Lights, camera, action ...

As someone who's always considered himself to have a "face made for radio", it was a surprise to be contacted in October by a TV company interested in using me to present a potential TV series that would combine fishing and travel and a nod towards my Christian faith. My friend Stewart Bloor, also a church minister, was also recruited to the project, which saw us filming a pilot "taster" episode that will be "hawked" around TV world and shown to commissioning editors in the New Year.

 

And so it was, that after some filming of my own church's Sunday services, along with filming of my family at the Vicarage, we ended up on Monday by a small carp pool with a majestic backdrop of the hills of the Severn Valley.

 



The plan was to catch a few fish for the cameras, before heading on to Great Witley parish church to do some filming there, and to meet their angling mad churchwarden. Part of the sub-plot was that I would fish in a traditional style (I used a handmade porcupine quill float, and perched myself on an old fashioned willow creel, although I didn't go all "split cane fundamentalist" and, rather,  opted for a carbon float rod and fixed spool reel), while Stewart would fish using the full modern carp rods/baitrunners/rod pod/bolt rig and boilies/PVA bag "thing".

 

I'd taken a few small gudgeon on my float-fished maggots, when Stewart's alarm sounded and he was battling the first carp of the day. The cameraman zoomed in on him, the rod took on a pleasing battle curve and then "ping" ...... the hook pulled and the line went slack. No-one said anything. With only 4 hours of actual fishing time (with travelling to the pool, shots to camera, voice-overs and travelling on to the church we were working for at least twice that amount of time, but the actual angling is only a small part of the whole process) we were aware that this might be our only chance with carp, and however diverting gudgeon and small perch might be, they're not exactly great TV viewing!

 

 

Fortunately, after a string of small gudgeon and perch my float once again disappeared, and this time I found myself attached to an angry carp. My float rod and light line combination meant that, although not by any stretch of the imagination, a large carp, the fight was pleasurable, and the fish bent the rod nicely and performed well for the cameras before being pulled over the rim of the waiting landing net, a nice common of about 3 pounds.

 

 

That fish proved to be the "day saver", as only further gudgeon and perch followed its capture. It had always been a bit of a gamble to fish for carp in December with such a small timeframe in which to catch, and my "percentage game" tactics were always likelier to succeed than the "big fish or bust" approach that had been asked of Stewart. It had, however, despite the pressure to produce been a real pleasure, and I've seldom been more delighted with a carp of such humble proportions.

The fish of the day, however, was caught by Steve, a friendly angler not being filmed, who was fishing in a corner of the pond. Not only did he catch far more gudgeon than me, he used one as livebait and caught a beautiful, 1 and three quarter pound perch that I viewed enviously from my swim. Maybe I'll return to target the perch sometime.

 

 

As dark drew in, we drove on into the rural Severn Valley to film at the magnificent parish church of Great Witley. A small church built in extravagant baroque style, it's indisputably a thing of great beauty, and with an organ associated with the composer Handel and ceiling paintings (see below) by Belluci it was bursting with interest for the future TV viewer.

 

 

The bonus was that we were met in the church by its churchwarden, Rick Warner. Not only was he a repository of knowledge about the history and features of the church, nor just was he a link with its current Christian worshipping community who meet in the building, but he is also an avid angler who works full-time for the Angling Trust, helping them to develop national strategies as part of their role as British angling's most significant charitable and administrative organisation. He gave his time freely and generously, and couldn't have been more helpful.

 

                                                                         Dr Rick Warner

 

Altogether, my filming experience had been an eye-opening and enjoyable two days. Throughout the filming in my own church, at the lakeside, and at Great Witley church, our producer and cameraman, Ben,  (for whom the idea of a possible series came as a result of his stumbling across this blog) was a delight to work for, and was unfailingly patient with my and Stewart's first foray into the brave new world of TV presenting, talking to camera, live action filming, voice overs and re-takes (of which there were several!).

 

Now, it's just a case of "watch this space" as the pilot is viewed by commissioning editors in the New Year. Watch out, Robson, I'm after your job .............. although in a less manic,  "hyper" and demented type of way!