Routemaster Revisited !

Today's the Day that Transport for London Unveiled the New 3 door Routemaster.

Seating 85 People it is still a one man operated bus, but it takes a few design looks from the

Routemasters of old... Looks like the BendyBus may be on it's way out !

What do you think ?

ToonTastik

So the Last Transmission of GMTV's No1 Rated Kid's show has happened.

As Ever it was a top production right to the end ...

With Great Talent, Great Fun, Hard Work and Perseverance.

The Toonattik Guys and Gals will be moving out and moving on and I wish every single one of them

God speed for the future. It's been a really good time shooting the show and occaisionally appearing ! oer the last five years, and it has been an honour knowing all the Kids dept, some of whom have been there since I started at GMTV in 1992.

It deserves to come back .....Better get drafting another programme idea guys :-)

Election Fever !

Aren't we glad that's all over !

18 days out of 20 worked, Silly hours and Long Days with little sleep.

Elections are tough in Telly Terms....But Really Good Fun !
I got the chance to see all the leaders, chat to the movers and shakers and on election day,

and the day after I bumped into Cameramen and Soundies that I hadnt seen in well over ten years.

EVERYONE comes out of the woodwork at this time !
The plea even went up for tripods in London, it appears there was a dire shortage :-)

The whole thing was topped off for me by setting up an Outside Broadcast at Millbank, not without its potential problems but It went really well, all down to the professionalism of the GMTV Team !

How the Other Half Live C4

This is definitely the programme to watch to lift your spirits and to re-instill the belief that there is good in everyone.

The programme matches a fortunate family with a less fortunate family, who are often in severe financial hardship. I won't spoil it for you but the main observation I have made is that regardless of financial circumstance children from all walks of life posess a spark and that shines through, and which with a little luck, or good fortune will help mould them into fine adults in the future....

Working at the start of my career in television in the mid eighties, I was sound recordist for a BBC2 programme called First Sight and then Friday Report. These programmes also looked at the social issues of the time, many of which don't seem to have differed, and I often wonder what happened to the children's lives we showed back then.

Check out the Channel 4 link below to this week's episode, the last of the series is next week.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/how-the-other-half-live/episode-guide/series-2/episode-3

A LOCK IN....Or a LOOK OUT ?

Today's theme at Cathedral was the days after Easter when the Disciples were all locked in ..... not in the pub ! , but in fear of their lives, feeling abandoned and without direction....

I was talking with Rob the other day about how they must have felt immediately after Good Friday, on that Low Saturday when everything had fallen about them and they must have thought their world had ended as well as Jesus'.

Well, a week later and they were hiding away.....unsure of where they stood in the world and unable to accept information from outside telling them that all was well. Perhaps they too were Peering out of a crack in the door.

Funny how nowadays we'll accept anything as good info, doesnt matter who writes it, what they think and how skewed it is, as long as it is published somewhere on the Internet !

(This, by the way IS one of the good bits of info , written up for all to see on the web ...)

I am open to comments if you agree , or otherwise......

Have a good week.

Darren

You Know What ? He's Up and About !

How Cool is that ?

This is the meaning of Easter.......

We have had one of the Best Days, when we got up at 4am to take part in the early Service for Easter when Rebecca was confirmed at the Cathedral By the Bishop ! Followed by a champagne Breakfast and then I snatched an hour at home sitting reflecting.

Then a particularly busy 10:30 Service and a nice lunch with the prospect of friends round for tea, all topped off by a tickling match with Pip, something we havent done for years ;-)

The True Meaning of Easter.

Today, Good Friday is a solemn day, a day of thought and of contemplation.

I was honoured to read the part of Jesus at Rochester Cathedral in the Passion of Christ at the start of the day, and then, later we moved onto the service entitled the liturgy of the cross, which is set in a stark and barren cathedral with no lights music or warmth...in fact almost an inhospitable space where we thought of the final moments of Jesus.

As Canon Phil Hesketh brought the Great Cross down the Aisle the enormity of the moment becomes apparant. For me though, there are two defining moments in this service.

The moment the cross slams to the floor with a deafening thud in a silent Cathedral, and then that moment where we all venerate the cross and all that it stands for, often shedding a tear as we realise the enormity of what went on at that moment all those years ago.

If you havent been to the foot of the cross, then perhaps you might take an hour out of your day next Good Friday and stop to think what it really means.