Real Deal

This observational documentary series puts the spotlight on auctions of the rare and rarefied, as it goes beyond the intensity of a bidding war to uncover the real deal. The 5-part series uses the auction as a springboard to focus on one valuable commodity in each episode. This one-hour programme is not just about the drama that unfolds at the auction block, but the whole journey that ultimately starts from how these objects of desire are found, cultivated or groomed, to how and where they are sold.   As much as the story is built on how and why big money change hands over these commodities, the programme also reveals the history and phenomenon behind these auctions and focuses on the people whose labour of love created these products. The series features the sale of the world’s most expensive grapes and bluefin tuna in Japan, thoroughbred yearlings at the Tattersalls auction in England’s Newmarket, Hanwoo which is Korean beef in South Korea and white truffles in Alba, Italy.