A seat in the gallery

My experience of television is mostly from being in front of a rectangular screen, so spending an hour or so at BBC East's studio in Norwich, was an unexpected pleasure.

There is still, I'm pleased to say, a regional element to 'The Politics Show', and I found myself in the green room at 'The Forum', a comparatively recent addition to the Norwich skyline, built after the main library caught fire and burned down. It's all glass and open plan, so you can, for example, peer into the BBC Radio Norfolk offices whilst you lunch at Pizza Express, or sip your latte.

Naturally, there is no audience for 'The Politics Show', so I was parked in the gallery whilst the stars were prepped, sound checked and briefed. The gallery is, much to my surprise, where the technical stuff happens, so I could pick from a vast array of screens to see what else was happening, listen in on the studio conversation, and wonder how they were going to hide the wires from the presenter's microphone.

Not a bad show either. I thought that the Lib Dem spokesperson showed up very well, whilst David Campbell Bannerman from UKIP was more polished than I had expected. Chloe Smith, the Conservative candidate (note - not the prospective candidate) for Norwich North, made up the trio in the studio, whilst
Richard Howitt joined in from the studio in Cambridge.

Next stop, campaign HQ in Norwich North...