The BBC and Me: Goodbye Old Friend
On Friday my time at the BBC officially came to an end. It’s not what I planned, but it is with excitement and trepidation that I open a whole new chapter in my professional life. I started as a freelance TV News Producer at the BBC News Channel in 2007 so the BBC has been a big part of my life for a long time. In all honesty, it feels like the end of a relationship, from the delicious anticipation of the early days, to the gradual resentment of the dying days. There’s a real sadness but I can see our journey ran its course and I can look back on the halcyon days with fondness.
I can still remember the feeling in my belly as I started my first shift at BBC Television Centre; I arrived ridiculously early and ate my sandwiches on a bench gazing up that iconic sign. I tearfully called my Dad for some moral support. I had finally got a foot in the door of the most respected news outfit in the world. I was giddy with excitement – and fear. I had wanted to be a journalist ever since I was a kid. I always loved writing and meeting people and it seemed the obvious choice. I started as a volunteer at my local radio station before working at several commercial stations then as a TV News Editor abroad but I always aspired to be a TV reporter for the BBC. At one point I was producing at Sky News and the BBC News Channel at the same time. Both were 24 hour rolling news channels and some colleagues referred to them as the “sausage factories” of news because we were literally churning out bulletin after bulletin nonstop. Eventually (and after much badgering of the editor with regular emails and phone calls) I got a job as a TV producer at BBC London for a few weeks, which then led to a few months and finally a permanent and more varied role. It was at BBC London where I managed to persuade the editor to send me on a Video Journalist training course.
Being a Video Journalist for BBC Oxford was such an amazing experience. I had the chance to set up, research, film, edit and report on my own original news reports. I had no intention of leaving because I loved it so much and was so passionate about my role in helping people tell their stories and holding people to account. I followed and reported on the journeys of families affected by the contaminated blood scandal for several years. I helped communities in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire get their concerns about plans by large developers to build on flood plains near their homes discussed in parliament – and even halted. I reported on people with disabilities who felt overlooked and discriminated against during the Covid pandemic. Every story was a privilege to work on. Unfortunately, the BBC Oxford TV News programme was one of the first casualties in the BBC “digital transformation plan” and was axed last December. There were no suitable redeployment opportunities for me, so I opted for voluntary redundancy.
I am now embarking on a thrilling and terrifying adventure as freelancer and focusing on my new podcast “Angela Walker In Conversation” where I interview inspirational people and discuss under-reported issues. One of the major frustrations of TV reporting is editing an interview down to a single twenty second clip. The wonderful thing about podcasting is that an interview can be as long as it merits so there is no need to reduce it to a single soundbyte. I have already recorded the first five podcasts and it has been fascinating sitting down with my guests and really getting to know them. My interviewees so far include a disability campaigner, a survivor of a military dictatorship, and a woman who has helped thousands of impoverished children. I hope I can do their stories justice and I will certainly do my best. My new venture might flop. Who knows? As I tell my children, it doesn’t matter what the outcome is as long we do our best. Right now, I am embracing this new opportunity and pushing the panic aside. I have had such fulfilling career as a journalist so far and I have no intention of stopping the train now – I’m just changing tracks.
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