Gary Bellamy and Graham Downes: men made for radio
Ben Mycroft is Producer/Director of Bellamy's People. Here, he discusses Gary Bellamy's recent interview with a housebound man called Graham Downes.
David Tomalin our Executive Producer had seen the rushes of our first few days of filming and was already sending in notes. Actually he was screaming down the phone at me - that's what executives do.
Obviously in my position you have to get used to receiving these 'notes' from the bigwigs, and it's important to know when to listen to them and when to ignore them. However on this occasion I was inclined to agree with David and it was clear that Gary was still struggling to find his feet as a presenter (to tell you the truth at this stage I couldn't trust him to find his arse).
Having only ever really worked with professional presenters before I have to admit I was very concerned about what could be done. Gary doesn't know this but for a while we were thinking of replacing him with Chris Packham, who I'd bumped into the lifts at Television Centre and found to be a thoroughly nice chap. In the end though we couldn't get schedules to fit with Springwatch and we stuck with Gary.
It was agreed that it might help Gary if he was to interview someone he actually knew and that might help his confidence a bit. Gary had been banging on about one of his regular callers from the radio show - a chap called Graham Downes - and he seemed the ideal person for us to go and interview to help Gary build up his confidence. Not having really listened to the radio series in any great detail I didn't know who Graham was, but our first-rate researcher, Holly, tracked him down (she really was a saint, so clever, and funny as well, not something you always find in a good-looking girl) and off we went.
Graham was a lovely if strange man. I can see why him and Gary got on so well really - they are both people who suit radio better, what with one of them walking like a duck and the other weighing about twenty five stone. We were made to feel very welcome by his mum - and the crew certainly appreciated her cups of tea and the endless supply of cakes and biscuits, but I personally found the house a bit claustrophobic.
My memories of the actual interview are, in truth, a bit disjointed. We had to film the interview at the weekend because Graham was 'busy' during the week. How this can be possible for someone who hasn't left his bed for 5 years I do not know but we ended up going to see him on a Saturday. I was a bit annoyed as it was a Grand Prix weekend and it meant I was going to miss qualifying, so I bought a little radio with me which I plugged my headphones into so I could listen to it whilst Gary rambled on with Graham about his radio show.
I'll be honest, I wasn't really listening when Gary did this bit talking about the Krays - Jenson Button was doing his qualifying lap, so I was pleasantly surprised when we got to the edit to see them chatting about it. Sometimes you need this kind of light-fingered touch when directing - sometimes you have to really guide your presenter and sometimes you just wind them up and let them go!
Ben Mycroft is the Director/Producer of Bellamy's People. Read more about the making of the show and watch exclusive clips on the Comedy Blog.
David Tomalin our Executive Producer had seen the rushes of our first few days of filming and was already sending in notes. Actually he was screaming down the phone at me - that's what executives do. Obviously in my position you have to get used to receiving these 'notes' from the bigwigs, and it's important to know when to listen to them and when to ignore them. However on this occasion I was inclined to agree with David and it was clear that Gary was still struggling to find his feet as a presenter (to tell you the truth at this stage I couldn't trust him to find his arse).
Having only ever really worked with professional presenters before I have to admit I was very concerned about what could be done. Gary doesn't know this but for a while we were thinking of replacing him with Chris Packham, who I'd bumped into the lifts at Television Centre and found to be a thoroughly nice chap. In the end though we couldn't get schedules to fit with Springwatch and we stuck with Gary.
It was agreed that it might help Gary if he was to interview someone he actually knew and that might help his confidence a bit. Gary had been banging on about one of his regular callers from the radio show - a chap called Graham Downes - and he seemed the ideal person for us to go and interview to help Gary build up his confidence. Not having really listened to the radio series in any great detail I didn't know who Graham was, but our first-rate researcher, Holly, tracked him down (she really was a saint, so clever, and funny as well, not something you always find in a good-looking girl) and off we went.
Graham was a lovely if strange man. I can see why him and Gary got on so well really - they are both people who suit radio better, what with one of them walking like a duck and the other weighing about twenty five stone. We were made to feel very welcome by his mum - and the crew certainly appreciated her cups of tea and the endless supply of cakes and biscuits, but I personally found the house a bit claustrophobic.
My memories of the actual interview are, in truth, a bit disjointed. We had to film the interview at the weekend because Graham was 'busy' during the week. How this can be possible for someone who hasn't left his bed for 5 years I do not know but we ended up going to see him on a Saturday. I was a bit annoyed as it was a Grand Prix weekend and it meant I was going to miss qualifying, so I bought a little radio with me which I plugged my headphones into so I could listen to it whilst Gary rambled on with Graham about his radio show.
I'll be honest, I wasn't really listening when Gary did this bit talking about the Krays - Jenson Button was doing his qualifying lap, so I was pleasantly surprised when we got to the edit to see them chatting about it. Sometimes you need this kind of light-fingered touch when directing - sometimes you have to really guide your presenter and sometimes you just wind them up and let them go!
Ben Mycroft is the Director/Producer of Bellamy's People. Read more about the making of the show and watch exclusive clips on the Comedy Blog.
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