Food Truck Hire for TV: BBC's The Dumping Ground
- Client
- BBC
- Production
- The Dumping Ground
- Location
- North Shields
- Date
- July 2026
- Type
- TV filming
When the BBC needed a hot dog van for a scene in The Dumping Ground, the children's drama that grew out of the Tracy Beaker stories, they didn't want a blank canvas. They wanted a bright, colourful, classic-looking hot dog van that would read instantly on screen. Mr Hot Dog fitted the bill exactly as it is.
The brief
The production's locations agent booked us directly for a scene set in a shopping centre, where several characters stop to order a hot dog. The van needed to look the part, be ready early, and fit into a busy public space without holding up the crew.
Unlike most of our brand activations, there was no custom branding involved. The Mr Hot Dog look was exactly what the scene called for.
What we did
We arrived on location at Newcastle Quays, North Shields, at 7.30am to get set up before filming began. The shopping centre stayed open to the public, so although the set was coned off, we had to manoeuvre the van into a tight spot with real shoppers close by. This is where a compact food truck earns its keep: ours is small, easy to handle and gets into spaces a larger trailer can't.
David didn't just supply the truck. He was cast as the hot dog vendor, in a red and white uniform with a hat and bow tie, and cooked hot dogs live for the cast to eat on camera.
On set
Filming ran for the full day. The crew shot the same scene over and over from different camera angles, and David appeared in every take. Watching a TV production build a scene shot by shot was a fascinating insight into how much work goes into a few moments of screen time.
At the end of the day, we fired up the griddle for the whole crew, and the hot dogs went down a storm.
Need a food truck for filming?
Whether you need a fully branded truck for a product launch or a ready-made food van that looks right on camera, we can deliver it anywhere in the UK, and we're always on site with it on the day.