January

Me and Charlie Brooker

I was doing lots of stuff for Sunshine and Channel4.com, saw Ben Folds in concert, the Sunshine trailer was leaked by resourceful fans and I was interviewed for Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe.

February

/Cat blog

MASSIVE Sunshine stuff, loads of Channel 4 stuff, went to LIFT where Brian spoke and my Screepwipe interview was broadcast.

Watch Video

March

Danny Boyle on the Sunshine set

I know the photo above wasn’t taken in March, but the month was so freakin’ mental I didn’t take any photos. I was doing 7 days a week, 18 hour days mainly for Sunshine- press and bloggers’ screenings, press interviews, cast and crew screening, Manchester screening, messageboards, emails, IMDB, generally mentalness. There was also Channel 4 stuff, a discussion I took part in at the ICA, went to Cambridge with Brian who spoke at their Science Festival… and I’ve also got ‘Milton Keynes’ in my diary on the 16th. I’ve got no memory of what that was about at all.

April

Danny Boyle, Cillian Murphy, Brian

Another insane month. Sunshine was released, screening and Q&A with Danny at the Ritzy cinema, trip to Russia for the premiere, the 28 Weeks Later premiere… and I bought some ‘Sunshine’ props and costumes. :)

May

Tiger in my face

My Sunshine props and costumes were delivered. :) Was starting to get properly frustrated with the Channel 4 stuff, was weaning off Sunshine, I went to the Arthur C. Clarke Awards nominations, did a Social Media Club photo walk with Lloyd, went to Anna and Julian’s wedding and started looking at secondary schools for my son.

June

Brian at the Star Wars exhibition

Trying to get back into life and recover generally from Sunshine insanity. Sunshine was at the IMAX, spoke at Music Tank, Daywatch screening, more secondary school stuff (including an entrance exam… yikes!)

July

Me at the Gormley exhibition

Secondary school interview (yikes!), started on the Sunshine DVD release, bit of Daywatch work, David Hoyle started Magazine again… my son was offered a place at a secondary school (yay!)

August

Brian, Mo, Benny Wong, Cliff Curtis

Sunshine DVD release, 28 Weeks Later DVD release, Daywatch, more David Hoyle at Magazine… QR Codes.

September

QR Codes

QR Codes for 28 Weeks Later, interviewed about QR on various tv and radio programmes, my son started at his new school, I was invited to talk to the Nuclear Industry Association, recorded the Nature podcast sponsor stings, went to more David Hoyle shows, saw Prince’s final aftershow gig, got properly ill.

October

CERN

Still ill. Started working on a project looking at the Ageing Population, went to CERN twice – the first time with Kevin Eldon and Simon Munnery, the second time with Quentin Wilson- took part in a Nuclear Industry Association roundtable discussion, met Arvind from Slingshot Studios.

November

David Hoyle

Lots of meetings, dinners and lunches. Ageing Project roundtable meeting and dinner… And, of course, the wonderful David Hoyle.

December

My father came to visit, I attended the Juno bloggers’/Twitterers’ screening, fell in LOVE with ‘Juno’ (you’ll be hearing more about this), started Twittering (finally), went to see the King Tut exhibition, attended the Nuclear Industry Association annual dinner, my son had his birthday, recorded a Digital Planet with Gareth Mitchell and Bill Thompson, more talks with Slingshot Studios, David Soul…then…

…today.

After all that, I really need to rest over the next few weeks. I feel like I’ve still not recovered from my illness properly and still need to catch up on all of the sleep I lost last spring with Sunshine… My next 10 days will consist of POWER RESTING. I won’t do any work (except for watching the pile of screeners I’ve got), I won’t worry about whether or not I’ll have any work in the new year… I will just relax in the most hardcore way…

Here’s me and Charlie the other day:

Here’s us about 2 years ago on the set of Nathan Barley:

Here’s us about 6 years ago on the set of The Kit:

I love Charlie…

I first met Charlie on the top floor of BBC Broadcasting House. We had both been hired to present The Kit, a new technology programme for BBC Knowledge. Charlie sat on one end of a very long table I sat on the other end… I had been told he presented Radio 1’s Digital Update (or something) so thought, ‘Oh god he’s going to know loads more than me about this stuff. I’m rubbish.’

He seemed nice enough though.

I hadn’t worked a lot after I had my son and The Kit was the first new series I had done in two years. I was very excited (as I’m a geek at heart), yet a bit nervous, too. I always find it a bit nerve wracking meeting a new co-presenter for the first time…

There is deep trust involved, massive respect and sometimes an almost ESP-like thing that goes on between co-presenters while you are ‘on’. You have to feel that the other person is going to do everything they can to make you look good while you are doing everything *you* can to make them look good! If I make a mistake I’ve got to feel absolutely sure that my co-presenter will pick it up for me and likewise I’ve got to be totally in tune with my co-presenter so that if they get stuck I can jump in seamlessly and sort it out.

Other presenters who I’ve worked with who are good at what they do, challenge me to get better and have a bloody good time with me while we’re doing it are some of the most important people in my life.

So meeting a new co-presenter is filled with weirdness for me. ‘Is this person going to like me?’ ‘This person has to like me.’ ‘Will I like them?’ ‘Will we get on?’ ‘We’ve got to get on!’ ‘Oh god please don’t let me sound like an idiot.’ It’s kind of like going on a blind date EXCEPT you know you’ve got to spend at least the next 3 months seeing and working with this person no matter what!

So back to Charlie. I remember that first meeting he had an MP3 player. I thought, ‘MP3 player. Oh god, he’s, like, really cool.’ Remember, this was early 1999. Napster didn’t even exist yet.

The first series of the Kit was 26 episodes long and we filmed them all in like 3 days or something (actually I think it was 8 weeks). It was, at times, a bit mental. Charlie throughout it all was always unbelievably nice and unendingly funny.

Very early on- it could have even been during the first week of filming- Charlie showed me some of the stuff he had on his (now defunct) site Superkaylo… as well as ‘Cruelty Zoo’ something he had done for PC Zone Magazine which had got the mag taken off the shelves.

After seeing Cruelty Zoo, I knew this was going to be that start of a beautiful friendship!

The first series of The Kit seemed to go by like a blur and my memories of it are vague… I just mainly remember the pure joy I felt meeting someone so unbelievably nice, honest and self-effacing yet who had the nastiest, most wicked and sharp sense of humour. I like that in a person. If anyone can even come close to shocking me AT ALL I will immediately fall madly in love with them and stick by them forever (Toppy, Mr. Peach and Charlton are the only ones that have been able to push my boundaries of taste and decency on at least a semi-regular basis. You guys rule.).

Anyway, that was 1999…

In an alternate Universe, not too distant from our own, Charlie and I ran away with one another straight after episode 3 of series 2 of The Kit- straight out of the dressing room at Silver Road studios into our new life. Right now in that other Universe, Charlie2 and Gia2 are in their flat watching Clown Porn and drinking too much wine…

In our Universe Gia is sitting at home on her computer writing this… and Charlie is at his probably finishing his Guardian article… before watching Clown Porn and drinking too much wine…

xxx