Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

A Tour of the BBC Studios

The BBC has been under a lot of scrutiny lately: even today they've yet again hit the headlines about how they spend our licence fee and just where it goes. So, as sort of roving reporters, the wife and I bagged a backstage tour of the BBC Studios right here in Tunbridge Wells to find out if they're spending our money wisely.

The empty BBC South East News studio. Click for larger.

We were met at the BBC Shop and taken straight behind the scenes through a rather plain door marked "Newsroom" where we were greeted by scores of busy people frenetically writing and creating today's programme.

There was a section for the weather, where we took a sneaky peek around Michael Fish's desk where he writes his reports and produces the famous graphics (the pairs of sparkly high-heeled boots were a nice touch underneath); there were sections writing tomorrow's news, a section creating online content and also a section where people were writing the news that would be on-air in just moments from now. It was only when we glanced over to the right that we noticed the news studio itself through some opaque glass and realised that we were standing behind the newsreader, right in the place where you at home can see people rushing around backstage.

So, with the news going out live in just ten minutes time we made our way into the nerve centre, the gallery. This is the darkened room where the director, producer, engineers, and all the other technical staff sit to control the show. We sat quietly at the back and watched in awe as everyone was chattering away at once in front of far more screens than we could count. There was a live feed to an outdoor reporter sitting in someone's living room in Gillingham, there were lots of different camera views of Ceri Perkins practicing her lines and agonising over whether or not to use the word "exhibition" or "showcase", and many screens devoted to those funky graphics that accompany reports.

Behind the scenes of the BBC News. Click for larger.

With just a couple of minutes to go the news was still being re-written and items were being moved around and deleted, then as the main BBC News ended we cut live to Ceri and the famous bongs. The pace in the gallery stepped up a notch, the director was letting the newsreader know what was coming up and what cameras to switch to, someone else was counting down in her other ear and others were queuing up all the news items, and still the producer was changing the show, debating whether or not to give a few more seconds to Michael Fish and his weather. It was nothing short of organised chaos. I didn't blink for ten minutes and I was stressed as anything by the end of it, but I guess to these folks it's just another days work. They did make it look very slick but amazingly professional at the same time.

It was fun watching the autocue scroll past and seeing which words the newsreader changed on the fly, and especially the bit that just said "ad-lib" which Ceri took in her stride by cracking a rather witty line to introduce Michael Fish, which gave everyone in the gallery a chuckle.

With the show over and the stars out of the way we were allowed into the main studio where the wife had a go at reading the news and presenting the weather. The studio is so much smaller than you expect, it's about the size of a normal living room. We got to see just what is hiding inside a newsreaders desk and just how comfy those big red sofas are that the presenters sit on in the evening. Very, is the answer.

The wife has a go at presenting the news.

We even got to take a tour into the studios of Radio Kent and leaf through the music library, which again is a lot smaller than you expect.
I don't think I'll ever watch the news the same again, just knowing how much work, effort and chatter goes on at the end of that calm newsreader's earpiece.

A huge thank you to all at the BBC who made us feel amazingly welcome, they really are the most friendly people, and especially the lovely Kassi Jones who organised and gave us the tour.

So, the answer is yes, they're worth every penny. Click for larger.

The wife has a go at presenting the news. Click for larger.

A couple more photos from our tour can be found here.

First Impressions?

The Great Hall

My wife had some of her girlfriends down from London last week, I wondered what their first impression of Tunbridge Wells would be. Apart from the line of expectant white taxis with their drivers with their one-arm tans, the first sight that I and probably most tourists arriving by train see is the Great Hall.

Originally known as the Public Rooms and constructed in 1872 to a H Cronk design, the building would live its life as a centre of entertainment and over the years saw quite a bit of action on-stage as well as off.
In its early days the Great Hall was home to leading figures of the stage who would fill the seats with eager patrons wanting to listen to the classic literature of the time, even some of our own William Thackeray's.

It was also home in the very early years to my favourite art-form, photography, amongst others it was the studios of the legendary Henry Robinson who leased the entire west wing to take portraits and hand-coloured minatures of wealthy subjects. As an interesting note, Henry is buried in Benhall Mill Road Cemetery, he designed and carved the headstone of his own grave.

Numerous bazaars, concerts and other musical extravaganzas were held over the subsequent years and for some time it was the home to the local Musical Festival. In the 1920's the hall was converted to serve as one of the towns cinemas, at a time when there were plenty to choose from in the town centre, it was known as the Roxy and was popular with the teenagers and lasted until 1958, when the hall was taken over by the Court School of Dancing.

Disaster, or possibly a godsend, struck in 1980 whilst the Hall was being used as a nightclub called "Carriages", when fire tore through the roof causing almost unrepairable damage. Now home to BBC Television and Radio, with its rather fun half-glazed studio so you can watch the broadcasters at work, the building has been restored to beyond its former glory whilst still retaining the gallic tone of the original complete with a parade of shops and even its own rather ingeniously hidden car park.

Come to think of it, the girls probably saw the shops first.