Gyles Brandreth reflects on 10 years of The One Show
Gyles Brandreth
One Show Reporter and Teddy Bear Collector
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Gyles with his Sooty. We understand that Sooty has given his full permission for this picture to be used. He's a stickler for detail which we rather admire.
We asked One Show Reporter Gyles Brandreth to pen a few words mark 10 years of the show and his 10 years as a reporter on it. Teddy bears feature, of course, so too a startling array of scenarios Gyles has found himself in.
I've made more than 500 films for The One Show in 10 years. I still remember the first film best. It was about my collection of teddy bears. I went to make a film at Newby Hall in Yorkshire because it was where the Royal Family would have escaped to if the Nazis had arrived in London during the Second World War. I thought if it's good enough for the Royal family it's good enough for my bears - so that's where my bears live now. Ten years later I found a new home for my bears thanks to The One Show.
As a reporter on The One Show I've made films all over the country - in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight. That's the joy of The One Show: it's shown me what an amazing country we live in. I have been lucky enough to go pretty much everywhere. I especially loved going to Whitby in Yorkshire where Bram Stoker was inspired to write Dracula.
I've had the privilege to meet so many remarkable people - 90-year-old Murder She Wrote star Angela Lansbury was a particular highlight - and filmed in all sorts different locations from graveyards, castles, circuses, the Queen Mary and 10 Downing Street. Most memorable perhaps was filming in a submarine - a story about a goat who lived in a submarine.
Oh, and now I come to think of it, I loved the story I did about the lion who lived in the King's Road, Chelsea. Other highlights from my 10 years with The One Show include co-hosting with Alex on a Friday, and taking Christine Bleakely to have lunch with David Cameron at the House of Commons to record what turned out to be his last TV interview with the great diarist and parliamentarian, Tony Benn.
But perhaps my lasting memory will be the time when Debbie Reynolds joined us on the show. When I was a little boy I loved the 1952 film Singing in the Rain with Gene Kelly and Reynolds - so I was thrilled to find myself sitting on the sofa next to her nearly 60 years later. A really special memory.
For me too it's been wonderful to present reports on such different subjects - from deeply moving stories about the horrors of the First World War to attempting to recreate the stunts in the Carry on Films. All human life is there - and that's why being a reporter on The One Show is such a privilege.
It is in these selected highlights I've mentioned I think the joy of The One Show can be found. It is always surprising me. For example, I'm writing this having just finished filming in a church that is also a circus. Seriously. And I was filming a sequence dressed as a French revolutionary swinging from a chandelier. You couldn't make it up and I didn't.
The One Show celebrates 10 years of informing, educating and entertaining the nation this week.
