Joe is Executive Producer at BBC Studios. He's responsible for all the pre-recorded content on BBC Morning Live, and supports BBC Watchdog on The One Show, producing consumer films for their Wednesday slot.
He's responsible for a team of 75+ journalists, based all over the UK, producing a minimum of 15 current affairs films a week for BBC Morning Live. His passion, he told us, is consumer journalism.
And it all started when he was the runner on BBC Watchdog, then presented by Anne Robinson, 15 years ago. He says he wanted to “fight for good”. He's passionate about consumer stories and wants to help inform viewers about what matters most to them. After a few years producing topical series and documentaries for other channels, Joe was invited back to the BBC as topical producer for the One Show before he got ‘the call' to be the series producer for a new show Morning Live.
Initially, back in October 2020, the programme was commissioned for just a 6-week run but fast forward and they're now on series 7 and the show has pretty much doubled in duration from 45 minutes to 75 minutes.
It's frequently the most watched daytime show with typically 1.1-1.3 million viewers tuning in daily - that's 30% of the morning TV audience.
Who is watching BBC Morning Live? Joe and the team have a firm understanding of the Morning Live audience. While the show aims to represent all aspects of society, and all across the UK, the nature of its place in the daytime schedule means that those who are able to watch at home during the day will make a large portion of the audience. The team focus strongly on regionality, being based in Manchester, and are keen to represent issues that affect the majority of the British public. Topics that work well are things that everyone is talking about in their family WhatsApp chats - the programme is always looking for ideas that have great heartfelt stories, useful takehome information, and a reason for us to discuss it now. He's particularly focussed on topics that are relatable to all, aiming to make sure the programme has something for everyone.
A little more about the films Joe is responsible for They are always looking for more content. Joe joked that probably PRs won't be looking to go on Watchdog (he's responsible for the team that makes the films for the Wednesday slot on the One show) as it highlights brands and organisations who customers feel are letting them down.
But on Morning Live there is scope for PR's to offer up compelling content, provided it offers genuine value for the audience. The films cover a huge variety of topics, from consumer, health, crime, lifestyle, and much more, and are usually between five and seven minutes long. They follow somewhat of a formula x 2 case studies, an expert and always must finish with advice -what Joe calls a useful take home at the end of the film. Critically the case studies will have a heartfelt story to tell, and the issue needs to have topicality the sort of stories that you're talking about on your WhatsApp chats.
Television logistics For the filmed packages Joe commissions, they require at least 7 days' notice to produce a film comfortably, although Vox pops (asking members of the public questions on a topic) can be turned around faster for the right topic, but these are often based on a news line, or new statistics. However, studio based content can be turned around much faster as it's live each day, while content is usually planned weekend in advance, for last minute stories, experts can sometimes be required.
Other considerations and tips First hand accounts of interesting stories are always welcome on the programme, and if it comes from a recognisable household name, that can be useful too. Joe says stories need to be genuine and useful to the audience, and to avoid trying to pitch a story where the motivation is plugging a product or service. While incidental and balanced references to brands or products, provided they are not unduly prominent, are possible, they cannot be in any way central to an item and stories always need to be justified by being genuinely useful to our audience. Joe also pointed out that BBC Morning Live follows BBC Breakfast in the schedule, and so to be conscious of pitching very news like stories which may appear first on that programme. Ask what is Morning Live bringing that's different, and the answer is usually that takehome advice.
Exclusives can be a real bonus to a story, but the story must stand up in its own right for the programme as well. Joe mentioned that exclusive statistics or research can sometimes be a good topic for a vox pop, which can be turned around much more quickly than other films. He said Morning Live will be off air over the summer, with the current series ending on the 11th July, and returning early September.
The One Show digital output Morning Live has a very active website, and it has a lot of content and further information /advice about topics covered on the show. Often when stories feature on the website they then get picked up by news too and can be amplified further.
And finally what stories do they like most? The hardest stories to find are always going to be the most desirable for Morning Live. Those are cost saving, consumer pieces, giving the audience tips and tricks about how to genuinely save money, or avoid losing money (i.e. being scammed or tricked), or simple things they can do to improve their everyday life. All of these would need to be evidenced by someone who has done it, and can tell us their story. Alongside that Joe added that lighter stories can also work, so don't shy away from the surprising, interesting, and useful, dog stories for example, they love a pet!.
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