10 things I did in 2019

Another year over, a new one... well, you get the idea.

2019 has been an incredible year, and my first full year at the lovely Redwood working as Editor for Virgin Media, so I just wanted to share a few highlights from the past 12 months.

1. BAFTA

First up, BAFTA! Wow, that was so much fun. I had the best time 'working' and doing the backstage interviews for the Virgin Media BAFTAs, chatting to the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch et all. I then went into an overnight edit with a video editor (and a lot of tea) to produce a next day highlights package for the awards. This was the result:

Bonus video: our interview with the brilliant Rylan:

2. MARVEL'S AVENGERS

As part of Virgin Media's sponsorship of the Marvel's Avengers videogame, we have been producing loads of great stuff for it, focusing on expert and exclusive insight from the game's development team. Here's just a taste of some of the videos we've done, including an 18-minute developer commentary on a piece of gameplay. Have learnt so much about scripting, producing and editing videos on these projects, and it's been great to get back into gaming.

This 18-minute gameplay commentary with the developers:

Quick-fire questions with Head of Studio, Scot Amos, filmed in Cologne:

Iron Man character profile with Scot and Lead Producer, Rose Hunt, filmed at EGX:

3. DERRY GIRLS

Couldn't fail to mention my favourite interview of 2019 with the cast of Derry Girls. The cast were so brilliant and down-to-earth, despite being in a colossal worldwide smash. One of the loveliest group I've ever interviewed. Huge thanks to Channel 4 for facilitating:

4. LOTS OF FILMING

Have created loads of really fun videos this year, particularly for Virgin Media Original shows The Rook and The Feed. Again, I was on scripting, producing and editing duties, working with a terrific film department at Redwood who took every random concept I threw at them and really ran with it.

A game of Would You Rather with the cast of The Feed, filmed on set in Manchester:

A game of the Yes/No with the cast of The Feed, filmed on set in Manchester:

A game of Would You Rather with the cast of The Rook, filmed at a junket in London:

An explainer video with the cast of The Rook:

5. SCREENINGS, SCREENINGS, SCREENINGS

Hey, bet you didn't know, but we're Living In The Golden Age Of Television, dontchaknow. And 2019 was an absolute banger in terms of TV. Seriously, look at everybody's 'best of...' lists, and the television we got last year was the best there has ever been. I was lucky enough to go to screenings to all of the big hitters over the past 12 months. Here are just three of my favourites that I wrote up. (FYI, would love to do a screening Q&A, if anyone's watching).

Killing Eve, series 2:

This Way Up:

His Dark Materials:

6. PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON REVIEW

Among my favourite things I wrote in 2019, this Premier League season review was up there. It was a great chance to write, hopefully, a funny look back at the 2018/19 season. It even features a cat, which was my personal non-Liverpool-related highlight of the season:

7. BEST TV MOMENTS OF THE YEAR

Speaking of reviews, I loved creating this 'best TV moments of 2019' feature. It features a lot of TV dogs, which makes me very, very happy:

8. CHRISTMAS #CONTENT

Apart from Christmas being my favourite time of the year, it's also my favourite time of the year for absorbing entertainment content. Lists and round ups are my 'brown paper packages tied up with strings'. Here are a couple of my faves I wrote up, including a best new shows of 2020 feature that almost killed me (essentially, there A LOT of very, very good-looking brand-new original shows next year, and I think I wrote about every single one of them).

Best new shows (both comedy and drama):

Best Christmas TV 2019:

Best ever Christmas TV specials:

9. SOME RANDOM STUFF

Penultimately in this now quite long list (see, told you I like lists), here are a few random things I really enjoyed writing.

A preview for Harry Redknapp's Match Fit on ITV:

A BRIT Awards bingo game:

A preview for Hypothetical on Dave:

A preview for Taskmaster on Dave:

10. GAME OF THRONES COVER STORY FOR THE BIG ISSUE

Finally, in an actual dream come true moment, I got to write the cover story for The Big Issue for the final season of Game of Thrones, interviewing the cast and the people whose lives have been changed by the show. It's one of my favourite things I've ever worked on, the cover is BRILLIANT, and it's a piece of work I'm really proud of. Check it out:

That list was probably far longer than either you or I anticipated (typical writer), and it's just a little glimpse into some of the stuff I did in 2019. Thanks to all the brilliant people I worked with over the past 12 months, and I look forward to working with you again next year.

Want to do even more in 2020 (a podcast is right at the top of my NY resolutions), so do get in touch if you'd like to work with me at [email protected].

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!