I’m just finishing off my final One Show piece that runs tomorrow night. It’s in the edit suite at the BBC in Cardiff, and I nipped into London Television Centre to do the voice over. The producers script the piece on the back of what I said on the day. I also send them some notes on how to explain the credit card shuffle.
The problem is I have the few lines of voice over – but as this is being produced in Cardiff, I’ve not actually seen the piece, nor do I know what clips are being used. I’m very protective about the pieces I do on TV. While the producers are great, this is a specialised complex film based on my technique that we’re trying to make simple, and I’m always concerned about making sure crucial bits haven’t been cut out for the sake of time or style.
It’s very difficult to do this without seeing it. And in the past (not on this show) when it’s happened to me before, I’ve watched in horror as I’ve been edited either in a way that doesn’t explain things well or that actually doesn’t make sense. Fingers crossed this will all be good, and I couldn’t ask for better people. The BBC Wales team (who usually do the consumer show X-Ray there) who have been making my films are fantastic, yet the fact I’ll only see it twenty minutes before the show, when it’s too late to change anything…. scares the pants off me.