Number One Family Round 2 Day One.

Tuesday 25th August

No live broadcast usually means a much longer time in bed and is a cause for celebration.

So I was looking forward to having the pleasure of luxuriating in the comfy bed in Manchester’s trendy Hilton hotel.

Then I checked the call sheet. Wakey wakey early doors again.

We had to be on location at the Comedy Store round the corner at 6:30am to rig cameras, sound and lighting for the next round of auditions for GMTV’s search for britain’s No 1 Family.

I was doing a two camera shoot with Geoff my colleague from Manchester.

We met at the entrance of the club along with Stuart and Ryan the sound recordists.

It would take a little bit of time to set up.

Geoff and I had to sync up the time code for our cameras and get them to match as best we could.

Stuart and Ryan had to rig a stereo mic for the contestants and personal mics for the judges.

The judges were Colleen Nolan of the Nolan sisters, Jonathan Shalit, a renowned manager and Jordan Jay from Universal Music.

The staff at the Comedy Store had come in at a time only slightly later than they would normally going home to help us out.

In an effort to be efficient they had put up the Number 1 Family banner. The only thing was that it was to high to be in shot.

 They had also put a table for the judges in position. The only thing was that it was too far away from the stage.

The banner was rehung without any stress or moans.

To get the table in the best position the front row of seats in the auditorium had to be removed. 

We all got stuck in to the job. Even Owen, one of the bosses at GMTV got  his hands dirty. 

The good news was on the lighting front. The stage lighting was ideal for us. 

All the lighting that needed to be done was one simple light for the judges.

When the rig was finished we got the judges mic’d up and in position. 

Owen Gets Down to Help Move the Seats.

Bringing the Banner Down a bit.

The Hopefuls Wait in the Bar.

The Final Touches to Colleen's Make Up.

Owen Briefs the Judges.

Geoff shot the families doing their auditions and I concentrated my attentions on the judges.

We saw around 30 families doing their thing. The majority were very good. 

At the end of the shoot Colleen had to dash off to another photo shoot.

Jonathan and Jordan went off quickly on a fast train to London.

After getting some food I headed back up the M6.