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Essex, My Essex is a Radio 4 documentary written and presented by our own Ian Sansom!
He's Essex born and bred but a lot has happened since he left 30 years ago. Writer Ian Sansom goes back to the county which made him who he is.
Ian’s grandparents moved there from the East End of London to fulfil their dreams. For them, Essex was a promised land of milk and honey, of golden harvests and Harvester restaurants.
Ian hasn't really been back since he left, and in that time just about everything has happened to Essex. When Ian left there was no Essex man, no jokes about Essex girls, no Birds Of A Feather, no Gavin And Stacy or The Only Way Is Essex.
Now with the frontier, overspill county occupying a new place in the public imagination, Ian retraces his steps back to the place where he was born and which made him who he is.
Talking to people who've stayed there, meeting family and friends, going back to landmarks that meant something to him in his younger days, Ian finds out what's changed in Essex since he left, as he takes in the smell of home, low-rise housing and out-of-town retail parks.
This is it. This is his Essex.
Presenter/ Ian Sansom, Producer/ Conor Garrett the BBC