Note: This page relates to the Build a Windmill episode of the Scrapheap Challenge programme, that aired in 2000. Much of the information that was linked to when this page was first written has since disappeared. This page has been adapted to link via the Internet Archive in an effort to preserve at least some of the usefulness of the rest of the information. However, the archiving is incomplete, for example the pages are missing many of their images. As of Nov 2025, some Scrapheap Challenge episodes are available for streaming at Channel 4, but not the particular one that involved building a windmill, nor does that episode feature in the ones to be found on YouTube. A reboot of the programme, using the name Zapheap presented by Robert Llewellyn and Colin Furze has produced some new episodes, which are expected to be available in 2026.
Scrapheap Challenge was a TV programme, where two teams competed over two days to build, and then use, a device to satisfy a challenge set by the programme makers. (In the USA, the programme appeared as Junkyard Wars).
The fourth programme in the third series, aired on UK television at 6pm, 8th October 2000 on Channel 4, gave the two teams the challenge of building a windmill.
Although the programme has already aired in the UK, if you haven't seen it yet I wont spoil it by giving away the result (though you can find it here if you really want to know).
What I will reveal is
| Last updated 23/01/2026 | Text and images © Mark Berry, 1997-2026 - |