How it all Began…

Finding the right contributors for a programme is a skill all television researchers worth their salt must acquire early in their careers. One of my formative professional experiences was working on a Channel Four food series where my brief was to unearth non-professional cooks from a wide variety of backgrounds, with passions for particular vegetables, who would be prepared to share their recipes with the TV audience. After the first half-dozen people had been filmed, our producer took me aside and pointed out gently that I really needed to rethink my approach to finding interviewees for the programmes. Why, she wanted to know, were all my chosen favourites for the series ‘large, posh middle-aged women’?