So tomorrow is my last day at the BBC, and I’m pretty sure everyone’s gonna miss me. That’s despite the Office Italians asking me on a daily basis, ‘haven’t you left yet?’ and the Office Gay merrily telling me that next week it’ll be all ‘Sarah Who?... That’s showbusiness!’ I have been told that they’re looking forward to having the volume in the office being dialled down once I’m gone, although they also informed me that they’re sure they’ll still be able to hear me from New Zealand - carried on the wind. I think they intended this comment to be offensive, but I actually found it pleasantly whimsical.
I also just wanted to write the word, ‘whimsical’.
I do feel somewhat cheeky having leaving drinks, given my previous form for leaving do’s i.e. holding lots of them. In fact when I mentioned leaving drinks the predominant response seemed to be not, ‘Oh yes, count me in’ but rather, ’what, AGAIN?!’ I was telling my Mum that I feel a bit like the equivalent of a closing down sale that never closes, and she informed me that I am the ‘DFS of Leaving Do’s’. Excellent.
I am a bit apprehensive about leaving the BBC (again), mainly because I always tend to hate the next job I go to and cry a lot: I moved to Melbourne and worked at an Italian café I hated. Cue many tears. Researching on Coronation Street. That was about 12 months of hysteria (my colleague asked on a daily basis, ‘have you cried yet, sweetie?’). Hustle last summer. That was a lot of tears for a job that I only managed to endure for 2 months. Although actually when I think about it my friend called me ‘Tiny Tears’ when I was leaving uni in Leeds, so perhaps it’s not the BBC, it’s more that I’m not great with change. So spare a thought for the unfortunate individual who’ll be sat next to me on the plane….
The Office Princess just informed me that, for the next 6 months, anything that goes wrong will be blamed on me. She told me, ‘that’s the law of leaving. You’re not here to defend yourself. Any f***ups will all be your fault’. How depressing. And how true.
So since I’m about to depart the Beeb, I thought I’d compile the following:
The 10 Best Things about Working in Television
1. The Awesome Catering OK on big dramas this might actually be true, but when you’re at unit base on Doctors… as the Office Gay put it ‘The chef hates his job and it’s reflected in his food. You can taste the minimum wage in every mouthful’.
2. The Conversations you overhear:
[BUSY PRODUCTION OFFICE. GENERAL HUBBUB. SUDDEN SILENCE DESCENDS AND…]
PRODUCER: I think I’d quite like to be gang raped.
3. The stringent interview process: ‘Let's look him up on Facebook.... Oh he looks like an absolute twat….’
4. Judgement Central that is the Production Office: I’d say we give new people about ten minutes before we decide – One Of Us…. or Person I Will be Studiously Avoiding for the Duration of their Block.
5. The glamour of working with actors: My favourite task ever was during my first week at Corrie, when I had to ask Simon Gregson how much he weighed for a script. He was asleep in the Green Room ‘cause he was ill and I had to wake him up. He pretty much looked like he wanted to kill me. That was awesome.
6. Everyone who works in TV is kind of flaky Nobody really knows what they want to do - hence why everyone is on short term contracts - except something to do with 'directing'. Or 'writing'. Except for the Media Types who are clearly destined for ‘Development’. Nobody is exactly sure what they do - we just know that they get paid more than us.
7. You start to lose your grip on reality I spent about a week in 2009 waking up every night at 2am in a cold sweat thinking ‘OH MY GOD HOW ARE THE POLICE GOING TO DISCOVER THE PLATTS’ FAKE SUICIDE??!’ And then trying to remind myself, it’s fictional…
8. The generous pay packet and benefits. Oh wait...
9. The scripts. And more scripts. Especially during triple banking. Or, as we like to call it, triple wanking…
10. The Audience Duty Log And sometimes you get gems that make everything worthwhile….
Doctors (Daytime Drama)
TX Date: 09/10/2012
Felt that the content of the programme was inappropriate and should not have been
broadcast. I was rather surprised at the contents of this programme that I watched
yesterday, which I quite like, I watch it on and off. Apparently one of the, I don't know
whether she's a Doctor or she works within the surgery. I think its an Indian lady, she
was honestly somebody that was doing a sex chat line. I'm absolutely astounded
considering what's going on with Jimmy Savell at the moment and there's a debate
about what happened within the BBC, that you include a story line where a girl is, you
know, pretending to spank herself, pretending to have an orgasm at 1:45 in the
afternoon. It was totally inappropriate. Then her friend came in, I don't know whether
he was a doctor or another Indian looking person, and he was laughing cause he was
listening to her and then the next call ..
