The Last Debate Preview.

Thursday 29th April (am)

On Wednesday Afternoon BBC Staff Enjoy a Picnic.

The BBC Lighting Rig.

The BBC had won the wrist band contest with their fabric printed jobs rather like the one my son still wears from his last trip to T in The Park.

The Trio of Wrist Bands.

I somehow think that my nice lilac one will not stay on my wrist for that length of time.

The ITN Truck on Wednesday Afternoon.

When we arrived Derrick the satellite engineer was very busy getting his head round a truck that was not his usual one.

The camera position that already had the camera cable and mains cable laid in around to it underneath a gazebo was a front on shot of the Aston Web building.

The Aston Web Building.

The BBC Sky and ITN were all going to have the same shot which Ravi the producer and I felt was a bit too close to the impressive Victorian red brick piece of architecture to show it in its full glory.

Sky News going Live on Sunrise.

A little bit further back would be ideal and yesterday we had selected an alternative position a bit further back on the grass.

However Derrick was so busy sorting things out that we would need to stay in the pre set area for at least the first few broadcasts.

Ravi had procured an other autocue set up that was potentially better than the iphone app that we used with Helen last week.

It did work but looked somewhat Heath Robinson compared with our neighbours the BBC.

The GMTV budget set up........

.....The BBC set up.

John Stapleton Ready to Broadcast.

Ravi Controls the Machine from his Trusty Mac.

The first broadcasts all went off without a hitch which was a relief because there was talk of the new big boss of ITV Adam Crozier paying a visit to the gallery to see how GMTV worked.

I am not sure if he did end up popping on to the gallery but if he did we did not drop any bollocks.

When the time was right we did move all our gubbins and got the shot that I would have like to have had from the start.