Kynren Bishop Auckland on BBC The One Show with Sara Davies

Viewers who tuned in to BBC's The One Show on Friday (August 30) will have a spotted Kynren in Bishop Auckland, which was on our TV screens thanks to special guest Sara Davies.

Dragon’s Den star and entrepreneur Sara Davies MBE visited the multi-award-winning live-action outdoor theatre spectacular to film for The One Show and afterward watched the 90-minute performance from the 8,000-seater tribune with her family.

Sara Davies with Kynren's CEO Anna Warnecke (Image: KYNREN)

Sara said: “I’ve seen the show before (in fact my mam was a volunteer the very first year it opened nine years ago!) but it just seems to get better every year and it’s honestly just breathtaking.

"We get people from all over the country (actually from all over the world) that flock to our region to see it, but as someone who is from this area, the sense of local pride seeing all those volunteers is just off the chart.”

According to organisers, Kynren is "a breathtaking experience from start to finish, as well as a spellbinding show delivering thrills, shocks, tears, laughs, goosebumps and gasps on a truly cinematic scale."

It’s performed by a 1,000-strong volunteer cast and crew and brings to life ‘the story of us’ in a  journey through 2,000 years of English history.

Sara Davies at Kynren (Image: KYNREN)

Viewed from the tribune which provides panoramic views across the seven-and-a-half acre outdoor stage, the family-friendly experience begins with a boy called Arthur accidentally kicking a football through a window of a hunting lodge at Auckland Castle.

Audiences are taken on a voyage through history as seen through the eyes of Arthur, shining the spotlight on the Romans, Vikings, Norman Conquest, the bloody outcome of England’s Civil War, King Charles’ final journey to the executioner’s block, the Age of Steam, World War I Christmas truce, the Queen’s Coronation and more.

Kynren’s new exciting pre-show entertainment experience, Return of The Vikings, has also proved popular with audiences this year, as they explore the authentic Viking Village and see, smell and hear the Vikings as they prepare for a raid.

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Venturing through the recreation of a traditional 9th-century village, visitors can also track through the vegetable patch, meet the village animals, practice a charge and battle cries with real Vikings and visit the blacksmith’s forge to watch sparks fly.

The 90-minute performances start at sunset and end in starlight, taking place every Saturday evening until September 14. 

Tickets cost from £26 for adults and from £16 for under 18s. Children aged 3 and under are free when sat on an adult’s knee.