Friday, September 26, 2008

...5, 4, 3, 2, 1

So that's the first two recordings done and dusted. But not edited. (I think they should dust them after the edit - there'll be less to dust that way and nobody enjoys dusting, do they?)

The guests were both fab - as I knew they would be. I've always said that the guests should come from different fields and make every show feel different and we definitely got that with Catherine Tate and Jonathan Pryce. There were a couple of times during show 2, that I caught myself in the middle of doing something ridiculous with Jonathan and had to pinch myself. "He's the finest Hamlet of his generation, a Bond villain, Madonna's hubby in Evita and Keira Knightly's Dad in Pirates of the Caribbean... and now he's here doing this with me!" What a ridiculous world.

The first show was plagued by a few technical problems which really slowed things down. It took a lot longer than it should and lost some of its sense of flow on the night so I'm very grateful to the audience for staying as energised as they did. It's always a learning curve and by the second show a lot of small kinks had been ironed out of the process so we were able to make everything happen much quicker and smoother.

But perhaps the best part for me was seeing the reactions of the, for want of a better word, contestants. They're naturally nervous before the show but afterwards, regardless of whether they were declared genius or not, they all seemed elated. When I chat to them afterwards the most frequent comment is always, "I'd like to do it again. Now." It's really quite exciting to be a part of.

For the next recordings we're going to jig a few things about and add in a few more rows of seating... that way we'll be able to get a load more people in too. Hurrah for things like that.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the radio show -- I can't wait to see how this turns out. Thanks so much for the care and effort you put into your work, it really shows.

Anonymous said...

cool,

The set looks like Face 109

BenBeckford said...

When are you hoping it will air Dave? Can't wait to see it!

Anonymous said...

A revolving stage with the poor individual being sent out like a one of those animated figure cuckoo clocks?

Shackle them down and give the audience rotten tomatoes in series 2 for that authentic reality TV experience.

Evil, me?

Anonymous said...

How come you're aloud to show a picture of the set, but I was denied by the staff for trying having my photo taken with Alun on-set (not even trying to get a photo OF the set?!)

One rule for us... ;-)

By the way, I thought the seating was extremely uncomfortable and my back now hates the BBC :)

Anonymous said...

The seating is uncomfortable but my back survived thanks to a lovely seat at the back :o)

Really enjoyed the show, Dave. Jonathan Pryce was great, really funny. Can't wait to watch it on tv. Any idea when it will be on?

Anonymous said...

Speak for yourself, I love dusting!

I also lead a very sad and lonely life.