How to Run a City - Episode 1

Series in which Shari Vahl meets some of the past, present and future stars of English local authorities who are bidding to blow the cliches and stereotypes out of the water. Shari meets some of the trainees on the National Graduate Development Programme, set up to encourage bright graduates to do a job they might not previously have considered - working for council. She follows Saima Khan, an ambitious and idealistic trainee in Stafford, as she goes about setting up a scheme to help council workers volunteer. Shari also meets Natalie Howard, who swapped a glamorous career with a high street fashion retailer for a job in local government, and is trying to bring the dynamism of the business world into her new role. On the other hand, she also meets Dominic Campbell, who was running a team of more than 20 people by the age of 26 yet left to set up a consultancy business. So can the brightest graduates thrive in local government and help change the sector, or will they be lured away - particularly in the face of coming cuts?