The more interesting jobs in 2002

The Queen Mother's funeral April 2002	The Queen Mother's funeral was a programme many of us had known we would be involved with since working at Princess Diana's funeral in 1997. Plans had been in place for a long while, but getting all the equipment together at short notice still presented challenges. I was involved for several days beforehand getting cameras rigged and tested inside the abbey prior to the rehearsals.
	My camera position for the service was high up in the Triforium level looking down the nave with a 70:1 lens. The position can be seen in the photo on the left. Most of the cameras positions were shared with ITN.

Songs of Praise from Aberdeen May 2002	One of the nicer jobs of the summer of 2002 was being asked to be Camera Supervisor for Songs of Praise from St Machar's Cathedral in Aberdeen. Made by Tern Television for the BBC, two programmes were made in two and a half days for transmission later in the year. Songs of Praise is always a nice programme to work on as there is always great enthusiasm amongst the contributors to help and make a great programme. This helps carry the crew along when things get challenging, as working in churches often is.
	St Machar's is one Scotland's oldest Cathedrals and presented the usual challenges of difficult access for the equipment and needed special care to ensure that none of the historic structure and furnishing were damaged. The ancient, uneven flagstone floor made moving the camera mountings around even more difficult than usual.

The Queen's Golden Jubilee Celebrations April - June 2002	June 2002 saw the golden Jubilee of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. To celebrate many events were held throughout the United Kingdom. One of the first key events I was involved with in April was the Jubilee address which was the Queen's "key note" speech of the Jubilee and was delivered in Westminster Hall. A magnificent location to work in with a much happier mood than had prevailed a few weeks earlier, when the Queen Mother had been laying in state there. The main events happened on the first weekend in June. Concerts were held at Buckingham Palace and a massive parade down The Mall to Buckingham Palace. I was called to work in St Paul's Cathedral where a service of thanksgiving for the Jubilee was held.
	There must have been well over a hundred cameramen working on the various events and it nice to see all our hard work on these events getting recognition in the Royal Television Society's Craft and Design Awards 2001/2002 The citation read; Lighting, Photography and Camera - Multicamera Work BBC Camera Team - The Queen's Golden Jubilee "... a visual tour de force with wonderfully executed crane shots and live coverage of the highest quality. Beautiful observation and consummate camerawork made this an absolute triumph. The Jury felt that the BBC was the only broadcaster in the world that could have achieved this superb standard." JUDGES' AWARD Presented to craft members of the BBC OB Department for an outstanding year in Event coverage "Rarely has there been a unanimous decision by the jury. This year in particular has been rich in events which will shape our shared national psyche for years to come. From the Queen Mother's Funeral in April, through a perfect weekend in June with the huge rejoicings at the Palace, to August and September's celebration of the biggest musical festival in the world with extended coverage of the Proms on BBC1, 2 and 4. The coverage, with such a diversity of content, from so many outstanding venues and locations called for a supreme and sustained team effort from all concerned, particularly when we remember that they were all live events. At home, coverage of these massive events looks effortless and flawless, but all of us know that it is probably the most challenging and riskiest form of television possible. These major artistic and technical achievements require the highest level of planning and craft expertise. This was apparent for us all to admire, respect and enjoy, not just in this country, but worldwide."


The Story Makers Jan - Mar and Sep - Dec 2002	The Story Makers is a series made for the new BBC Digital channel "Cbeebies". Aimed at pre-school children it is set in a library where after the doors are closed at night stories are magically made with the help of a story maker and Jelly and Jackson (both puppets). Like most children's television Story Makers was huge fun to work on. Although we were in the studio for 7 weeks the schedule and budget were very tight, but with good humour all round and a great production team we finally finished half a day early.
	Working with puppets is always fun, if slightly bizarre. Visitors always are surprised when they see the crew giving performance notes directly to the puppets, then speaking to the puppeteers about their positions separately!

Racing for Channel 4 2001/2002	Since leaving the BBC I've worked with Highflyer productions on the award winning racing coverage for Channel 4. Newmarket, Sandown Park, Kempton Park and Doncaster have all been new venues for me, but Newbury was rather familiar from my BBC days. More work is also coming in from the new "At The Races" digital channel.

Other work 2002	Whilst it's nice to be able to display some pictures of the programmes I've worked on, it's not always possible. This is especially true of my work at BBC Television Centre, so just to record some of my other recent work here's a short list. Eastenders Dave Gorman's Important Astrology experiment Parkinson Question Time Blue Peter Panorama On the Record