Paddling beneath the surface

A quick update, since I’ve been so quiet of late:

• We’re starting to kick off on Scrap It!, my next project. It’s a studio make & do show for Discovery Kids; yesterday I got my first glimpse at the budget. Now, the show is similar to others I’ve made, but the budget is – get this – one fifth of the previous cheapest show I’ve made. Which is, frankly, why I’m doing it. Rocking the boat helps to keep the journey interesting.
• Last weekend was Henley. While the entire world watched aging rockers change the world from Hyde Park, I watched a thrilling neck-and-neck between the Cambridge blue boat and Brown University Alumni while supping Pimm’s. Not sure if I feel guilty or not, to be honest, but it was another cracking day with the clockwork precision of my hosts’ astonishing organisation. Cambridge by three feet, by the way.
• This week, I have mostly been a system administrator. So far, I’ve updated Alan, Jules, iMark, Kevin, Mija, and rAdam, with the rest to follow. I don’t think I’ve broken anything. Irreversibly. Yet.
• Oh! Oh! How could I forget? We had our production team farewell-to-the-series-producer for Mechannibals, combined with a viewing of the first episode. Now, Mike hasn’t actually finished, but there’s only the onlines and dubs to go so he’s London-based for the remainder of his sentence, and the end is very much in sight. The first show is now confirmed as the magnificent shed-smashing extravaganza that was Bognor (you haven’t lived until you see a home-made crane drop a toilet on a garden shed, I tell you). You know what? It’s really rather good. Enough heart-in-mouth moments, some very genuine tension, and the machines are clear and understandable. Witty commentary, Louise is excellent, and the whole thing romps along nicely. We’ll not mention the graphics colour scheme, but that’s a relatively minor niggle. Still no word on transmission dates – not that we believe, anyway – but it shouldn’t be long now.