Big Brother

I know there wasn't a post yesterday, but I have a perfectly good excuse. I had taken a trip to Elstree Studios and the set of Big Brother. I was interviewing Daniel Marlowe, the executive producer of Big Brother. He was a very nice chap, and kind enough to take some time to talk to us and show us around the control room & set of sister-show Big Brother's Little Brother.

Daniel also arranged for us to have a tour through the 'camera-runs' (the very dark corridors behind the two-way mirrors throughout the house). It was an incredibly surreal experience to be able to look in and see all these people within reach and not have them see you. One contestant was running back and forth in the garden, heading towards one of the mirrors. He looked at us dead in the eye, but was oblivious to our presence. Very, very weird.

I resisted the childish urge to burst through the one of the doors that lead directly into the house.

I've never been a huge fan of Big Brother. I've watched the occasional bits of the odd series, but have been turned off by the nature of the majority of the contestants (bitchiness doesn't sit well with me). However, you can't help but admire the huge operation that goes into such a show and it was a rare treat to see everything yesterday.

David Bower

Firstly, I apologise for not posting something yesterday. To be honest, I was at a film set all day - interviewing, reporting and the like - and by the time I got back, I just crashed. If I had managed to post something, it probably would have been even more nonsensical than normal.

David Bower

So yesterday I interviewed David Bower. David is a deaf actor whose most famous role is that of Hugh Grant's brother in Four Weddings and a Funeral. David was an incredibly charismatic, down-to-earth man and was kind enough to spend almost an hour being interviewed by us when we were told by the producers we'd only be allowed 10-15 minutes.

He then invited us to follow them around on location; a particular highlight being the sign-language fingerspelling race between David and my colleague. The crew were a great laugh and very kind to put up with us running around them with various recording equipment. 

Once the feature has been edited I'll post a link. The interview will be worth watching since David provided us with some fascinating insights into media and the deaf culture.

Also, my reporting blooper reel is bound to contain a few moments of hilarity.