Many years ago I made a documentary for Channel 4 about the reality TV show Big Brother and what the housemates did after they were evicted.
I was asked to make a cheeky film, which I did, and I received incredible feedback from my TV peers. I was all excited as it was my first real solo piece of TV.
A meeting was then set up between the Head of the Channel that broadcast the documentary, the Channel 4 commissioner who had worked on it with me, and a producer I took along to pitch new ideas with.
We sat down and then the head of the Channel just laid into me. She gave me a complete bollocking and dressing down in front of everyone. She felt that the documentary had undermined the Big Brother brand and was taking the piss.
It did take the piss. I’d been hired to make something irreverant. I was specifically told that they wanted something that was able to poke fun at the Big Brother experience. What was particularly ridiculous was that the Head of the Channel was admonishing me as if I was a terrorist who’d made a program on his own and then forced it onto terrestrial TV against everyone’s will. I was simply the talent. She was reprimanding me as if I hadn’t been making this show over several months with a director, the producers, a renowned production company, the head of that renowned production company, and indeed the commissioner sat in that very room, all of whom were massively into the film and had been across the entire editorial process. But this numpty who was Head of the Channel was giving me a bollocking. Perhaps others had already received a bollocking? Perhaps I’d been made the fall guy by others trying to save their own skin? It happens in this industry of snakes. I noted the commissioner who’d been part of the process just sitting there silently and letting me take an unust bollocking, so I thought fuck that and called them out. “I don’t understand,” I said to them, “You had multiple viewers of the documentary. You saw the final cut before it went out. You loved it. Is there nothing you want to say?” They didn’t say anything.
Anyway, showbusiness.
It’s not a bad little film with a nice flow, a decent use of voiceover, and some funny bits. It does take the piss, but it’s actually pretty gentle compared to some of the things out there today. Hope you enjoy it. What’s your favourite moment?
Big Brother: What the housemates did next?