Making BP (OTUKOGBANI): working with Gary's faltering nerves
We spent a lot of time interviewing Tony (above), mainly because Gary was too frightened to ask him any challenging questions, so we had to keep on filming. Gary has a natural tendency to trivialise his interviews anyway, as you would expect from someone who has spent years doing phone-ins in Canada. We'd often start filming and as soon as it got remotely interesting or edgy, Gary would get a bit nervous and quickly change the subject onto something lighter like Queen or seventies TV. I wish we'd chosen Doctor Who as one of our topics as I would have had enough material for an hour-long episode.This problem was exacerbated with Tony Beckton because Gary was terrified of him anyway.Ìý On our first day we filmed with Tony in a Black cab I hailed off the street and we did a little tour of Deptford. Tony made a joke about wanting to go around to Gary's for a cup of tea and Gary panicked and said he was frightened one of us, or even Michaela were going to be taken hostage. I said as a joke that I'd be fine as I'd done the Hostile Environment training course at the 91Èȱ¬ and Gary jumped on this saying he needed to be sent on it too and he refused to interview Tony again until he'd done it.
This was clearly a bit of a pathetic excuse, and the whole crew realised it pretty quickly. I suppose I could have been more supportive of Gary, and I should have nipped all the mickey-taking in the bud, especially when the sound man pretended he'd told Tony where Gary lived. I just like a bit of banter when we're filming, and it was pretty funny really. In the end we all had a good old laugh about it, although I think Gary moved Michaela out to a hotel for a week or so.
(Talking of hotels, I'd just like to put the record straight. Yes, Holly did come back to my room that night in Watford, but so did half the crew. We had a great night and nothing silly happened. If anyone made inappropriate advances it was Holly not me, and if Holly said otherwise I think that says more about her than it does about me.)
Ben Mycroft is the Director/Producer of Bellamy's People, which is coming soon to 91Èȱ¬ Two. Read more about the making of the show and watch exclusive clips here on the Comedy Blog.
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