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Introducing Bellamy's People - coming to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two in January 2010

Reuniting The Fast Show's Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse for their first TV collaboration in ten years, Bellamy's People will mark the transition of award-winning DJ Gary Bellamy (above) from radio to television.

You'll of course recognise Gary's voice from hit Radio 4 talkshow Down the Line, but if you need a bit of a reminder, here's a short documentary that was shot by Michael Cumming during the making of the first series:


Bellamy's People will see Gary travel the length and breadth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, meeting the people of Britain and trying to find out what makes them tick.

But before he sets off in his Triumph Stag 'personality vehicle': what makes Gary tick?

Gary Bellamy: A biography

For as long as he can remember, Gary Bellamy has been obsessed with talking, first on the radio and now on TV. It was listening to the radio, however, that really started him on the career path that has led him to the groundbreaking TV series Bellamy's People (of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

"I used to pretend to host radio shows in my bedroom when I was meant to be doing my homework," he says. "And I used to record whole programmes on my tinny little cassette recorder."

When other kids were watching television, Gary would be listening to the radio.

"Radio is an amazing format," says Gary. "You can listen to the radio anywhere; while you're cooking, while you're doing the gardening, in bed, in the bath, in your car. As a kid I would tune in my old set to whatever radio stations I could find, the more obscure the better! I'd be listening to radio, literally, from all around the word. Sometimes I'd hear these foreign voices and not have a clue what they were talking about, but it made me think about other people, other cultures, and realize that there was all this amazing stuff going on in the world around us. Radio is a truly democratic medium; anyone, anywhere, can listen to it. And I love talk radio most of all. I grew up listening to the likes of Robbie Vincent, Mike Allen and of course, the great Brian Hayes on LBC. These people were my heroes, not footballers or pop stars. A good phone-in show is like a huge discussion in which anyone in the country can take part. That's what radio should be about - building a community."

Gary Bellamy began his radio career at Basildon Hospital at the tender age of 16, helping out on the hospital radio station - On The Mend - and occasionally filling in for the regular DJ. He went on to do a BA in Media and Communication Studies at Brighton University, where he wrote his dissertation on the history of talk radio.

In Brighton he was very involved in the college radio scene and from there he went straight to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ where he served what he has called his 'apprenticeship', as a researcher on the Today programme.

"You can say what you like about the ´óÏó´«Ã½, but the standards are the best in the world. I learnt more in one week at Radio 4 than I did in three years at University."

It was a lucky break in 1995 that really kick-started Gary's career, however. He decided to take a year out and see a bit more of the world.

"So many young kids today go straight from college into broadcasting and they have nothing to bring to the table, no experience of the real world. People in England can be very insular. I guess it comes from living on an island."

His first port of call was Toronto and little did he know that his world tour would start and finish there. He had gone to stay with a friend from his Brighton days who was hosting a show on a small local independent rock station - ZZZFM. Gary stepped in to cover for him one night, taking calls from local rock fans.

"By the end of the show I realized that I hadn't played a single record and I thought I was going to get a rocket from the station manager."

But he was such a hit that instead he was offered his own slot. Thinking he might stay for a few weeks, Gary ended up at ZZZFM for two years, before graduating to Radio 1. No - not ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 1, but CBC Radio 1 in Canada. His show - The Gary Bellamy Show - won three prestigious Molson awards for talk radio and the Travis Bickle broadcasting silver medal of 1998, transforming him into something of a local celebrity.

Much as he loved Canada, however, his heart was always in England and he wanted to return and prove himself here.

"Canada's a huge country with a small population," says Gary. "Whereas Britain is a tiny country with a huge population (a country like France, I suppose, would be somewhere in between). Everyone wants to be a hero in their own home town. I am no exception."

He soon found, however, that whilst he may have been big in Canada he was completely unknown here. He had to start at the ground floor and climb his way back up again. He went to work for a number of stations in a backroom capacity building up contacts and trying to get his name talked about. (His stints included a short time at Virgin Megastore FM, Heart FM, Melody Radio, and he was at XFM while Ricky Gervais was there.)

But it proved to be a frustrating time for Gary and he was on the verge of quitting radio when he got a call from Radio 4. Matt Weston had been a fellow researcher on Today and was now a radio producer, he remembered Gary as a lively and energetic character who always had something to say. Matt was putting together the first ever phone-in show for the channel and was looking for somebody very experienced who was also a fresh new voice for British radio. Gary seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

Matt said at the time of Gary's appointment "Gary's time in Canada has given him a broader worldview, and we feel that he can look at England and the English almost as an outsider. We think you'll agree that Gary's is a unique and uniquely exciting voice, and that he's a welcome addition to the Radio 4 team. "

Gary himself said, "After a two year break from hosting my own show, I'm literally raring to go!"

Gary's Radio 4 show Down The Line, despite ruffling some feathers, was an instant hit with the listeners and garnered more awards for Gary. And when the ´óÏó´«Ã½ was looking for someone to present a television series about the British people Gary was the first person they approached after Adrian Chiles pulled out. Gary's qualities of enthusiasm, fearlessness and curiosity combined with his great rapport with people both great and small and his global outlook make him the perfect guide to modern Britain.

As Gary said when he found out he'd go the job of presenting Bellamy's People (of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) - "After two years hosting my own radio show, I'm literally raring to go!"

Want more Bellamy? Starting this week, Gary and his producer Ben Mycroft will be writing about the making of Bellamy's People here on the Comedy Blog, featuring exclusive video clips you won't see in the show itself.