Collectaholics

Episode 3 (1x3)

: 02, 2014

Mark and Mel meet James, whose lifelong obsession with Star Wars means that his children have to climb over heaps of his 35,000-piece memorabilia collection just to get into their beds. With no room for display, piles of brown boxes have consumed the family home. With wife Sarah at her wits end, Mark and Mel decide to take drastic action. James is confronted by just how out of control his collection is when all 35,000 pieces are removed from his house and laid out in a 2,400 square foot storage facility. James and Sarah meet a collector and his wife who've managed to balance his 22,000-piece die-cast van collection and keep control of the family home. But is there really a solution that gives Sarah and the kids their home back and still leaves James with a collection he can enjoy? Also in this episode, modern print collector Graham has a 350-piece collection. He has had to buy the house next door to find more walls to hang it all on. Mel and Mark take him to visit the Soane Museum to see how Sir John Soane creatred a very clever system to maximise hanging space. Will Graham find the solution to his display crisis - and will a valuation of his entire collection show that he has been purchasing wisely? Finally, 69-year-old grandmother Shirley has filled five rooms of her house with hundreds of antique dolls and more than 70 prams. Shirley is worried about the future of her collection and what will happen to it after she is gone. Her grandchildren have no idea what to do with it beyond putting to auction - Shirley's worst nightmare. To help them make an informed decision the entire collection is valued, but does Shirley realise just how much her life's passion is actually worth?