Your call is 07.30 at a studio in West London, where you are half-way through presenting a series of cooking and travel programmes on a satellite channel. Twice a week for the past month you have been recording two, one-hour long shows, in the morning. It’s a tight schedule, heavily dependent upon a number of other people to get it right.

At 06.45, a car collects you from home and drives the ten miles or so to the studio. On many jobs, you have to make your own way to the studio, but this job is a little bit more upmarket.

On arrival, you meet with your chef, the producer and the travel writer who will be appearing withyou. The first of today’s programmes is about Portugal, and the chef will be cooking somethingappropriate to that country, and part of your job will also be to commentate on a short touristtravelogue about it.

A script will have been prepared and will be in the process of being put on to Autocue. You spend
the first twenty minutes or so reading it through whilst having a bit of breakfast. Any changes you
would like to make to the overall script will be discussed with the producer and director, and the
autocue operator will adjust the script accordingly.

Then it’s time for make-up, and it’s not just for the girls! In our business make-up is essential for
even the most butch of male presenters, because in the studio we work under very bright lights,
and make-up helps to give definition to the features, and to cover up the shiny bits that come with
perspiration, and any other skin blemishes.

On today’s programmes there will also be a Celebrity guest who will be interviewed by you, and who will share in the dining experience. So a production assistant will normally provide you with a short biography of the guest and some suggested line of questioning. All of this will have to be absorbed whilst your hair and make-up is being finished. Then it is time to take a look at the studio.

Because the programme is one of a series, you are fully familiar with the set, and can get straight on with having a chat to the chef and spend some time trying to understand what he will be doing. As he cooks you have to chat to him, not only about the dish he is preparing but also about the food that one can expect to find especially in Portugal. (By the way the second programme which will also have to be completed by 13.00pm will be about Greece with exactly the same format – but you don’t want to confuse matters by thinking about that at this time!)

Time runs away very fast, and almost too soon you have to go into the camera rehearsal. These
shows are recorded as if they were live. So four segments of approximately 12 minutes each,
allowing for 12 more minutes of commercials in the breaks, each have to be practiced so that
the cameramen know what each sequence is, and what they individually have to concentrate on.

A lot of professionals are involved at this stage – lighting, sound, cameras, autocue, floor managers, floor assistants, production assistants, producer, director, and the performers. You have the front person’s role, and are backed up by the travel writer, the chef and your guest. If the mix is right, then the programme will be smooth and entertaining.

09.00 The recording begins, and the first segment, cooking the food goes well.

09.20 record part two which has the travelogue and an interview with the travel writer.

09.45 Part three and the principal guest is introduced, and an interview begins. Half way through the main course is served and suitable comments made regarding how good it is, etc.

10.05 The final segment begins, and the programme runs smoothly through to the finish.

Now the director decides he needs to record one or two cutaways, after which a stills photographer comes on to the set and shoots one or two publicity stills, and the first programme is wrapped.

You now have to change clothes for the next programme. The studio in the meantime is re-set for the Greek programme. Your make-up is rechecked, the producer gives you the next script which, as before, you may be required to alter a few bits of it, and inform the Autocue operator.

When all preparations are finished – you will have met the new Celebrity guest by this time, and
sorted out the interview shape – it is back to the studio for the next camera rehearsal.

By 13.00 if all has gone well, the second programme will be wrapped and complete, and you can
make your exit. It is five days before you will be back.

But on this particular day you don’t go home. You have been booked to appear on a radio chat show at 15.00 in the afternoon, so you grab something to eat, and then get in the car which takes you to the nearest Underground station, and you head off into Central London for the chat show. As it happens, the show is not until 15.30, but the producers like you to be there in good time so they can brief you beforehand.

This is an easy hours work, compared with the pressure of the morning, and by 16.30 you are out of the studio, and have a few hours to kill before going to the opening of a new show in the West End that evening.-

Maybe you drop in at your agents for a chat, or for a meeting about something in the future, and then you meet up with a couple of friends for a drink at one of London’s many watering holes or clubs, before heading off to the theatre for the show. Always on these occasions there are many friends in the business whom you know, and it becomes a good social evening, and even an opportunity to network a little, as well as enjoying (or not) the show.

As you leave the theatre for a restaurant and a late supper, you switch on your mobile. There is amessage from your agent. “Can you get to Heathrow at 11am tomorrow and fly up on the shuttle to Edinburgh. You are wanted to introduce an event in Perth the following afternoon. Call me” And you do, and get all the details on where to pick up your ticket and your hotel reservation. Luckily the following day’s start is not too early (it might have been) so you enjoy your supper, say goodnight to your friends and colleagues, and get home just after midnight.

The following day will be fun, and then according to your diary you will have a couple of days offbefore the next job. But, of course, that could change in a moment.

Yes it is hard work, but it isn’t physically difficult – you don’t have to go down the mine every day, for example. In fact it’s really fun being a TV Presenter!