Gary Bellamy's first BPOTUKOGBANI interview
You won't see this, the first interview for Bellamy's People, anywhere else.You won't even see it in the programme:
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The very first interview we filmed on BP (OTUKOGBANI) (I'm going to call it that from now on, it's to long-winded to keep on calling it Bellamy's People (Of The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland tgiift*) was with some Muslim clerics in Bradford.
I know! I was really thrown in at the deep end that day. I felt like David Frost interviewing Nixon in the film Frost Nixon, and which was based on a real interview, so I also felt like the real David Frost not Michael Sheen, who's brilliant. I was nervous enough as it was, what with the whole crew watching and it being day one and all - but to have the added pressure of talking about a very delicate issue with some people who have very strong, and potentially (albeit in a very small, tiny minority, and I mean, so small, like no more than a pinchful) extreme beliefs, was very tough.
However, I accepted the challenge and handled the situation with dignity and sensitivity, but at the same time, I wasn't too frightened to ask tough questions. It was a great relief when the interview was over, I felt I had broken the ice and lost my TV virginity, in, as I say, a dignified and sensitive manner.
After the shoot, one of the clerics said how at ease I made him feel and gave me a rare coin that would bring me good luck on my new series. Sadly, I accidentally used it in a parking meter. I was gutted. Lucky parking meter!
Join me next week as I continue my blog and see more exclusive clips from BP (OTUKOGBANI)
*to give it its full title
Gary Bellamy is presenter of Bellamy's People. Read more about the making of Bellamy's People on the Comedy Blog.
Comment number 1.
At 26th Jan 2010, Christopher Goodswen wrote:i've just stumbled across a joke. Ahem,
"What does a Muslim cleric call his report to the shadow foreign secretary on the topic of multiculturalism?"
"Untitled".
give that a few minutes.
Cx
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