You’d have to have been living under a rock to not know that a significant part of the BBC has relocated to the North West to MediaCity in Salford. A number of teams have headed to my homeland including Children’s. I have had the absolute pleasure of going to the BBC’s new pad during the Summer holiday for the live filming of the first episode of a new CBeebies show, Justin’s House which airs next weekend Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th October at 11:00am on CBeebies.
I was invited to the BBC along with two children so I took Lil H and his friend JC who is also a mega Justin fan. The BBC premises are amazing and all 150 children couldn’t have had a warmer welcome or be more catered for. There were rows of tables set up with colouring sheets & pencils, goodie bags with CBeebies Magazines stacked full of activities, a soft corner and TV’s playing CBeebies favourites, but of course! There were lots of behind the scenes teams taking the opportunity to chat with both children and parents, genuinely interested in feedback, thoughts and suggestions. It was exactly this type of event that the move to the North West facilitated for the BBC Kay Benbow, Controller of CBeebies told me, it gave them the premises to allow them to regularly, easily and effectively bring audience and production teams together. It was clearly something Kay is immensely passionate about, a fantastic thing to do and totally refreshing. Brands and businesses listening – love it!
Quickly it was time to go into the studio, the excitement and volume has risen but sank to whispering as we entered the studio where the “Justin’s House” set was there on stage and it was really rather WOW! A few warm ups and I don’t mean comedians, I mean get up off your bottom and get moving type warm ups because “Justin’s House” is a brand new series and totally diffrent format to his other shows. So limbered up it was time to get the show on the road. Lights. Camera. Action!
Children, adults, everyone laughed the entire way through the show. Justin had just moved into a new house which he discovers he will be sharing with Robert, his Robot Butler and Little Monster – who’s a bit of a minx and shockingly I would say Little Monster may just give Justin a run for his money as most popular character in this series! Singing, dancing, comedy, add in silly names, throw in a unicycle, some custard pies and dust with the magic of panto and you have Justin’s House. We all absolutely loved it so make sure you tune in on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th October at 11:00am on CBeebies.
Having no doubt worked extremely hard in the run up to live filming that day and to deliver the show that evening the cast still all came out to meet the children say hello and do photographs. Justin’s arrival in the foyer was something like what I imagine happening if George Clooney or Brad Pitt arrived at a mummy blogger event – he was swamped in seconds, children hanging off his every limb. I did think poor bloke as at one point two children had climbed on his back whilst he was carrying one in each arm and there was one clinging to each leg. The man is a Saint, he did nothing but smile, chat and make sure everyone who wanted a photo with him got one. You can see how thrilled and excited my posse were can’t you?
Thanks again so very much to the BBC for inviting us along, we had a fantastic evening and can’t wait to see “Justin’s House” episode 1 and 2 this Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th October on CBeebies 11:00am – 11.25am. Set your Sky+ and keep your eyes peeled for Lil H, me and Amy @and1moremeans5 we’re on the back row, but of course!
P.s. In other news CBeebies have launched their new Grown Ups site http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/ if your chidren watch CBeebies programmes its worth a visit, providing information for grown-ups and their children favourite programmes a place to learn more, play more and do it together.
P.p.s. You can follow CBeebies on Twitter and Facebook at www.twitter.com/cbeebieshq and www.facebook.co.uk/cbeebies
