Entertainment
How to become a BBC presenter the Matt Baker way – lamb a sheep, ride a unicycle and call the boss-Rachel Corcoran-Entertainment – Metro
Then ring directory enquiries for the boss’s phone number.
Matt Baker reveals how he kickstarted his TV career (Picture: Rex)
The presenter, 44, on walking the tightrope in panto, never recognising celebrities and why farm shows are such a TV hit.
You’re playing Joey the Clown in Goldilocks And The Three Bears…
I did it three years ago at the London Palladium and I have the same outfit and shoes, so it’s fun to put them back on.
Obviously, there will be a lot of younger members of the audience who, because of everything that’s gone on, will never have had the chance to sit in a theatre, so for some it’ll be one of their first experiences.
What can people expect?
I’ll be back up on the unicycle and the tightrope, there’s lots of singing and dancing and funny stuff. It’s a brilliant cast of experienced entertainers who know how to make audiences have the best time.
To feel the audience in the same room and everybody’s experiencing the same thing as we’re up on stage, it’s a lovely thing.
Did Strictly make you a more confident performer?
I was a British champion gymnast when I was younger, so all of that is what I’m falling back on, and Strictly reminded me of that time too. I was at drama school for a short time before I started with Blue Peter, so I didn’t have a huge opportunity to do a lot of performing. It’s lovely going back to that time and indulging in it.
Matt shimmied into Strictly Come Dancing 2011 (Picture: Michelle Moore/WireImage)
Did Blue Peter forge a career path you hadn’t thought of?
I didn’t have a career path! I literally hit this world of incredible experiences, and I learnt an enormous amount about television. On an evening after we finished Blue Peter, I’d go and sit with all of the editors and watch how they created all the Blue Peter films – as well as travelling the world and meeting incredible people at the top of their game.
It’s without doubt the best experience anybody in their early 20s could have within the world of TV.
An old school Blue Peter line-up of presenters – Simon Thomas, Konnie Huq and Liz Barker with Matt (Picture: BBC)
Was it your wife’s aunt who found the job advertisement?
Yes, she read in a magazine that Blue Peter was looking for a new presenter. And I literally just picked up the phone, rang directory enquiries and asked for BBC Television Centre. That is honestly how it happened.
Then I asked to speak to the boss and I managed to convince them to let me send in a videotape, which my dad filmed back on the farm. I rode a unicycle, lambed a sheep and various other bits and pieces for it.
I sent it in and suddenly I’d got the job. It was a short amount of time between sending that video in and being introduced to the Blue Peter viewers.
And now it’s come full circle as you’re filming life on the farm for Our Farm In The Dales…
Yes, that’s where I grew up and I split my time between up north and down south. Now the farm is set up in a way that’s a lot easier to manage with the breeds of sheep we have out on the hills. But mum’s a shepherdess and I dip in and out to help where I can.
Our Farm In The Dales stars Matt alongside his family, including his mum Janice (Picture: Charlotte Graham)
How much are your family loving being a part of the show?
It’s not like everybody’s suddenly got a big change of career. We’re just filming what happens and sharing it with viewers. It’s not a reality show but the reality of what happens. We just start rolling the cameras and film it. There’s no scripts, no plan.
Why do you think farming shows have become so popular?
When Countryfile moved to the evening slot, which is when I joined the show, there was no rural programming at all on television, so it was quite a big move.
And it changed the whole working landscape of TV viewing. Suddenly lots of TV commissioners went ‘Countryfile is popular, let’s make loads of rural programming’. For me growing up in the farming community, I’m delighted.
Do you miss interviewing people on The One Show?
I don’t, because I never stop talking to people. It doesn’t matter to me who that person is, whether it’s somebody down the local corner shop or an A-lister.
I just enjoy talking to folk. I wouldn’t know who half the people were that we had on the show. I was terrible.
Matt presented The One Show with Alex Jones until 2020 (Picture: Simon James/GC Images)
Was there anyone you were excited about chatting to?
The only person I’ve ever been starstruck by in my entire career was Terry Wogan. I went to interview him at Radio 2. I could see him through the glass window behind his microphone and I couldn’t believe it was him. I’d grown up watching him.
On the nights of BBC Children In Need he would be chatting away to the audience and then he’d turn to camera and keep talking. There was never any difference between the way he talked to the audience or people at home.
More: Sixty Seconds
How will panto affect your family Christmas?
They’ll be with me. They loved sitting with me in the dressing room for the last pantomime, so no doubt that will be happening again.
Break a leg, or don’t actually!
I’ll try not to because it’s dangerous on the tightrope! Practice is better than superstition so I just practise hard.
Goldilocks And The Three Bears is at Richmond Theatre, Dec 3-31.
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