Mark Watson Addresses the Nation
Mark Watson as... Mark Watson
So naturally we cornered Mark by the lifts and asked him to write a blog about it!
At last I’ve got five minutes to reflect on Wednesday night’s antics. When some people say ‘take five minutes to think’ they actually mean take a nice hour with a cup of tea. But unhappily thanks to my remarkable current schedule, it really is five minutes. Still, that’s just about long enough to conclude that it went reasonably well.
There were a couple of unforeseen setbacks, like the bit where a microphone made the world’s worst noise for a while; and a not-quite-foreseen moment when the public voted for the ending to the show which we had not predicted.
But that of course is precisely the fun of doing it live. As you’ll be able to verify if you were there, I squawked and flailed in my usual manner and kept yelping 'THIS IS LIVE!!!!!' as my brain continually registered that thought. I was slightly less madcap than in the pilot though, which I think went equally well overall.
Tim Key and Tom Basden... hard at work (ish)
The usual (but heartfelt) thanks go to everyone who made the trip to Broadcasting House. It would be a grim experience to do it live with anything less than a very enthusiastic audience. Plus those laughs fill the time. Although once again, it was a case of speeding up rather than trying to pad things out. (Actually, within the space of ten minutes we went from being worryingly behind schedule to worryingly ahead of it, but I’ll spare you the details because my heart is starting to accelerate all over again just remembering it.)
I guess if we had gone short I could always have filled the silence with, say, some jokes. That is what my job’s meant to be. But it doesn’t always feel like that when the nation’s Radio 4 listeners are poised by their radios and you hear those bleeps and it all begins. Still, it’s for precisely that sort of ‘aaargh!' moment that you take on a live show.
If you didn’t listen – I can only assume it's because you were kidnapped etc – you can still catch the first episode on iPlayer. I won’t give away any spoilers but WATCH OUT FOR THE GLADIATOR.
SPOILER ALERT!
Tune in for more Mark Watson's Live Address to the Nation on Wednesdays at 11pm on Radio 4.
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