Big Ballet

I worked on a really interesting series last year, which starts on February the 6th, on Channel 4 at 9PM.

Big Ballet follows a company of ballet dancers who don't conform to the norms you might expect. It was a great project to work on, and seeing the progress the company made over the months we filmed was heartwarming.

I can't wait to watch it, you should watch it too, I think you'll enjoy it!

Not long now.......

Stone Roses film release date.

I've just heard that 'Made Of Stone' will be premièring in Manchester (where else!) on the 30th of May 2013 and will then open nationwide on the 5th June.

Really looking forward to watching it, hope you are too!


Shane Meadows website

Updated my website at last!

Nothing much else to report, I finally convinced my wife to update my website, well either that or she nagged me so much I relented and gave her the necessary words!

Now I need to buy her an HTML5 book to make it a bit more modern looking.......

I'm the worlds least frequent blogger

I blame the people who hire me, I'm so busy right now I don't have enough time to write about it.

I've had a few things on air recently that I even forgot to tell my mum about, she'll be furious when she finds out!

I spent a month over the Summer in London working for NBC on a little local event called London 2012 you may have seen some of it covered in the news, I think it was featured a couple of times. It was good to catch up with all my American friends who I only see every couple of years on events like that, I also worked with the poshest man in the world (and that's official, you can check) Ben Fogle, we shot Ben doing  various daft things, including cycling, cricket, canoeing and various other stuff I can't find links for! I was lucky enough to get a trackside spot to watch the mens 200 metre final, and benefited from a fully stocked free canteen for a month, remember folks, I get paid for this, and I did rubbish at school!

More recently, I worked on the current series of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces courtesy of my good friend Tim Pitot who was otherwise engaged for some of the series, so I filled his shoes. Continuing that theme, I've been working with Richard Ranken on Grand Designs. To get over the Winter Blues, what could be better than a week on Tenerife, well, how about a week on Tenerife with Angela Rippon, Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville, you're right, it was of course for the new series of Rip Off Britain we shot the links over a week, the weather was great, the company was good, what more could you want. The Cameraman was Ian Salvage who I hadn't worked with before, but hopefully I'll be seeing again soon.

There's loads more to tell you, but I'll stop now before you get bored......

Me, Shane Meadows and The Stone Roses...

I was lucky enough to spend this weekend working with the mighty Shane Meadows my favourite director, helping him to make a film about one of my favourite bands, The Stone Roses at Manchesters Heaton Park.

It was an amazing way to spend a weekend, pretty much my ideal job, harking back to my early days working as a front of house or monitor mixer for live bands, indeed the last time I saw the Stone Roses, I was working with their support act Black Grape, I realised the other day that those gigs were 17 years ago, that made me feel very very old!

The shoot was a very big production, 16 cameras, 4 sound mixers, 4 sound assistants! a jib, a helicopter, and on Saturday night, a bucket full of beer!

I was given the job by my friend David Mitchell who I last worked with 6 years ago on Ghost Hunting with Girls Aloud a shoot which was most memorable for me getting caught chucking stones at Cheryl Cole.

And on that bombshell, I'll leave you to dream about what it must be like to chuck stones at the X Factor princess!

Night all.

Too busy to blog!

The last couple of months have been very busy, packed with a really interesting variety of work.

I finished the Jennifer Saunders shoots, the films should air in August. Since then I've been working on a new gardening show for BBC1, Called The Flower Pot Gang it's kind of Challenge Anneka meets Gardeners World, featuring Anneka Rice, Phil Tufnell and Joe Swift, not sure when it'll be on but it should be a laugh, Phil makes sure of that!

A little jaunt to Switzerland, a day with the Red Arrows and loads more jobs here and there have kept me busy as the Olympics draw ever closer, I'll be ready for a holiday after the closing ceremony!

The Circus finally makes it to air....

Friday the 29th June, ITV One and ITV One HD, 9PM

http://mip.itvstudios.com/programmes/documentaries/767/our-lives-runaway-with-the-circus

Almost a year after we shot it, it makes it to your screen!

Watch it, it should be good.

Work, work, work.

Things are pretty busy at the moment, butI still found time to move house as well, back to my native South Yorkshire, right on the edge of the Peak District the dog and I are both making the most of this, 2 hour walks are the order of the day, when I'm not working of course, if I am he gets a quick trot around the block when he comes home from kennels!

Kabul was a really interesting trip, it was good for me to do something there not based on Military subjects, I saw a very different side of the city, I'm certainly glad I'm not there this week though.

Work wise, the Jennifer Saunders project is still on going, she's so busy we only film a few days a month, but it's always interesting work, we spent a day with Olympic hopeful Piggy French last week when Jennifer made a very passable imitation of an Eventing rider. That week turned out to have an Olympic theme for me, when I spent a day with two Triathelete brothers, currently arguing about who's going to win Silver, and who'll get Gold.

The Jennifer Saunders film moves on to Badminton in a couple of weeks, where Jennifer will hopefully be competing in the Grass Roots Challenge, unfortunately I won't be there to see it, I'm taking the whole family on Holiday to Suffolk, but my old friend Damien Looney will be standing in for me.

The snow's melting....

In Kabul, it's been very very cold, now it's cold and wet too.

Other news just in, a project I've been working on airs on Monday the 19th, BBC3, 9PM, The Anti Social Network.

2012 got off to an interesting start with several offers of work in Kabul, whilst it's not my first choice of locations, there's no denying it's always an interesting place to be.

On the lighter side, I've been working more with Jennifer Saunders, both at her home in Devon and in Ireland where we spent a few days with a horse dealer called Richard Sheane, much fun was had, much Guinness was drunk, and many horses were met. It turns out Jennifer is a big fan of my old work on Most Haunted!

Last week I worked on a project about internet trolls with TV's Richard Bacon, it'll be on BBC3 before you know it.

This week I've been suffering quietly at home with a stinking cold, but the dog still needs walking and the garage still needs tidying, no rest for the (not particularly) wicked.......

My new project starts...

I've just got back from the International Horse Show at Londons Olympia, where we've just shot the first two days on a project provisionally called 'Jennifer Saunders - Back In the Saddle' (ITV1/Spun Gold Productions) Jennifer needs no introduction, she is, as I mentioned before, comedy royalty, and I look forward to working more with her over the coming months. The director is my old friend Will Yapp, and on camera, another old friend, Giles Harvey and a new acquaintance, Richard Ranken, who'd just got back from a trip to Madagascar with Martin Clunes.

We'll be shooting with Jennifer over the next few months, as she revisits her childhood hobby of Show Jumping. Badminton here we come.... The film will air next year, in the weeks leading up to the Olympics.

My secret Afghan work finally hits the screen...

I spent week upon week in Afghanistan from November 2010 to March 2011, and the film has taken a long time to assemble, finally, it's here:

http://www.uaeafghanistan.ae/en/

It's good to see, if not a bit overdue! Those shoots were some of the hardest, most dangerous shoots I've ever done.

Run Away With The Circus update

It's now called 'Our Lives - The Circus' and will be shown early in the new year, so anyone scouring the TV listings looking for it, save yourself the bother, it won't be on in November like I originally thought.

The sun always come out in the end....

Well, after a couple of very quiet weeks, I had a phone call today I've been hoping for. A project I'd been in initial talks about has had the green light, and what a project it'll be, it's a 2 part documentary series with a woman who can only be described as British Comedy Royalty, I'll reveal who in the near future, but safe to say, I'm going to be pretty busy over the next few months. Not so busy that I can't do anything else though, so if you have any jobs you need me for, get in touch!

Doing my bit.....

A quiet week last week, with just a small job for the Media Trust, a production company who work in the charitable sector. This job was for a Princes Trust corporate, and we spent some time with a young entrepreneur in Leeds who makes exhibition stands, and is doing pretty well, thanks to the head start that  Princes Trust funding gave him. As anyone who's worked for the Media Trust knows, the rates aren't great, but they're a charity and do a lot of good work for other charitys, so it's worth taking a hit on my day rate for the warm feeling you get for helping people out.



Here's to a busier week next week.....

Slovenia here I come

Next week sees two firsts for me, my first visit to Slovenia, and my first job for Discovery Channel, I've been in TV for 20 years and somehow have never worked for Discovery before, well that's about to change!

Thanks to my old friend David Coward, a director I've worked with a lot in Afghanistan, I'm working on series two of 'X Machines' and we'll be watching some very clever people using some incredible machinery. Another old friend Tony Mewse is shooting it and it's going to be great, a chance to get all the toys out and make some great TV.

Where does the busy Sound Recordist go for a weekend off?

Guernsey, that's where...

I just spent an amazing few days there with my wife and our dog, it's a great place, go if you get chance, I recommend Le Petit Bistro in Saint Peter Port, good food and a very good Brouilly for £26 a bottle, that'll ding dang doo for me! It's always great to see the dog running on the beach, and he made the most of every bit of sand he saw.

Harrogate to Monaco and back in a day?

No, you're right, it's not possible, it took me a day and a half, and that was with a 3 hour interview in a beautiful apartment overlooking the harbour getting in the way!

For the record, the Nice Airport Novotel doesn't do food after midnight, so if you get the last BA flight from Heathrow, pack some butties!


 

The Three Amigos? No, me, Will and Justin in Vegas recently....