BBC Talent Weather Presenter


Images thanks to BBC Talent

In 2003, the British Broadcasting Corporation ran it's annual Talent campain. As part of this series of events, two contracts were on offer for the position of BBC regional weather presenter. These are television presenters who work in one of several regions across the UK, providing the weather forecast which often follows regional news bulletins. Stage one of this competition was to apply, and a random ballot would decide who would be selected. Approximately 25,000 contestants applied from across the UK, and roughly 200 were selected to attend auditions at one of several UK locations.

By chance, Bren J was selected to attend auditions at the BBC television studios in Southampton, on Saturday 21st June. Together with around 200 others, the programme for the day was as follows:

* Present a 1-minute weather forecast in the actual weather studio (below), in front of a static UK graphic. Each contestant was provided with 1-minute weather guidance, on which to base the forecast.

The BBC South Today studio (Image thanks to BBC Talent)

* Those who were selected for the second round were then given a similar task. However, the broadcast was to be 3-minutes long, and would use a series of charts behind the presenter. Around 30 contestants made it to the second round, each receiving broadcast tips from BBC South Today's Alina Jenkins.

* As well as the 3-minute broadcast, each contestant was subject to a brief interview and discussion with the judges.

A nerve-racking few weeks past, as the judges made their decisions, and similar auditions across the UK were completed. Bren J received a letter on the 1st July to inform him that he had been chosen, together with four others from the BBC South auditions, to attend the finals in BBC television centre!

The finals were held over a two-day period on the 6th and 7th September 2003. Accomodation was provided at a London hotel for the 60 finalists, and a mad weekend of activities was on offer. On the 6th, the finalists had a guided tour of BBC television centre, including a mingle around the BBC Weather Centre. This was followed by a slap-up meal in the BBC conference suite, during which time most of us became thoroughly worse-for-wear thanks to the endless wine on offer!

The morning of the 7th soon arrived, and 60 nervous finalists were greeted in our hotel by the legendary Rob McElwee! He gave us a fascinating talk about weather presenting, and what it entails. Once breakfast was over, everyone piled onto the provided coaches, for the trip to television centre, and the weather auditions.

The programme for the day was every bit as nerve-wracking as the build-up, and included the following:

* A 1-minute weather forecast presentation in front of a static graphics screen. Once again, a general weather overview was provided, and it was up to the contestant to script themselves.

* From this, 30 presenters were chosen from the 60, to progress to the next round. This time, each contestant was given a 2-minute broadcast to present, but whilst controlling a series of graphic backdrops (such as those seen on television broadcasts). The second round also included a grueling interview, with the judges of the competition. These judges were:

Steve Taschini - Business Mgr. to Cntrller. BBC Regions
Peter Gibbs - Forecaster/national weather presenter
Andrew Lane - Mgr. BBC Weather Centre
Alison Bedford - BBC National Acc. Mgr. Met Office
Angela Wallis - Exec. Producer BBC Talent
Hetta Scherman - Campaign Mgr. BBC Talent.

* From these 30 auditions and interviews, 9 finallists were selected to take part in the grand finals. One of the 9 selected was Bren J :-o!

The final audition was to be a 3-minute forecast, with 15 predefined weather graphics to use. Each finalist had 30 minutes to look over the graphics that were provided. Guidance was also issued to each finalist, in the form of actual Met Office forecast guidance. The weather forecast we were about to present, was the actual weather and graphics used in the live output for the day!

Once the 30 minutes were up, each person went into the training studio to present their 3-minute forecast. But, on entering the studio... shock horror!! Something which the real weather presenters have to contend with all the time, "BBC News has overrun by 60 seconds, so the forecast needs to be cut to 2 minutes!". In other words, we'd all just spent 30 minutes preparing a 3-minute weather bulletin, and on the spot we now had to cut it down to 2-minutes as we went along!!

Winners - Sarah & Alex (Image thanks to BBC Talent)

The auditions were over, and it was time to select the two winners. These were Sarah-Leigh Barnett and Alexandra Boddy, both have since been presenting the weather for BBC regions.

Bren J (Image thanks to BBC Talent)

To see a brief video of Bren J's 1-minute static presentation at BBC television centre, click here. (requires REAL player)... Bren can't watch this as he cringes too much ;-)

Visit the BBC Talent Website to see all of the 30 contestants who were short-listed, and also view their presentation videos.

EOTS 2003