A phone-in, innit

Martin Baum recounts the experience of taking part in Richard Bacon's BBC Radio 5 Live phone-in

It’s been a year since my book To Be or Not To Be, Innit – A Yoof-Speak Guide to Shakespeare broke through and became a best-seller. Overnight I was inundated with invitations from the world’s media wanting to know all about the book and why I had written it.

Now, 12 months on, the slant has changed with the focus moving from explaining to debating, and that was how I found myself as a guest on Richard Bacon’s 5 Live programme from Television Centre. Although I had become fairly comfortable within the constraints of a more formal and structured interview, what was different about this hour long segment was that it was a phone-in, something I had never experienced before.

The nub of the forum was to establish whether Shakespeare should “be brought up to date”, if it was a good idea and was there any point. Was there any point? Perhaps I should have been concerned because now, on the whim of the production team, members of the public were being invited to let me know if there was any point to my book.

But instead of being filled with dread, and as daunting as it first seemed, I was actually looking forward to dealing with the likes of “Steve from Stratford” who may or may not have had an axe to grind for my literary treason.

The studio set-up was a vibrant affair with Richard Bacon being blokeish with Mark Frith, former editor of Heat, who I’d instantly recognised as a familiar pundit from any one of those “100 worst television moments”. I’d like to report that the recognition was a mutual affair but, suffice to say, and to no great surprise, he had absolutely no recollection of me whatsoever.

Without fanfare, I was silently ushered into the studio and directed towards a vacant chair. The first thing I noticed was that as irreverent and lively as it was in the 5 Live studio, what was clear was that although I had been invited into this broadcasting inner-sanctum, there were no special privileges given to an outsider being allowed to join in with all the banter, of which there was plenty. Richard and Mark; Richard and Rachael, who read the news, Richard and Andy, who did the sport. Everyone was actively involved, everyone except me. Still, I knew my place. Speak only when I was cued and don’t under any circumstances be smart.

However, and as strange and as intimidating as the situation was, these tacit guidelines made perfect sense. After all, these guys weren’t my friends. I was an outsider and at the end of my hour slot we’d never see each other again, so it really couldn’t be any other way.

There was another guest. A traditionalist who held a different view to mine who was sat on her own in an unmanned studio in Liverpool - and this taught me the valuable broadcasting lesson that out of sight is out of mind, especially if you’re not actually in the studio at the time of transmission. Unfortunately for the lady ’cross the Mersey, the balance of air time given was very much tipped in my favour.

Despite any initial misgivings, being associated with this radio clique, even for such a brief period of time, was an absolute delight. The double-take reaction from the studio was palpable after Adrian from Salford phoned in and complained that Keith Chegwin destroyed Macbeth for him after he saw him in the film of the play when Cheggers was a child actor. But despite the curse of Macbeth or even Cheggers, Adrian didn’t actually have a problem with yoof-speak, unlike Tim from Weston-Super-Mare, who was having none of it.

Throughout the hour the balance of opinion was finely split with regard to what I’d allegedly done to the writings of the Bard. However, what was important to me was that a year after publication my book was still dividing opinion. I can’t say for sure if anyone in the studio that night liked or even cared about the book but, nevertheless, the important thing was that it didn’t stop Richard Bacon regularly quoting extracts and copiously reading the full introduction with all the deftness of a story before bedtime.

Although I have participated in many interviews about ‘To Be or Not To Be, Innit’, being part of a live phone-in debate ranks as one of the most exciting.

Martin’s is currently working on a West End stage adaptation of ‘To Be or Not To Be, Innit’.  The next book in the Yoof-Speak series, about the works of Charles Dickens, will be published later in the year. See www.yoofspeak.net

For further information contact Futerman, Rose and Associates www.futermanrose.co.uk

Article published: 24.04.2009