Breaking the News in Hamilton

I recently applied for and received free tickets to a recording of the Scottish radio show called Breaking the News. As its name suggests, it is a topical comedy news show, and it’s hosted by Des Clarke. The recording was to take place at Hamilton Town House, so Davie and I got ready and went out to the car half an hour before we were required to arrive there. Except there was no car in the driveway! It was at the airport since James had travelled down to Warwick by plane early this morning. This isn’t the first time that I have been caught out since we have become a one car family! I quickly called a taxi (we were too late by that time to go by train) and we arrived at the venue just as the doors were opened. The recording was very amusing and it was interesting to see how they organised it. There were four guests on the panel; Ray Bradshaw, Athena Kugblenu, Susie McCabe and Christopher Brookmyre, and they recorded an hour and a half of material which will be condensed down to twenty-eight minutes. It was being recorded both for radio and for television - the new BBC Scotland Channel - so we will be able to watch it tomorrow evening. Because it was a comedy programme the floor manager asked us to laugh and clap loudly after each joke, which we did valiantly. At the end they had to re-record a few pieces which hadn’t been quite right, so we were asked to laugh and clap again after each one, which felt strange. And at one point Susie McCabe was asked to remove the water bottle that she had just put on her table because it would cause continuity problems, I presume that if they move segments around they don’t want the water bottle appearing and disappearing! This was a contrast to the much more relaxed atmosphere of the Celtic Connections radio show that I watched being recorded at Cottiers Theatre in January, at which the audience weren’t asked to react in any particular way. However it was an interesting experience and Davie and I discussed it as we walked along to the train station in the fine, sunny evening afterwards.