19/01/2016 The One Show

Hello and welcome to the One Show with Matt Baker.

Tonight we're meeting the descendants of two sets of 11

There they are, they are in the studio now. As rowdy as you would

expect. And we'll find out what happened

when we reignited the rivalry We'll do that in the company

of a writer and actress who is responsible for inventing

so many catchphrases and expressions, she's almost

created a new language. Knock me sideways on a seesaw! I

walked in the name of the money Street -- Manic Street Preachers, do

you know what we are creating? I feel very much at home now because

Bobby in Stella is played by Alan, who was my neighbour for a long

time. This wonderful phrase of, what in the name of. Tel us the story. It

started in series four when one of the other writers had one of the

lines, what in the name of, and I thought that is so funny, so we

expanded it. We were writing the Christmas special one day, I was in

a cafe and I saw Michael Ball. I thought that would be good, what in

the name of Michael Ball do you think you are doing. Then we had

Manic Street Preachers and we want a Welsh related music artist. What in

the name of Alex Jones! We will chat more about Stella in a little while.

First, multinational companies do a roaring trade in the UK but when it

was discovered how little corporation tax rate paid, it caused

a huge public outcry. They argue that what they pay is fair so is it

OK for hard-pressed small businesses to get in on the act?

Multinational companies avoiding UK tax is one subject guaranteed a

reaction. I just think it is not on, for goodness sake. If you earn the

money, you should pay tax on it. Big business can afford to keep their

tax bills as low as is legally possible. They can hire armies of

experts to look for loopholes and exploit them, often using

complicated offshore arrangements. That's not something that's

available to small firms, not until now. This new BBC Two documentary

follows one group of local traders as they explore using the same tax

loopholes exploited big business. And this is their town in the Brecon

Beacons in South Wales. It is fiercely independent, filled with

local stores, some run by several generations of the same family, and

all unique. But one thing they have in common, they all pay their taxes.

UK corporation tax is currently 20% of profits but some multinationals

managed to sidestep it completely by basing themselves offshore. This

cafe owner, Steve Lewis, is not impressed. My taxation every year is

in the 60,000 - 70,000 bracket, and there's zero, and they are turning

over eye watering sums. The scale of what is going on is not flat. I read

runs to micro-businesses, an ice cream parlour and the local

optometrist. She said being able to avoid taxes gives the bigger players

unfair advantage. They could pass their savings to consumers who

cannot afford stuff like that, so it does seem to be unfair. When the BBC

team suggested the traders see for themselves how the big boys do it,

they jumped at the chance. The documentary's presenter showed them

a tax plan would help them take their profits offshore via Holland

and there is a name for it. It is called the Dutch sandwich. It is a

tax loophole trick that a lot of companies use to get money out of

the EU. We have one of the top tax lawyers telling us the system works,

which is crazy because we did it on the back of an envelope. To make

their sandwich, the Crickhowell traders would have to set up a Dutch

company, moving their profit via the Dutch firm could avoid financial

penalties the UK taxman would impose. Michael James says fighting

the taxman to get these complex schemes approved is a costly

business. The question is what might stop it working? Where you have got

these innovative tax schemes, large multinational companies pursue these

disputes right to the bitter end. The traders in Crickhowell simply

don't have the resources to do that. So what does HMRC think of this? In

a statement, they say they enforce tax rules fairly, irrespective of

the size and structure of the business, and they say they will

look at the root legality of the Crickhowell tax scheme if it is put

to them. Will they really go offshore? It seems opinions are

divided. We cannot do it because if we do it, who will pay for our

roads, hospitals and schools? One of us has got to go offshore to prove

the principle, but the pound in it to demonstrate, then say to the

taxman I owe you ?1 and it is sitting offshore, come and get it.

If it means taking on George Osborne in court, that's what I will do. In

the meantime the traders hope the threat of local businesses going

offshore will be enough to get the tax loopholes closed once and for

all. You can see how far those traders

were prepared to take their campaign in The Town That Took On The Taxman,

on tomorrow night on BBC Two. Nick is here, we will have a chat in a

while. But first Ruth, you know that area, don't you? Yes, we filmed

there in series one of Stella, it is a beautiful part of the world. And

nice to see such a busy high street. Nick, the Government says they will

clamp down on big companies avoiding corporation tax, but what have they

done about it so far? They already introduced last April diverted

profits tax, a tax of 20% on companies who enter into contrived

arrangements to divert profits. It is so new, they don't know how much

money it has raised but those figures will be out later in the

year. They are predicting it will raise ?355 million per year by 2018.

It sounds like a big figure, but the multinational companies it is a drop

in the ocean. This is a political sticking plaster, it is the

Chancellor wanting to be seen to do something. It is interesting, this

corporation tax, because if you want to boost employment you have got to

get the company is here that will give out the jobs. The Chancellor

wants to be seen to be pro-business, he doesn't want to be seen to be

beating multinational companies with a big stick. He has reduced

corporation tax from 28% to 20%, which makes the UK the lowest in the

GE 20. He will push it down to 18% by 2020 so he is seen to be

pro-business, but there are small businesses in the UK who say that

they want a level playing field. If they are earning billions of pounds,

it is a drop in the ocean to pay more tax, why can't they do that? Is

that they are bringing investment into the country, generating jobs.

How much do they need? Seriously. They say they are helping the

country out. Our football teams are still here, aren't they?

Earlier we introduced the Charlesworths and

the Coverdales, two families whose rivalry goes back over a century.

Here's Joe to explain how it all started and to kick it off

At a football stadium in Hull, players are gathering for a match

like no other. They are descended from two unusual football teams that

once did battle on this spot more than 100 years ago, and today there

is a score to settle. In 1914, the Charlesworth brothers placed an

advert in the paper challenging any other family to take them on at

football. Historian Rick Glanville uncovered their tail. It was a

family called the Coverdales who took up the challenge just a few

miles away. The Coverdales won 3-0. We thought a rematch was well

overdue so we tracked down descendants of both families. Let's

hear it for the Charlesworth team! And fresh from their last victory

just over 100 years ago, let's hear it for the Coverdales! It seems

football is still in the blood. Wonderful for Big Billy there! It is

wonderful seeing these families come together again, but if we hark back

to the original game over 100 years ago, those innocent days would not

last long, would they? No, tragically soon after World War I

broke out. They all volunteered, and six of those 22 men died. What must

it have done for Mrs Charlesworth and Coverdale to go off to a

conflict in which people have very little understanding of what it

would entail? This is my grandfather, Frank Charlesworth, he

was one of 11 brothers that played the famous football match. This is

the troops lined up on Scunthorpe platform, I believe, and there is my

grandfather standing on the edge of the platform before they were

embarked. What a remarkable photograph. What happened to him? He

was gassed in the war which gave him breathing problems later in life but

he survived. What do you think your grandfather would have made of this

game happening today? I know he would have been proud of it. I can

still see his face quite easily. It just makes me think how fantastic it

is to do it 100 years on. There it is, and somewhere in that celestial

grandstand there will be two sets of 11 brothers looking down, and saying

that 100 year wait was worth it. It was a day of joy for both families.

Amazing! He would probably have won if he came out of retirement. Seeing

you all today, it is history for both sides. I present to you, the

Brothers Cup. One of the things I love about the

One Show is standing with families as they watch themselves on

television. As you can see, we are here with both families. We have

brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandparents, all sorts. We saw Ian

talking about his grandfather, but your grandfather also played in the

original team, didn't he? Yes, Eric is the second left on the back row

and he told me about it from a young age. Is it a story that has been

passed down through the generations? It was certainly passed to me and we

have a photo in the house so my children know about it. So this

happened in East Yorkshire but you have come from all over the shop.

You didn't even know half your family before this. Met most today,

yes! Did you want trials, how did you work out who was good enough to

make the team? Very democratic, we just did a bit of rotation. That's

why we lost. You are not better then. We want a rematch! Is it going

to happen every year? It would be a wonderful thing if it does. Shall we

finish on that classic goal? Here is Big Billy.

Wonderful stuff. Thank you for making the effort. Lovely to see

you. Of course, Ruth used to be known as Nessa. It says a lot that

when people see her on the street they now call her Stella instead. I

will be setting up a proper maintenance agreement so we know

where we stand. Babies don't need a designer gear and I can afford to

pay for it. Whatever. You will get what is fair but I'm not a pushover.

Has not always been the case. Come on, girls. Say thank you. Thank you.

To bring everybody up to speed, Stella is a trainee nurse who lives

in a fictional Welsh town of Pontyberry. That is from the

brand-new episode where Beyonce has started to demand money. Well done.

In that clip, my friend Justin, her daughters were a couple of Beyonce's

friends and it makes me really proud when I see them in the background.

They are such lovely girls. I digress. It is a bit of a

roller-coaster and obviously, that ended on a big cliffhanger, you

don't know which way Stella is going to go. The normal thing would be to

say, Michael, you are out of here. But she is a natural mum type and

cannot resist. She is really a maternal. Yes, and quite realistic

and tolerant. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. She takes

Beyonce under her wing and looks after her. That unfolds as the

series progresses. The way that it has been put together and written is

classic you but where does this love of the classic sitcom come from with

you? I don't make any excuses, it is not plot driven. Gavin and Stacey

was not plot driven. The characters, I love the way people talk. The

footballer story is an amazing real-life story and I think people

are brilliant, I'm always hearing people saying things are doing

things and you just go, people are brilliant. There is so much rubbish

in the world that sometimes you just want to hear heart-warming stories.

Have you always been that observant? I think so. I probably liked to

mimic accents and that is part of the entertainer. People are going to

have a shock when I say this but Ruth Jones is actually quite shy.

With Stella and Nessa, they are quite big characters, do you write

them to be someone quite different? I think so. Certainly, Nessa was

quite upfront. You could be as rude as you like and, I hosted a charity

event and I was able to tell people to shut up. It was great to be able

to do that. Because Stella is a different type of show, comedy

drama, she is more real and a bit nearer to what I'm like In Real

Life. But yes, Stella wears a wig, I love that because I can hide under

it. We've heard you might be taking a break. What will you be focusing

on next? You always seem to be ahead of the game. My husband and I have

got a production company, we write together, we have two projects on

the goal, studio sitcom and comedy drama. We felt if we did not focus

properly on them we did not think we could do them justice and could not

do them at the same time. So we decided to take a break from it and

it is certainly not the end of Stella, we hope to do a Christmas

special later in the year. You've got to be realistic, there's no

point in just giving a bit of yourself to something. You've got to

throw yourself in and be committed to it. It keeps it fresh. But it is

back on. You're watching it with a risotto. Yes, if you have not seen

it you can catch up. DVDs are also available. We have heard that Ruth

is a master when creating characters. Michael Douglas has been

to make a few more who would probably fit in. This is ComicCon in

central London. Fans come to dress up as their favourite superhero. I

am here to sort out their hair. You could call me Lord of the ringlets.

Does anybody need they here doing? -- needs their hair doing. Just a

short back and sides. I realise this is not yours. Is! I thought it was

attached to the hat. It is my hair! Finally, some here that I can work

with. Meet Crystal maiden. This is Jenny. I'm going to give her a

haircut to match her costume. Did you make this yourself? Yes. What

brings you here? Friends. We are all into the same thing, we thought it

would be a nice weekend away. Dressing up requires a certain sort

of person. What do you do for a living? I'm a graphic designer. I've

always been creative. What have you enjoyed about today? I had some

photos taken. People are coming up and wanting pictures. Thank you,

that is amazing. Did you ever think you would get your hair done by a

hobbit? I really did not! It has been a first for us both. Last year,

100,000 fans flocked here to spend ?10 million on merchandise,

including swords made of foam. This is the big one at the moment. What

is this one? These are full contact. It is a lot of fun. Here is someone

famous for their phone face. Robert Llewellyn was in red dwarf. Relaxed,

gentlemen, you are quite safe. He's been coming to these events for

light years. There was a period of time where some of the costumes were

clearly home-made. Before it opened they had sold 50,000 tickets. There

you go, you look younger and more attractive. That is very sleek. Not

everybody is in costume. Jackie has been dragged along by husband and

daughter. I might come in costume next time. Who would you come as?

Something glamorous, steam punk, an elf. Take a look! Very nice. She's

shocked and surprised by that. I am Deadpool. What I learned is

sometimes people feel more themselves when they are being

someone or something else. But it is back to reality. I wish I had

brought a change of clothes. Today we found out why the opinion polls

for last year's general election were inaccurate, they were not

asking the right people. The last thing we want is for the TV awards

to fall into the same trap. Your vote would mean a lot for us.

For large parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland, 2015 had a sting in

the tail, and the name was Frank. The power of the water pushed the

vans this way, leaving utter devastation.

These two look as if they do nothing all day. Actually, they don't.

Dimbleby has suddenly perked up. In her case, one half of the spine

grows faster than the other half. This is lengthened by an external

magnet. It can be done in one minute. It is make or break time.

Captain Winterbourne is the Army's highest-ranking transgender officer.

It was as simple as that. At the back of the church was

Frieda, she knew very little about the person who had received her

son's heart. The staff had never known a donor family and recipient

to meet like this. This is tough. These riders are

doing this because they've faced the biggest challenges you could ever

imagine in their lives. I've never heard of black fox, it is a really

good sighting. It is beautiful. I feel content, I will not let the

spirit go. Another morning in North Yorkshire and yet more charity

letters arrive. Viewers can use that exact letter. Everybody should print

that out. World first, that is a fantastic sculpture. It is an early

Christmas present. It is the most wonderful time of the year. All

finished, nearly. I've missed the football.

We've been busy. If we win, we get that little dog back. You need to do

is go to the website, it is great fun, only takes a few minutes, you

can choose from your favourite shows and you can vote for us there. The

vote closes at noon. Don't forget, Stella is on tonight, 9pm on sky

one. We will be back tomorrow. # The low rider

is a little higher... #