of Dover, which was used as the location for the Dublin and Holyhead Ferry Ports in scenes which sees Gavin (Jason Watkins) and the others panicking they are going to miss his & Cheryl’s (Sarah Parish) wedding.
Trollied was broadcast in Australia on Network Ten, first airing Thursday nights from 27 September 2012 at 11.15 pm. However, Network Ten stopped broadcasting the series, and instead, all seven series became available to view on the Australian streaming service Stan. Series 6 became available to the service as of 6 January 2017, while Series 7 started in April 2018.
In the United States, the show airs on selected PBS affiliates. Although not a direct adaptation of Trollied, NBC previewed their new comedy series Superstore on 30 November 2015. Many have seen Superstore as the American equivalent of Trollied.
Following the debut of Trollied, Ian Richardson, manager of the Morrisons supermarket in Thornbury, Bradford, wrote an article in The Guardian newspaper, saying the show was the topic of the discussion in the staff canteen and that he felt the attention to detail on the set was excellent, making a realistic setting. In Mr Richardson's article he commented that the show portrayed many similarities with his supermarket, but he could not relate to the use of bad language on the shop floor or poor customer service levels. He felt that it was a shame there was not more customer interaction.
Reviews for the series were mixed. In a review for The Guardian, Zoe Williams commented that the series is "A puerile, lazy comedy". On reviewing the first episode, Alice-Azania Jarvis of The Independent said that "In all, it wasn't bad. There was no reason to switch over. No reason to tune out. It was lightly amusing, which is enough for what it was. But it's not going to be something to go out of your way for. It's not appointment TV." Keith Watson of the Metro stated that "Trollied is worth watching but it's the minor characters that make you laugh".
The home media distribution rights of Trollied were initially held by Fremantle Home Entertainment, in which they released series one, two and three in individual sets and a collected box set, followed by series four, between 2011 and 2015. After which, rights to the series were acquired by Network, where they released series five, six, a box set comprising the first six series, and finally, series seven, between 2016 and 2018. Following the broadcast of the stand-alone finale episode in December 2018, it remained unreleased on home media until 2023, when Network released it as part of a complete series box set. Following Network's liquidation in 2023, the complete series was made available in 2024 via Old Gold Media/Spirit Entertainment.