91Èȱ¬

As soon as Simon's camera started to flicker, the adrenaline kicked in throughout the team in the two control rooms in Scotland and Norfolk (not to mention in Television Centre in London). The response of the team in such situations is as exciting as the animal dramas we show you and something I am very proud of. Let me give you a glimpse of how last night's show went for US ......

As soon as technical problems arise, a whole series of events is triggered as various members of the team go into a different mode ("disaster recovery" may be a bit of a dramatic way to describe it, but sometimes it feels like that, even if for just a split second). Almost immediately, 91Èȱ¬ Television Centre in London phone to tell us they have seen potential problems. By this stage, Ian our Engineering Manager is already talking to the technical teams, in Norfolk and in Scotland, to get an instant report on the issue, whether it is likely to persist and what our options might be. Meanwhile, our main Live Director, David (the man who literally calls the shots) is talking to Pati, his counterpart in the control room van in Scotland, who, despite still being "on air" with Simon, is thinking laterally as to how to get around her camera cable issue.

At this point we are literally making up the show as we go along.

All of that happens in the first 20 seconds or so, even though it seems like about half an hour to us - it's amazing how adrenaline (and fear) seems to be able to bend time. That has given me time to cross our control room to get a firm assessment from Ian the Engineering Manager. It did, in fact, look like the problem could spread and that we could lose Simon altogether. Time, then, to action the next part of the plan - could we come back to Bill and Kate early ? Answer - yes - because by now Live Director David has already spoken to Bill and Kate and they are sitting tight ready to take the show back from Simon at a moment's notice. But if we lose Simon altogether, how do we fill an extra ten minutes of screen time that we hadn't planned for, with no time to plan for it ? You guessed it - there's another part of the team - the producers and researchers - already thinking of this and coming up with extra material. Researchers hastily leave the control room in search of the on-screen material and research notes required, knowing that Bill and Kate could probably carry on "as normal" for another 10 minutes or so. That gives the researchers 9 minutes to come back with the goods.

We are about 2 minutes into "the situation" by now, and the 91Èȱ¬ network folks at Television Centre in London are getting twitchy because the camera fault has reared its head for a third time. If network don't like what we are sending them, they threaten to pull us off air, at which point you would have received a polite continuity announcement saying "we have lost Springwatch" and then you would have been treated to a re-run of Only Fools And Horses or something like that. The pressure is on. We need to deliver a solution (i.e : be prepared to pull back from Simon and run the rest of the show from Norfolk) or we get switched off and you the audience lose out.

At this point I leave Engineering Manager Ian to keep working up solutions and I move over to Series Producer Reema, who "runs the show" on a daily basis. Reema has already talked to live producers Stuart and Roger, actioned the pre-arranged contingency plans, deployed the researchers and confidently reassures me that we can now safely return to Bill and Kate at any moment and proceed with the show as planned, if a little re-jigged. Phew ! We finally have a parachute .....

(For images and stories of some of these people and places, see our behind the scenes features)

One of the problems with last night's situation was that the problem was intermittent - there was no knowing if it would come back and when, and how bad it would be. Simon was performing well despite the bedlam he was no doubt hearing in his earpiece, so I was keen to stay on him as long as possible (even though I knew I would be causing some sweaty palms in Television Centre - sorry guys ....).

As it was, Simon was able to finish his pieces as planned, but the impressive thing was that the team worked like clockwork, with everyone doing what was required of them, and we had a plan B worked up very quickly. All YOU saw were a few flickery pictures, whereas WE generated more adrenaline than a world cup final penalty shoot out.

That's live telly for you - all seems calm and sorted in one moment and then everything suddenly becomes exhilarating and terrifying in the next moment, with no warning. There's no feeling quite like it, and no better reminder of how this show relies on nature, technology and incredible, instinctive, highly synchronised team play. Congratulations to everyone here for allowing the show to go on.

Its only when something like this happens that you realise how well the team work together - how much trust, respect and professionalism comes into sharp focus in an instant, with only few words exchanged and never a voice raised. It reminds me of one of the most valuable pieces of advice David, our Live Director, gave me as he was training me to be a live producer on this show five years ago. He outlined that my most important contribution as a producer was to "Make a clear decision .... even if it's the wrong one". At first I thought this was an absurd approach, but now I know exactly what he meant. If a producer doesn't make a clear decision in that split second, there are loads of other people who can't do what they do best, the whole thing unravels ..... and you get to watch Only Fools and Horses instead of Springwatch!

One of my colleagues here used to work as a theatre nurse, performing critical operations under difficult circumstances. She has always said how she recognises the same team spirit of calm application and mutual trust in the Springwatch live team as she witnessed in an operating theatre team. We are all totally interdependent and know we can rely on eachother's specific skills. That's very reassuring when the proverbial hits the fan and suddenly our transmission seems to be hanging by a thread.

At least in our case the situation was never life-threatening. "It's only telly" we say to ourselves when the adrenaline levels start to boil over and we need to regain perspective. But it would have been a shame to have lost Simon from the end of last night's show and I'm glad we didn't have to.

And now on to another day in the hands of Mother Nature and Uncle Technology. What will happen next ? Stay tuned to the messageboards, the webcams and the TV tonight and you'll find out at about the same time as us .....

Meantime, watch this clip from last night's show again. Maybe you'll see it through different eyes now!