College Trip to London

As part of our first semester of the degree we went on a college trip that included a day out in London and involved a tour around London's Movieum as well as a viewing of a recording of the TV show 'Not going out' at Teddington Studios. We went on the trip with the BTEC Production students with the intent of learning more about studios, production and film history whilst at the same time having a good time.


After a lengthly coach trip we were all eager to get to the Movieum, an experience which surprised me at most. I had thought beforehand that whilst better than a day of work, both this and the studio afterwards would be rather boring although gladly I was proved wrong as they both were really good fun. After a brief tour (which in all honesty wasn't hugely impressive) we got the chance to explore the museum separately. This was really good fun and gave us all a chance too see props and sets from various genres of TV and film, as well as animation stills from cartoons and all different kinds of costumes. There was everything from 'Thunderbirds' Puppets too 'Star Wars' characters, even comedy props like a weird over sized thumb. Whilst all really interesting (and enough to use up my camera battery on) the best thing I saw all that day was the Doctor Who props, as I am a huge fan.

The Over sized thumb gets a Thumb's up from me!!

Me with A Doctor Who Dalek (looking quite excitable)

After some time there we all went sight seeing around London, something that could have been a lot better if not for the poor weather. Nevertheless getting too see Big Ben and the London Eye up close is always worth it, and after having something to eat and having a big wonder throughout the city we eventually returned to our coach. Despite being rather tired out by this point, we still had the sit-com to watch and before long we set off in the direction of Teddington studio.

My photo of just how close we got to the 'Eye'.....It's BIG!!

I'd been to a few TV show recordings before, including 'The Sharon Osbourne Show' and to see an episode of 'Dead Ringers' and whilst interesting both were rather dire shows to watch. Luckily, 'Not going Out' was a lot more entertaining then them and provided us with a much better insight into how studio's work. There was a lot more in terms of setting and due to the narrative structure of the show it was much more fun to follow the story. As with any studio camera and boom operators surrounded the setting and microphones and flood lights hung above us.

'Not Going Out', BBC - Starring Lee Mack and Tim Vine

Having seen 'Not Going Out' before, I wasn't expecting to be entertained quite so much as I was. This was hugely thanks to the comedian Alun Cochrane, who was the audience entertainment between takes. That said however, the stars of the show 'Lee Mack' and 'Tim Vine' were rather humorous although obviously spent most of their time acting in front of the cameras. This aspect of the show was rather tedious, mainly because we were required to laugh at appropriate times within the show, something that was especially tricky when the jokes weren't particularly funny to begin with.

Alun Cochrane - Funniest person I saw (and he wasn't even in the show!!)

Whilst tedious I still enjoyed the show and despite the many takes and scenes which needed to be filmed for what I couldn't believe was only a 30 minute show, I still enjoyed myself and found the experience very interesting. I'm glad I had the chance to be on this trip and all in all I believe the day to be a success, so much so that I am already planning on seeing another studio recording in my own time.