THE HIVE will provide the backdrop to a BBC documentary about the origins of Worcestershire Sauce.

Inside the Factory, which airs on BBC2 tonight at 8pm, explores how different foods are made in factories.

Presenter Greg Wallace and historian Ruth Goodman visited the city library in April to look at documents, newspapers and trade directories which mentioned the famous sauce, some of which date back to the beginning of the 19th century.

Paul Hudson, learning outreach manager at Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service, said: "It was really interesting to speak to them, especially as the sauce is so significant to the city and county.

"Obviously Greg knows a lot about food and Ruth has a lot of knowledge about a lot of things so it was interesting to see her take on it.

"It was also really interesting to see how these things are filmed."

The sauce is said to come from a request made by a nobleman who returned from a holiday in Bengal.

He asked two chemists, John Lea and William Perrins, to recreate a recipe he had acquired abroad.

Unimpressed by the results, the pair left the jar in their cellar.

A few years later, they stumbled upon the concoction and found that it had aged into the sauce we have today.