What's Your Thing? New BBC show showcases curious traditions including competitive onion growing and the Egton Gooseberry Show

Adam Clarkson, who is originally from Whitby, comes back home to his roots for the first episode, which sees him visit Stainsacre's competitive onion growing club, following Adam's dad, Richard, as he attempted to climb the leaderboards at the Windmill Inn.

The series launched on BBC iPlayer and is “an exploration of people's hobbies”. As well as the onion growing competitions, Adam also looks at the famous Egton Gooseberry Show, as well as discovering more hobbies outside of Yorkshire including people who wave at passing trucks and dressing up and fighting Orcs.

The trucks episode follows the heartwarming story of Barry - a man known on Teesside for standing on a bridge all day and waving at trucks.

The first two episodes were a success and on Monday (Oct 16) the next three episodes will be available on iPlayer, including one on Egton's historic gooseberry growing festival. The show has also been picked up by BBC Four and will be broadcast at a later date.

Adam said: “I love making this show because I love meeting eccentric and colorful people, and exploring what they do in their free time is a fascinating way to get an insight into their lives.

“It was a shock when the BBC actually agreed to commission a show about growing onions, but I was pleased they did. The reaction has been amazing and being picked up for national TV is a really nice bonus.

“The news can be so grim and so relentless, so it's nice as a journalist to have the opportunity to report on things that warm hearts and put smiles on faces. I've spent the summer dressing up with wizards and Orcs, meeting world-record breaking vegetable growers and attending dog shows.

"To think this is a job is still baffling, but I love it, and I hope people enjoy the new episodes.”