Producing Joe Lycett on BBC Radio 2
In the run up to the New Year, Sara Cox took a well earned break from her Radio 2 duties, so comedian Joe Lycett took her place to broadcast live from his hometown of Birmingham.
Sophie Tibbles produced the show from The Mailbox in Birmingham and kept a diary of what she got up to across the week. Read on to find out more!
Monday
On Monday, we were so excited to get to the Mailbox in Birmingham to set up for Joe’s first show of the week and prepare for features including Hobby New Year, 6 O’Clock News, Scandalous and the New Year’s Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve Party.
Joe arrived a little earlier so we could pre-record Hobby New Year with gardener Arthur Parkinson and wine judge Helen McGinn. We edited the chat with Arthur to go out on Monday’s show. We also spent some time in the studio with Joe, getting him ready for his features, with a few practice runs to make sure everything was sounding great.
It was great to receive so many messages from listeners, with huge love for Joe all round! The show was jam-packed with shout-outs, features and some great party music.
Tuesday
After we arrived, we kickstarted our preparations for Tuesday’s show, which included editing Hobby New Year with Helen McGinn and pre-recording fashion designer and presenter Esme Young for Wednesday’s show.
Tuesday’s ask was a simple one, ‘What is overstocked in your kitchen?’ Which came about after Joe revealed he always buys lemons when doing a shop, even though he doesn’t need any more!
We also prepped callers for both Scandalous and 6 O’Clock News before the show to make sure they were still okay with going ahead.
It was another great show with lots of interaction and love for wine expert Helen McGinn.
Wednesday
Wednesday was the busiest day yet! On top of the usual features during the show, we started asking for All Request Friday callers and texts, to try and build up as many as we could before Friday, so we would have some idea of how the show is going to run.
We had pages and pages of content and listeners who were keen to get involved with Joe’s show. Fashion designer and Joe’s The Great British Sewing Bee co-star Esme Young’s feature on Hobby New Year went down a treat, as she offered her advice for people who want to start sewing in the new year.
Thursday
On Thursday, we began to make plans for the final show of the week on Friday, alongside our normal preparations, including calling back people for pre-records and checking they were still available to chat.
It felt like we went out with a bang with our features tonight! Scandalous caller Helen was brilliant, and Katie came back on 6 O’Clock News to report that she’d won the game of ‘Life’ against her 7 and 8 year old – she took that news report seriously!
Friday
New Year’s Eve and the last show of the week!
Friday was all about getting those requests in for All Request Friday, lining up callers and texts so that when it comes to the show, it runs like a well-oiled machine. This is the fun part, making sure that Joe and the listeners are having the most fun by playing the best party tunes before New Year’s Eve!
We were overwhelmed with interaction and constantly welcomed callers onto the show and lining them up to speak to Joe!
Christmas is such a special time to produce radio programmes, and it was amazing to be with Joe in his home city on Radio 2.