... as seen on TV ...

Last Tuesday I was part of the audience of the Wright Stuff on the UK Channel Five. I can now claim to be a star of day time television - except ...

... there was a group of very attractive girls about 3 places down the row - and for some reason the producer - or the camera man wanted shots of them - instead of my rugged good looks - so after lookiing through the video tape - many times - you get a few distance shots of me - oh dear - my hair is going - and one of me laughing. I'm not going to get my Equity card at this rate.

I turned up at the studio at around 8:45 - on a very wet day - with shoes that were fashionable - but not waterproof. We sat around - or stood around - until Matt - the man with the Mike and Beth - the lady in the booth - took us through to the reception area - where we feasted on croissants and coffee.

The group was surprisingly inhibited. There was a group who were obviously regulars - who chatted - a couple of guys - one with a photo album - of famous people he had stood near - and a few coupls and individuals. Matt tried to get people talking about the topics - why men get all the top jobs - discussions about the Church of England's decision to allow divorced people to marry - but without much success. He was trying to target people to interview on air - but most were clearly there only to be audience.

Beth in the mean time was getting us to fill in the waiver form - ie the production now has worldwide distribution rights - to my two second shot of laughter - and shots - and here I may sue - of my lack of hair.

We were then led into the show. The first thing that surprised me was the smallness of the studio. Teh gap between the panel and the audience is very narrow. The second thing was that the seating area for the audinece was also smaller than it looks on TV. Clever these cameramen chappies. There were slightly more audience than usual and so it got rather friendly - it reminded me of sitting in the school hall on benches.

There were two cameras to the left focusing on the guest panalists another camera focusing on Mathew Wright, which shot through an auto cue , which gave running order, some script and names of guests. In addition there was a cameraman who worked with the audience - which meant sticking his camera in my face - but aiming at the girls near by - swine.

In each break Matt - with his mike - was identifying a potential audience member to talk - as backup - in case - or as an alternative - to the callers - phoning in. In one break we got a sticky bun - as it was national eat stodgy food - or something like that - week.

I was particularly impressed by Beth - as it was clear she was suffereing from - a cold - or sore throat - and yet was able to be friendly - to us as guests - and when on screen.

All in all I was impressed by the team and the way they coped with changes in the format as the programme went on. An interesting experience.