Rosé and I are fresh from recording a special segment which will see us feature prominently in this year’s Contest! Oh yes this blog only features the best talent, you know. We are pleased to be able to EXCLUSIVELY announce that we will be playing the roles of “Blue Plastic Poncho Wearers (Section E) # 6 and #7”!
It was an exciting moment when we arrived at the BBC Broadcast Centre this afternoon, an out-building adjacent to the newly vacated Television Centre in London’s fashionable West 12. We glad-handed our many fans and were unceremoniously herded into a queue to sign our rights away to the BBC, have our names ticked off a list, and be handed our costumes by the wardrobe department man stood in a corner. We were so excited we must have missed our place in the make-up chair before heading outside to the bracing April weather.
The Beeb had recruited a sizeable cast of extras to support our starring roles and we met our fellow stars of Section E who seemed quite excited to be featured alongside us. They too had put their costumes on, the very latest line in blue plastic ponchos, which I can’t be certain flattered my manly physique to its best advantage but sometimes you just have to give yourself over to the director’s artistic vision.
The shoot took about 3 hours in total from the time we arrived. I realised quite early on I hadn’t really planned ahead by packing some Kendal mint cake as there was a lack of any facilities for your basic functions. About five minutes after donning my poncho I began to wish I’d had lunch before we got there. After 10 minutes I began to wish I’d gone to the loo…
I shan’t give the whole thing away but on-set the props included an array of London buses and some Post Office vans that had been arranged into, well, you’ll find out on May 10th when we appear to introduce the United Kingdom entry. We had to undertake a variety of complex stunts including dashing in and out of shot, pulling our hoods back and forth, and being photographed by a very dishy gentleman indeed. I wouldn’t have minded lifting the flap of my poncho for him in a private sitting to achieve my own artistic vision, truth be told.
We were pleased to meet not only lovely Molly (she’s tiny – you could pop a chain on her head and have her as a key-ring) who was delighted to go round and thank everyone for coming, but also her mum, who will be heading to Copenhagen to lend her support. We swapped some tips on the best parties to go to (basically whichever ones we’re at) and arranged to meet tomorrow at the Café de Paris.
It was a very jolly afternoon and another example of the BBC’s much improved approach to the Contest this year. Guy Freeman himself came round to keep us informed of what was happening during the shoot and the crew did a great job at being friendly and encouraging. Sadly our costume requirements of having to create a block of blue means you probably won’t be able to see our friendly faces when it airs, but never to mind: we were there, we’ll forever have our parts in the Eurovision annals.
Monty x
Wonderful blog and a wonderful day ! Team H clearly had the edge over everyone else though, including two ( almost ) fatalities !