I've always been an armchair television critic who takes great delight in watching celebrities make complete idiots of themselves in front of the camera. "Gawd, what are these people on? I could do it better myself," I've often scoffed, watching some poor bugger sweat their way through a difficult interview or fluff their lines. Not any more.
This week I took part in a TV series about working with children and young people. All the filming took place on one day.
After several hours we were getting there, having talked to a variety of workers. Then it was my turn. I could feel my hands sweating. One of those enormous grey hairy microphones loomed in front of me. "Okay, just act natural," said the producer. Wrong thing to say. Natural for me is the human windmill school of hand gesticulation. "Right, now just look directly at me and start talking," the cameraman smiled. I took a deep breath. "HiI'mClaireandwe'reheretotalktoyoutodayaboutworkingwithchildrenand ..." accompanied by a flagless semaphore. Cut!
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