ON THE BOX
The man with the square eyes is Mark Ritchie and this month he looks ahead to the TV coverage of the Edinburgh Fringe and the famous festival in general. The world’s press is sure to descend on the Scottish capitol and our friends at Auntie Beeb especially feature starry-named attendees, comedy people and visitors from overseas.
Not so long ago, I found myself standing around in the press office of a main Edinburgh Fringe company operator. Representatives from BBC1 The One Show, were lining up interviewees for this BBC evening magazine show and presenters were buzzing around pressing the flesh.
A group of African tribesmen arrived en-masse, all resplendent in their tribal costumes and carrying what appeared to be colourful spears of some kind. I often eavesdrop unashamedly at such junkets and what I heard made me smile. One of the Africans was informed, through an interpreter, that a coach trip had been arranged for the following day, which would be ‘Showing them Scotland’. Their tribal leader apparently replied that, being ensconced in Edinburgh lodgings, they had already seen what there was to see. The man from the BBC replied that the real Scotland was to be found away from its busy and expensive capitol city.
To be fair, that observation is reasonably accurate. Yes, of course, Edinburgh has a rich history. The Festival Tattoo draws huge crowds to its militarily and culturally themed nightly extravaganza. The bigger venues, such as Theatre’s and those venues which have been adapted to become albeit temporary theatre venues, are teeming with familiar faces from telly land.
Those performing in stand-up, pull the crowds and attract the TV cameras. The quirkier free fringe people try to cover their Edinburgh expenses by performing in venues where the punters show their appreciation by throwing a few quid into a conveniently placed bucket on exiting after the show. They too are sometimes spotted by enterprising TV researchers. This results in their opportunities for the proverbial 15-minutes of TV fame.
It’s a TV jamboree for the television producers and, provided the weather stays fine, that is also a factor in the success of some Fringe television segments. I remember being wet-through after being caught in a thunderstorm, just before going in to see David Baddiel. The urbane Mr Baddiel appeared just as soggy as his audience, as he got stuck into his task on-stage, immediately after stepping away from a live TV interview.
It’s all go, at The Fringe folks!
To express your views on UK-TV, please e-mail the editor. mark.ritchie@ukcabaret.com
