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Wales has one of the highest rates of workers on nights anywhere in the UK and we will meet factory workers, bat surveyors and hotel staff working over the witching hour. These are the unsung heroes of the graveyard shift, at work in the dark so that the day runs like clockwork.

At a bread factory near Blackwood, the night shift team have a job on their hands; they’ll need to bake 70,000 loaves of bread by dawn plus there’s an extra order of multigrain on tonight, bound for France. Starting in the weighing room, Maxine has to weigh out all the ingredients to the nearest gram otherwise enough bread to feed the Red Army won’t taste quite right. Maxine was hoping to retire in a year’s time, when she was 60, but the pension age got moved and she’ll now be at the factory for another 6 years until she can retire and draw her pension. This makes her feel ‘gutted’ as she had so many plans and dreams. Steve the factory supervisor wants the whole team to be cheerful as ‘a happy workforce is a productive workforce’ and he is keen to raise everybody’s spirits by singing to them. But there are gremlins in the conveyor belts tonight – stretching a mile and a half around the factory – and they break down twice, threatening back-logged bread. Everybody has to muck in to make sure that thousands of loaves are shipped out of the door bound for the nation’s breakfast tables.

In Crickhowell, Dan and Leigh are picking up poo. They’re environmentalists and bat surveyors, on the look-out for their favourite furry mammals. Different species of bats poo in different ways, so the poo provides clues. If you have bats in your belfry, you’re bound by the law to protect them and the surveyors are at work at 15th century Tretower Court and Castle to provide information and advice to the building’s owners about their nocturnal residents. Failure to protect bats can lead to prosecution, hefty fines or even prison, so Dan and Leigh’s advice will be invaluable if the bats are to be protected. When the night falls, the bats come out to fly and feed, but counting bats in the dark is an acquired skill and the infra red cameras and sonic sound equipment come into good use.

At a swanky hotel in Cardiff, David and Bethan are on the nightshift and on the frontline looking after 250 party guests and 130 overnight residents. The Exchange Hotel in the city’s bay area has had a £42 million pound refit so the customers expect top service with a smile. This often extends above and beyond the call of duty, and David and Bethan get involved in finding a customer’s missing mobile phone while they’re trying to make sure all the party goers exit the building quickly and quietly. When everybody’s safely tucked up in bed, David and Bethan turn up the music which keeps them motivated while they’re cleaning and preparing the hotel for the breakfast shift.

And once every night shift is over, there’s always the next one to look forward to - but sleep is calling... good night!