Bellamy's People: The Genesis Of BPOTTUKOGBANI
Hello, I'm the Award Winning Gary Bellamy and this is my blog.
This is a very exciting time for me. In the New Year, my 'Epic' TV series Bellamy's People (Of The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give it its full title [this is some kind of contractual thing at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to do with their policy of 'inclusivity', whatever that means]) comes to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two and to celebrate, I have been asked by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online Bigwigs to tell you all about Bellamy's People (Of The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give it its full title). Warts and all! Yuk.
Over the next few weeks I'm going to be posting some of the fabulous unseen footage from my new series. And how privileged you are, because these clips will only be available here and have not (for one reason or another) made it into the finished program. So sit back and enjoy this exclusive preview of what promises to be a literally groundbreaking series. Ìý
Lots of people ask me how I got into documentary making/journalism in the first place. Well, it was through good old-fashioned radio. First on hospital radio, then on Toronto's best-loved radio station, then finally on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4. I do love radio. It is raw. It is live! (When it isn't recorded, which it can be, for example Steve Wright Live in the Afternoon is only half live and the posse aren't really there. Chris Tarrant also used to pre-record the first hour of his breakfast show the day before so he could have a lay in til half seven and a bit of brekkie). Radio can be fun and it is very well respected, especially anything on Radio 4, where the Sony Award Winning Down The Line was first aired.
For those who don't know me, GB, very well, click here for my biography.
The leap from radio to TV
We began discussing the transition to TV in late 2007. Ultimately, most people use radio as a springboard for television, although they don't admit it. I thought it would be an easy process, but it was much more difficult than I thought.
Let me give you an example. On radio it is just you, the microphone, the producer and the listener. You drive the desk (a term in radio for pushing the buttons) like a car. You are in control of that car and the listener is your passenger and the producer is a bit like your mum in the back seat giving you fairly obvious hints and tips, but not much more than that. Like a car journey, you don't have to dress up and you can drive at your own pace and sometimes you have to stop off for a wee (more about that next time).
Well TV is different. Hosting a TV show is like driving a coach or a ferry. On that coach, or ferry, it's you in the driving seat but in the back it's the crew, the director, the executives, marketing, costume, make up, cameras and the audience - and you are responsible for the lot of them. The producer is no longer a nagging mother in the back, but in the front seat like a driving instructor, telling you what to do and putting you through some kind of test and often disagreeing with you and causing power struggles.
Ìý
The audience are passengers who have paid for the seat but if they don't like you, the coach (or ferry) the route you are taking or the way you drive, (or sail, if in a ferry) they will get off and ride on another coach (or ferry) and it will be your fault.Ìý Also, if you crash (or sink, if it's a ferry) it's your responsibility (more about that next time). So it's a big leap, but I was ready and it surprised everyone how quickly I adapted. I had a make over, got some nice clothes and did all the shallow things that TV bigwigs and big bods think is more important than personality, intelligence and quirkiness (more about that next time).
Having said that, I think I look ten years younger - in fact, Michaela gets lots of stares when we are together now as if she's some kind of cradle snatcher! To be fair, she is older than me (let's say mid thirties) and has thinnish hair, so I am not surprised at times. I tell her she could do with a makeover herself, but she's an old-fashioned girl who thinks imperfections are beautiful and give you character (more on that next time).
Before we embarked on the series, I did lots of research and read Michael Parkinson's autobiography to see if it had any tips for a budding TV star, but it didn't. There was a lot of boring stuff about Barnsley at the beginning, a bitter chapter about the ´óÏó´«Ã½ moving Match of The Day and how ITV picked him up and dropped him down again. The Rod Hull/Emu bit was good and so was the Meg Ryan paragraph. However, PARKY: My Autobiography taught me one thing that I will remember til the day I die; no-one is bigger than football highlights, no-one. TV can pick you up and throw you away no matter whom you are, or what you have achieved or who you have interviewed, so be on your guard (more about that, next time).
Gary Bellamy is the presenter of Bellamy's People, coming to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two in January 2010.
This is a very exciting time for me. In the New Year, my 'Epic' TV series Bellamy's People (Of The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give it its full title [this is some kind of contractual thing at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to do with their policy of 'inclusivity', whatever that means]) comes to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two and to celebrate, I have been asked by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online Bigwigs to tell you all about Bellamy's People (Of The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give it its full title). Warts and all! Yuk.Over the next few weeks I'm going to be posting some of the fabulous unseen footage from my new series. And how privileged you are, because these clips will only be available here and have not (for one reason or another) made it into the finished program. So sit back and enjoy this exclusive preview of what promises to be a literally groundbreaking series. Ìý
Lots of people ask me how I got into documentary making/journalism in the first place. Well, it was through good old-fashioned radio. First on hospital radio, then on Toronto's best-loved radio station, then finally on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4. I do love radio. It is raw. It is live! (When it isn't recorded, which it can be, for example Steve Wright Live in the Afternoon is only half live and the posse aren't really there. Chris Tarrant also used to pre-record the first hour of his breakfast show the day before so he could have a lay in til half seven and a bit of brekkie). Radio can be fun and it is very well respected, especially anything on Radio 4, where the Sony Award Winning Down The Line was first aired.
For those who don't know me, GB, very well, click here for my biography.
The leap from radio to TV
We began discussing the transition to TV in late 2007. Ultimately, most people use radio as a springboard for television, although they don't admit it. I thought it would be an easy process, but it was much more difficult than I thought.
Let me give you an example. On radio it is just you, the microphone, the producer and the listener. You drive the desk (a term in radio for pushing the buttons) like a car. You are in control of that car and the listener is your passenger and the producer is a bit like your mum in the back seat giving you fairly obvious hints and tips, but not much more than that. Like a car journey, you don't have to dress up and you can drive at your own pace and sometimes you have to stop off for a wee (more about that next time).
Well TV is different. Hosting a TV show is like driving a coach or a ferry. On that coach, or ferry, it's you in the driving seat but in the back it's the crew, the director, the executives, marketing, costume, make up, cameras and the audience - and you are responsible for the lot of them. The producer is no longer a nagging mother in the back, but in the front seat like a driving instructor, telling you what to do and putting you through some kind of test and often disagreeing with you and causing power struggles.
Ìý
The audience are passengers who have paid for the seat but if they don't like you, the coach (or ferry) the route you are taking or the way you drive, (or sail, if in a ferry) they will get off and ride on another coach (or ferry) and it will be your fault.Ìý Also, if you crash (or sink, if it's a ferry) it's your responsibility (more about that next time). So it's a big leap, but I was ready and it surprised everyone how quickly I adapted. I had a make over, got some nice clothes and did all the shallow things that TV bigwigs and big bods think is more important than personality, intelligence and quirkiness (more about that next time).
Having said that, I think I look ten years younger - in fact, Michaela gets lots of stares when we are together now as if she's some kind of cradle snatcher! To be fair, she is older than me (let's say mid thirties) and has thinnish hair, so I am not surprised at times. I tell her she could do with a makeover herself, but she's an old-fashioned girl who thinks imperfections are beautiful and give you character (more on that next time).
Before we embarked on the series, I did lots of research and read Michael Parkinson's autobiography to see if it had any tips for a budding TV star, but it didn't. There was a lot of boring stuff about Barnsley at the beginning, a bitter chapter about the ´óÏó´«Ã½ moving Match of The Day and how ITV picked him up and dropped him down again. The Rod Hull/Emu bit was good and so was the Meg Ryan paragraph. However, PARKY: My Autobiography taught me one thing that I will remember til the day I die; no-one is bigger than football highlights, no-one. TV can pick you up and throw you away no matter whom you are, or what you have achieved or who you have interviewed, so be on your guard (more about that, next time).
Gary Bellamy is the presenter of Bellamy's People, coming to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two in January 2010.
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