The BBC is to run a three-part series on the evolution of shopping in the UK featuring Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer and fronted by Robert Peston.

The show, Robert Peston Goes Shopping, begins on BBC Two tonight at 9pm.

BBC journalist Peston will look at changing consumer habits since the Second World War from the Britain’s love affair with shopping to the impact of the financial crisis.

The BBC said: “In the years of austerity and rationing after the Second World War, shopping was drab. There were long queues, yet there was little to buy.

“But in the economic boom of the 1950s, consumerism took off. Marks & Spencer led the way with a mix of quality, value and customer service. From America came self-service supermarkets, which changed the way we shop. Then came out-of-town superstores – one-stop shops which fed the need for convenience as car ownership and the numbers of working women rose in the 1960s.”

Interviewees in the series include former Sainsbury’s founder Lord Sainsbury, Dixons founder Lord Kalms and former Next boss and George at Asda founder George Davies.

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