With his latest book, Notes from a Small Screen, adorning festive reading wish lists, self-confessed ‘fangirl’ Amanda Borrill sits down for a chat with writer, award winning journalist and Histon resident Paul Kirkley.
In his time as a journalist for magazines such as Waitrose Weekend, Radio Times and Rolling Stone, Paul Kirkley has sat down opposite such cinematic royalty as Tom Hanks, Kurt Russell and Jake Gyllenhall, been to the pub with former Time Lord Matt Smith and even thrown his (strictly metaphorical) boxer shorts at Sir Tom Jones himself – all in the art of securing a great interview. So, when face to face with such an obvious expert in his field, how do you go about interviewing the master? The answer is simple. You don’t. You just enjoy the opportunity to have a good old natter, stash away a few tips for conducting future interviews and surreptitiously attempt to convince him that writing an article for a future issue of HI HUB’s new magazine, HILights, would be an extremely good idea. Well, he didn’t say no!
A tough job but someone has to do it
Paul’s latest book, Notes from a Small Screen, begins back in 2015 and shares with us eight years of his television columns for Waitrose Weekend, each one written with his irresistible wit and panache. He describes the book as a “bit of a vanity project” driven by the desire of wanting to preserve seven and a half years of writing. But, he adds, “I also think it offers a useful overview of modern British television, which isn’t really available elsewhere”. Paul opted to focus purely on British output and the book opens with an immensely entertaining 5000 word introduction that summarises the state of British television in what, he laughs, “I am pretentiously insisting on calling the last days of the second Elizabethan age”.
So how exactly did he end up getting paid to watch the telly? “All the other Weekend critics were famous faces (Mark Kermode, Mariella Frostrup, Stuart Maconie, Alan Titchmarsh etc)”, he revealed “and I was supposed to be a temporary stand-in until they could tap up someone more glamorous to do it. But, after a few months, I was given the job permanently. I like to think it was because my copy was too witty and sparkling to let go, but it’s equally possible they couldn’t find anyone more famous to do it. (Maybe they were all too busy being on television to watch it.)”.
Flicking through the pages provokes nostalgic memories of all that great TV you loved over the last few years but also introduces you to a whole new bunch of shows you didn’t even know you needed in your life, but most definitely do! Paul’s obvious love for the BBC classics such as Poldark, Happy Valley and Motherland transported me back to nights gone by when my ‘Do Not Disturb sign’ was very much in use. His scathing views on many others, including anything involving food critic Giles Coren, made me laugh out loud. And, in these days where pretty much everything is easily available to revisit On Demand, this is a great reference book for making note of what was hot and what was definitely not. Post-it note page markers at the ready (other brands are available)!
Paul remains modest about the privilege this job brought, telling me “my granddad was a miner, literally toiling beneath the ground in the dirt and the dark. So I always tried to remember that sitting on the sofa, eating crisps and watching telly was a very privileged way to earn money. But I still got quite grumpy about it at times, especially when having to watch yet another ropey ITV ‘psychological thriller’. The struggle is real”. Yes Paul. As is our sympathy.
Top TV moments
With this book spanning eight years of amazing British television, I had to know what, in his expert opinion, falls into his most memorable TV moments from that period. “Chernobyl (Sky Atlantic) was extraordinary – a terrifyingly immersive descent into hell that haunted my waking dreams for months. (I’m not making it sound much fun, am I?) The End of the F****** World on Channel 4 was a brilliant black comedy-drama that deserves a lot more love. And I absolutely adore the Inside No.9 episode Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room, which is like Samuel Beckett, if Samuel Beckett had written jokes about Blankety Blank and The Grumbleweeds”. And this, of course, illustrates exactly why he really is the best at what he does.
A childhood well spent
Growing up in the 1970s there wasn’t the array of dedicated kids’ channels that exist today and those rare opportunities to simply sit and watch TV were usually accompanied by that well worn soundtrack of parents demanding we turn off that television set and go and do something less boring instead. TV producers even created a show named exactly that – as if it needed further enforcing.
Fans of Paul’s writings about Doctor Who will be in no doubt what his No. 1 childhood TV show was and, it has to be said, all that viewing doesn’t seem to have done him too much harm at all. He has published books on The Doctor and regularly writes for Doctor Who magazine. Furthermore, his recent revelations about having been in the room during filming of the groundbreaking scenes where David Tennant bi-generated to be joined by the fifteenth Doctor, actor Ncuti Gatwa, were met with blatant and undisguised envy by Paul’s social media groupies, myself included.
A father of two boys himself now, I asked Paul how his childhood TV life differs from that of his own children in 2023. His answer, I’m sure, will resonate with many. “When I was young, our parents used to tell us we’d get square eyes from watching too much television. These days, I’d love my kids to watch more telly, instead of watching idiots on TikTok and YouTube, or mindlessly shooting people on the Xbox. Television, with its proper storytelling and craft, now feels like the equivalent of making them read an improving book”.
Festive favourites
With Christmas just around the corner, I couldn’t miss this opportunity to quiz Paul on his memories of TV from Christmas past. Without a doubt there is something very powerful about those childhood memories of a Christmas spent with those you love in front of the box and, unsurprisingly, Paul was ready with his own memory. “Watching Quincy’s Quest“, he shared. “A Christmas TV film starring Tommy Steele as a faulty department store doll who embarks on a mission to find the store’s Santa Claus and save his fellow rejects from the incinerator. It was basically Toy Story, 15 years ahead of its time”. Have to confess, I wasn’t expecting that!
And in Christmas present – what makes for a special family afternoon in front of the fire for The Kirkleys? Tradition rules supreme it seems as Paul replies with, “It’s A Wonderful Life, obviously. As a family, we always watch The Snowman and its sequel, along with a wonderful BBC film called Click & Collect, with Stephen Merchant”.
Finally, although I suspect I already know the answer, TV or Radio Times on their coffee table? “I’m offended you even have to ask”, comes back his mock outrage. “I mean, who in their right mind buys the TV Times? I got to write something for last year’s Radio Times Christmas special. I think that’s when my career may have peaked”.
Peaked? Not a chance. You’ve yet to write for HILights magazine… remember?
Paul’s book Notes from a Small Screen is available on Amazon now. Find out more about Paul and what he gets up to when he’s not watching television by visiting his Interesting Media blog, here.
RREAD ALSO: Box of delights: the ultimate lockdown TV viewing guide and Histon journalist wins award