Days Like This
- 21 Nov 06, 09:24 AM
Just where do you get the idea for a new programme?
That is one of the questions that is most often asked of BBC producers.
Well here is an example of how an idea can come together. Next year Radio Ulster is starting a new series called Days Like This which will be produced by a team led by producer Pauline Currie.
They have previously worked on the two daily series This Place and My Story and Days Like This will be their successor.
Pauline said: "This idea grew out of those two series. When we were doing This place people were sending us in scripts thinking it was writing which led on to My Story.
"So after that we came up with the idea of asking people to think of a moment that left its mark in some way.
"And once you have identified the moment you can identify the day - hence the title. And if you cannot remember the specific date then that does not matter. The month and the year will be enough."
The idea is that Days Like This will be a vehicle for personal stories and that the series will be owned by the listeners.
"People are dying to tell us their stories," says Pauline "I am amazed how ready people are to tell us personal stuff.
"What we are looking for is a moment that made an impact on you and changed the way you look at things."
So how to you go about finding people to tell you their stories?
"We are looking for as many people as we can from as wide a background as possible to take part. So we are contacting community groups, organisations and people who have shown an interest in other storytelling projects.
"Also we are talking to some people who contacted us after My Story went off the air.
"The essence is storytelling - something you saw, something someone said to you, that kind of thing.
"We do not want anything written down. It is all about talking. We want something that says a thing about a time - like a woman who remembers the day she went blind fifty years ago or a Polish man who was refused entry to a pub."
The programme will range back over the last century. So we have a 101 year old talking about the First World War in 1915 and we have someone else talking about an event that happened last year.
It will build into a social history that will range right up to the present - and there will eventually be a website where you can share your experiences and post pictures or films.
Pauline is still looking for contributors to the series which is scheduled to begin in January. If you are interested in taking part please call 90338427 or email her at [email protected]
(The only restriction on the subject matter is that the event should not centre on a birth, marriage or death.)
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