Perfume
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Synopsis
What do we know about the realities of this seductive industry?
Perfume is everywhere and nowhere, an invisible influence that tweaks our emotions and triggers our memories. It has intimate access to our subconscious, and our pockets. This new three part series about the global Perfume Industry explores the astonishing creativity behind a commodity that uses single molecules to whisper to our most primitive sense. From inside the multi-billion dollar business that is the economic engine of the fashion industry, the series will follow the stories of perfumers, scientists, marketing gurus and celebrities who lend their names to a few ounces of fluid in the hope of striking it rich. Spending a year with the chemical corporations that rule the mass market and the ancient houses that produce the famous classics, the films will reveal the questions obsessing the industry: How much is too much? Over the course of the series, we spend a year with two very different perfume houses as they attempt to win over the next generation of consumer. In Paris, the ancient house of Guerlain looks outside the family for the first time for its next perfumer-in-chief. Meanwhile at Estee Lauder in New York, executives are devising a mass-market fragrance for designer Tommy Hilfiger. But will buyers get this liquid rendition of rock and roll? Perfumers are molecular chemists and sensual creatives who seek to trigger pleasurable memories and associations through our most primitive sense. We follow three different types of perfumer - or nose - to find out how they do it and what it takes to become one. Could the plethora of smell-alikes topple scent from its luxury pedestal - and what to do when the average consumer is no longer a well-heeled North American woman - but a cash-rich worker in rural China. From the flower fields of the South of France to the marketing offices of Manhattan, the series will deliver high concept and high camp - everything but the smell itself.
Duration
3 x 60'
Definition
SD
Genre
Factual
Subgenre
Lifestyle
Producer
The Garden
Awards
Nominated - Most Entertaining Documentary - Grierson Awards 2012
Ratings
Perfume premiered in the UK on BBC Four at 9pm on 28th June 2011.

The first episode achieved a viewer rating of 366,000 and a 1.6% market share, exceeding the slot average for the channel. The episode also saw a substantial increase in viewing figures from the lead-in series which achieved figures of 232,800 viewers and a 1.1% market share.