Margot Hayhoe joined the BBC in 1964 as secretary in BBC Enterprises – she then progressed to the Drama Serials Department where she worked up the ladder from Assistant Floor Manager to Associate Producer. She worked in Doctor Who, EastEnders, Silent Witness, Man in the Iron Mask, War and Peace and many other BBC productions. She left the staff in 1994 and worked as a freelancer until 2005 when she retired for production work – she occasionally works as a background artist.

What was your first job in the BBC? My first job was acting in the children’s drama African Holiday which was transmitted live from Lime Grove. It was telerecorded then transmitted again in April. I also appeared in Jack in the Box, The Thompson Family, Women of Troy, The Common Room, The Lady from the Sea and Champion Road for the BBC plus Cool for Cats, Emergency Ward 10 and The Lonely World of Harry Braintree for ITV amongst others. These were whilst I was still at my school,The Arts Educational.

Were you ever mentioned on the Radio Times magazine? Or is there any particular magazine you have kept as souvenir?  I have never been interviewed for the Radio Times, only had my name listed in the casts of the above productions. I have kept the front covers of the Radio Times for the programmes I worked on as part of the production team, such as Christ Recrucified, Prince Regent, War and Peace, The Old Men at the Zoo plus many others. I also kept the supplement that came for War and Peace.

How do you use BBC Genome? And have you found any particular programme episode you are fond of? I sometimes look to Genome to jog my memory of which actors were in certain series. I was particularly fond of any of the Francis Durbridge serials which always had wonderful cliff-hanger end of episodes!

Can you share any special memories you have of the programmes and features you worked in? It is very difficult to pick out any special memories from Doctor Who and many of the other productions I worked on, as they mostly have all been memorable. However a Dr Who I did with Patrick Troughton called Fury from the Deep gave me the chance to fly in a helicopter for the first time. As we took off from a cliff edge to go down to the beach, I screamed as I watched the earth disappear from beneath my feet which encouraged the pilot to swerve around, very exciting.

Another memorable moment was on Les Miserables, a serial with Frank Finlay, when we were filming a scene on the Isle of Wight that involved convicts in chains. These 20 or so actors were costumed and made-up in Portsmouth and I had to get the ferry tickets and march the men on board with their chains clanking away to get them to the location.

Trudging 14 times up and down St, Michael's Mount in a day on Man in the Iron Mask is seared into my brain as is hiding in cars to cue the drivers on Z Cars before the days of walkie-talkies.

On War and Peace we had a thousand Yugoslav soldiers for several days and the organisation involved in getting them ready and into position was impressive.

Filming in the centre of Bern for A Perfect Spy which involved closing the streets for a night shoot; Filming on Tender is the Night in Switzerland and France was a challenge, especially the beach scenes with strong winds blowing away the parasols and having to reschedule due to the rain.

Shooting Old Men at the Zoo with wild animals was interesting, plus having to find enough male extras prepared to have their bottoms exposed for injections as part of one scene shot in a disused biscuit factory near Hereford.

Trying to shoot London street scenes for Day of the Triffids was problematical as it was supposed to be deserted of any moving traffic. I enjoyed filming in Bath on Persuasion, as to see the actors in period costumes in the actual places in the book was a delight.

When finding locations, the variety of places I have been to has added to my education: inside prisons, mortuaries, council flats then stately homes, hospitals, court rooms, the working end of crematoriums, factories, dock yards and airports.

Working with the Visual Effects on Silent Witness makes one a bit blasé about body parts and post mortems!

How important do you think it is to preserve the history of TV and radio listings? I think it is very important to preserve the history of TV and Radio listings to show future generations the breadth and level of productions of the past. Looking at the pages in the 1950s and comparing them with the present day listings, shows how trivial much of today's output has become. It is also a great reference source.

Her friend Simon Robinson wrote to tell us about her past, and she subsequently featured in a Radio Times article and was interviewed by the BBC. We were also able to play her some of her old recordings we found in the BBC archive.

She thinks efforts like BBC Genome are vital to the history of broadcasting.

"We didn't think of a programme's significance at the time of making it, or that people would ask about it years after. Now there is a permanent and accessible online resource to benefit not only historians but the public in general. In my time with the BBC from 1936-1960 the world changed a great deal and the BBC programmes were part of that change and history."

"Now it is possible to see not only what was popular in a specific year but what was actually broadcast on a particular day. I could look and find out for instance what I was broadcasting on this day in 1938, 1944 or 1954, it's unbelievable", she added.

One look at the BBC Genome listings shows you the scope of her career. She is first listed in the 1930s making frequent appearances on radio singing with Jack Jackson and his Band at the Dorchester Hotel. Helen Clare was also one of the pioneers of early television broadcasts appearing in Cabaret Cartoons in 1937. During the Second World War, she made it to the cover of the Radio Times in September 1940 as one of the "three heroines of salvage".

She was a well-known voice on radio shows broadcast to the forces abroad. She sang and compered It's All Yours, a programme featuring children sending messages and songs to their fathers, uncles and brothers serving with the British Forces in remote areas around the world; she sang soldiers' requests on Calling Gibraltar.

Helen Clare was shown the more than 900 BBC Genome listings that mentioned her and said it was a surprise to see just how many programmes she had been on.

"It really does bring back memories and recollections of all the people I have worked with in the past. So many wonderful performers and most of them are gone now, but they live on in this. I'm currently contributing to my biography due out in 2017 and it has been wonderful as an aid for checking details of key programmes I was involved in."

You can find out more information about Helen Clare on her website, helenclare.com

Two years ago BBC Genome, the huge project that digitised BBC Radio Times listings from 1923 to 2009, went online.

We have a lot to celebrate – to this date, we’ve accepted more than 170,000 edits from volunteers and we’ve linked more than 10,000 listings to programmes that are available to hear or watch online.

But on these two years you've also shared your stories about memories juggled by Genome listings. One of the first emails we received when first went live came from Kitchener, Canada. "I would like to point out that your opening page includes a picture of ME. I’m flattered. Nice to be able to show my family that I did actually work for the BBC", said Michael Du Boulay.

So, to mark our second year online, we’ve interviewed Michael Du Boulay, a true Star of Genome:

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How did you feel when you saw yourself?

I was impressed that you should choose me to represent a BBC cameraman. I laughed because certainly my “jersey,” was not typical working dress of the day. Jacket and tie would be more truthful. I suspect whoever chose my picture wanted to change the image of the BBC. It was early on in my career there so much of my wardrobe originated in Canada! I think I was shooting Juke Box Jury.

How did you start working for the BBC?

My grandmother, who lived in England, sent me a BBC handbook of 1957 that outlined all things BBC. This was the spark that ignited my interest in working for such a prestigious corporation. I had toured England in 1959 then returned to Canada where I worked as an operator in Kitchener’s TV station. All along I was attracted to working in a larger more experienced service. I was in possession of an ITV glossy booklet showing off their studios in Elstree. This was the kind of facilities I hankered for.

My buddy and I sailed for Southampton in October 1962 with an introduction to Roy Thomson, who later became Lord Thomson of Fleet. He owned Scottish Television in Glasgow. We did not meet Roy but a director who gave us rail tickets to Glasgow to check out Thompson Television International. This was his company selling used TV equipment to offshore locations. We were involved in electronic conversions of cameras from 405 to 625 line standard. Scottish Television had purchased a mansion (Kirkhill House) outside of Newton Mearns to set up as a training college for staff from the recipient countries. All the while I was writing letters to BBC London in hopes of gaining an interview to no avail. I left Scotland early in December moving to London and finally got an interview in February 1963. BBC 2 needed more crews to produce programmes through existing studios.

What was your job at the BBC?

I was hired come March 1963. I started in crew 2 where Frank Wilkins was the senior cameraman with the famous Jim Atkinson as number two. Another crew member, Peter Hider, was assigned to me with the task of making me familiar with all the technical facilities in a larger studio. I began on cameras but moved to inlay/overlay then vision control. I thoroughly enjoyed the high standards of all skills serving BBC’s productions.

Could you share some of your memories?

My time at Evesham in Tech Ops course No. 16 was a great experience along with learning where in the country to place some of the accents I heard in class.

On April 20th, 1964, BBC 2's inaugural transmission was marred by a massive power failure. I was working on Panorama at Lime Grove and waited around hoping we would get power back and go to air. That didn't happen so off I went home and Panorama transmitted from Alexander Palace.

On the Friday that President Kennedy was assassinated, I was off at home. Heard the news on radio and the "bottom" of my stomach fell out! I had a date that evening to see The Balcony. Within the story there was a discussion about the merits of driving through the town in an open car. That was very hard to take. The next day I worked the Billy Cotton show at the theatre and all eyes were on network transmissions when possible to see the aftermath of that horrible event.

On October 15th, 1964 Britain had their general election. The BBC used two studios (TC1 and TC2) to facilitate 14 cameras covering election night and following returns. Richard Dimbleby did a fantastic job. This was the only time I was required to sleep over at the Centre. They put us up in East Tower so we could meet the 07:30 hr crew call to cover the results. I was camera control of the five studio cameras in studio 2 while other operators controlled the nine other cameras looking at caption boards updated with county results in studio 1. I worked on and off all day finishing at 21:20 hrs.

During a recording of the Beatles on Top Of The Pops, Paul McCartney came up to control room to sit in gallery and watch proceedings. I was doing vision control that day. I was tempted to go and talk but BBC culture frowned on operators mixing with show-business types.

If the bands had a number on the charts for more than a couple of weeks the practice was to bring them in to record their number for next airing of Top Of The Pops. I worked on two Rolling Stones numbers. Hey You Get Off Of My Cloud and Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown. Cilla Black also was recorded. This was early beginnings of "music videos!"

 

The BBC had been around for many years so staff benefits were established such as providing lunch vouchers and a soft-shoe allowance for crews working on studio floors. The latter ensured quiet crew movements while mics were open.

Having a "pub" in the Television Centre was a novel feature for me coming from Canada where no such facility existed in the work place. Much drama was produced in those years and I was very impressed with the high standard of performance from all the actors. We rehearsed everything and each rehearsal was the same. While working on Dr. Finlay’s Casebook you couldn’t help but notice the attention to details in the set dressing with all items accurate to the period... a 1928 Scottish practice at "Arden Hoose!"

I think that everybody was very proud of working for the BBC in those days. I was very impressed with the work day in the studio. When a "tea break" was called everybody vanished. Actors and crew were always on time. The crew calls were well attended with all arriving a good twenty minutes before starting the day’s work on studio floor. The planning of all the elements involved filled the time allotted with no overtime.

How important is it to preserve the history of TV and Radio listings ?

Your new site is a huge resource nailing down historic transmissions. I looked up the details regarding Dr. Who's first transmission which was on the Friday night after President Kennedy’s assassination on November 22nd 1963. This meant viewers were drawn elsewhere. They re-transmitted that first episode the following week.

Have you spotted yourself in any of the listings? Have we stirred any particular memories that you would like to share? On our 2nd birthday we would also like to thank all of the volunteers who have helped make BBC Genome better by editing the listings, and those who have taken the time to write to us with their stories.

Andrew Collins is a broadcaster and writer with numerous credits to his name.

He has written scripts for EastEnders, co-wrote the first two series of sitcom Not Going Out, and along with Stuart Maconie co-hosted a show on Radio 1. Andrew still maintains a connection with the current Radio Times as its regular film editor. He also hosts a weekly TV review show on UKTV's YouTube channel.

Here he takes a trip through his career by way of his listings in Genome - an estimated 450 (including credits pointing to his film columns in the magazine).

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What was your first job in radio or television? My first appearance on television was in 1980. My schoolfriend Paul Garner and I were invited to guest on BBC news programme Look East to talk about the caricatures we’d started drawing for local Northampton newspaper the Chronicle & Echo.

It was an exciting day. The school gave us time off, my dad drove us to Norwich, we pre-recorded an interview with presenter Ian Masters, then repaired to the green room, where soft drinks were free, and drew a caricature of Masters and fellow presenter Tony Scase, which we presented to them live at the end of the broadcast.

Only one of our friends, Craig, had parents with a video recorder, so we were able to watch our appearance back and soak up the fame the next day. I was paid an £8 appearance fee, which to me was a fortune! Dad got £38 travel expenses, which he kindly split between me and Paul.

My second appearance was 10 years later with my family when we were contestants on Noel Edmonds’ quiz show Telly Addicts, by which time I worked on the NME. We made it through to the semi-finals and were knocked out by the Allman family. As a self-consciously “cool” music journalist, I ought to have been embarrassed by this, but I wasn’t. Not at all. I even wore an NME t-shirt on our final appearance.

My first job on television was as a scriptwriter on Family Affairs, brand new Channel 5’s soap in 1997. My day job was editor of Q magazine, but I was getting itchy feet. I’d never written a script, but with five episodes a week, they needed to run in new writers, and I was lucky enough to be one of them. I ended up writing around 33 episodes over the next three years. And yes, I did leave my day job.

Do you remember the first time your name appeared in the Radio Times? My first solo mention must have been when I formed a comedy double act with my NME colleague and great friend Stuart Maconie. We had our own comedy series called Fantastic Voyage on the youth-aimed Radio Five – this was before it became news-and-sport Five Live. Although technically my name appeared before that, in 1988, when, as an avid Radio Times reader, I had a letter printed in the magazine and was chuffed to bits.

How did you feel when your photo was first published in the magazine? It was quite disarming. When Fantastic Voyage started, the magazine ran a small interview with an amusing press photo in which I am sucking on a plastic cigar. The Radio Five publicist, ever resourceful, brought it along to the photographic studio, and I was playful enough to use it.

Can you tell us your memories of the following programmes which you are associated with in the listings?

Collins and Maconie's Hit Parade After Fantastic Voyage, suddenly our names were in the title of a brand new Radio 1 review show. We used smart, funny journalistic types as our regular guests like Caitlin Moran, Miranda Sawyer and David Quantick. It was such fun to do – we also interviewed famous pop stars and had bands playing unplugged. This led to Stuart and I being asked to host Radio 1’s live coverage of the Brits and the newly-minted Mercury Prize for at least two years running. It seems almost surreal that we were part of of the nation’s favourite radio station at such a relatively early stage of our tenure, but this was the 90s of Cool Britannia – anything could happen!

EastEnders My apprenticeship at Family Affairs directly led me to EastEnders. Its launch producer Mal Young moved to the BBC and put my name forward. I tried out via the regimented induction process for new writers. They give you a storyline document and you have to write a number of scenes based upon it. You then hand this in, like an exam paper, and they decide whether they want to develop the relationship further.

I’ve just looked at the script I submitted – in it, Roy goes into the shop and asks Terry, “I’m in a bit of a hurry. Do you sell drawing pins?” Terry replies, “Over there with the Sellotape.” With dialogue like that, it was a forgone conclusion! Seriously, to my great delight, I was accepted.

I managed to earn consistent script commissions from 1999 to 2001, and had my name on 11 episodes, something I remain inordinately proud of. I even got to kill off a regular character: Nick Cotton’s son Ashley. It was hard work: you are expected to write up to six drafts of each script. I used to compare writing an episode to producing a single slice of salami that would fit perfectly into a whole sausage.

And yes, I did get to walk round Albert Square, but only once – you’re too busy writing to hang around the set! However, Barbara Windsor did give me a kiss after an official BBC drinks party.

Not Going Out Being put together with Lee Mack was the most significant blind date of my career. He’d been developing a sitcom based on a live show, and I was drafted in to help with the structure. I clicked with Lee and we were quickly set to work in a rented office in Central London.

I thought of the title, so was really hoping nobody would come up with a better one! Luckily nobody did. It was hard graft for six months’ solid, but Lee and I found a good, symbiotic working relationship, which included each of us coming up with five suggestions for each punchline and choosing the best one.

Because it was shot in a studio, I was present for the entire recording, which I soaked up. I co-wrote the whole first series with Lee, then the majority of series two with him, and a couple of episodes in series three and four, after which they decided to streamline the writing process. And Not Going Out is re-run on a constant loop, so it’s lovely to have had a hand in something that’s endlessly repeated.

You are also noted in the listings for your work as a screenwriter. What is it like to breathe life into new characters and add to existing ones? I could barely believe it when I first got to write dialogue for iconic EastEnders characters like Dot, Nick, Phil and Peggy. But these characters already had voices, your job was to stay true to them. A completely different job to creating a character, which I was able to do in my first solo-written sitcom Mr Blue Sky for Radio 4. It’s a treat to have actors as skilled as Mark Benton, Rebecca Front and Claire Skinner, as they will do things to your words that you might never have envisaged. But the very act of typing words to be read out by professionals is hard to beat.

How important do you think it is to preserve the history of TV and radio listings? I live for printed TV and radio listings. Because I now work for Radio Times, I get sent a contributor’s copy, but if I’d never set foot in the building of the magazine I’d still be a subscriber. Online listings are fine if you want to do a quick search, but on a week by week basis there’s nothing to beat literally flicking through a magazine, browsing, happening upon the odd gem. I am a child of the analogue age, but as an adult, I am totally wired – and certainly not a Luddite. At the Radio Times office there is an archive of every copy of the magazine, which I am lucky enough to be able to use. Paper archives are unutterably romantic to me. I am hugely impressed by the digitisation that the BBC Genome project has achieved, because it’s available to all, as it should be in an information democracy.

Have you ever searched for your own name in the Genome database? I have, of course. I’m pointlessly troubled by the fact that there is another Andrew Collins in the world who seems to have quite a following – he’s an author and speaker who specialises in ancient Egypt, Atlantis, UFOs, that kind of thing – but it’s not a competition. There’s a well-regarded writer of gay travel guides with the same name, too, and an actor in LA. But I think I may be the only one to be listed in the Radio Times archive, so that’s something.

Broadcaster Sue Cook has been a familiar face on our screens for decades. Her work has included presenting Crimewatch UK and being a regular presence alongside Terry Wogan on the annual Children in Need fundraiser.

Sue, who is working on her third novel and a film adaptation of her first book, takes a trip through her Genome listings - more than 1,500 - and recounts the memorable moments in her career.

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What was your first job in radio or television? I was working as a humble researcher at the Readers Digest when I saw a newspaper article about the imminent arrival of commercial radio in the UK. I’d loved listening to the pirate stations as a teenager and I thought it would be wonderful to work for the forthcoming new pop station, Capital Radio. Clutching my curriculum vitae, such as it was then, I headed straight off to Capital’s brand new offices in Piccadilly where I was interviewed on the spot and I was offered a job as a researcher. On October 16th 1973 I found myself broadcasting live on air providing information on an evening phone-in show. Exhilarating and terrifying.

Do you remember the first time your name appeared in the Radio Times? It must have been my first appearance on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours, where I hosted a feature about the cost of living on Thursdays called the BBC Shopping Basket. It would have been January 1976 – the first or second Thursday of the year I expect.

How did you feel when your photo was first published in the magazine? I was absolutely knocked out to be broadcasting on the BBC – the best broadcasting institution in the world. Shy little me was broadcasting live on Radio 4! It didn’t seem possible, but the photo proved it. Most importantly, my parents were thrilled and very proud.

Have you been interviewed for a RT feature and did you keep a copy? I’ve been interviewed for a few over the years and I think I do have copies yellowing in a file somewhere up in the attic. They were mostly to do with TV programmes rather than radio; features about Crimewatch from time to time, several about various trips I took for the Holiday programme, and one every year connected with the annual Children in Need TV appeal. Also a few ‘one-off’ pieces about single individual shows I presented.

Have you been honoured with an appearance on the cover and how was it for you? Twice for Crimewatch UK and once for Children in Need. The first Crimewatch one was a shot in the studio with Nick Ross and the two police officers who presented alongside us, David Hatcher and Jacquie Hames. The second cover featuring Crimewatch UK was a rather strange photo of me and Nick standing back to back looking vaguely up at the sky. The Children in Need picture featured me and Terry Wogan. It was always a huge honour to be featured on the cover of the Radio Times, and to go to the annual party to be presented with our framed copy. The nearest I ever got to an award!

Could you tell us your memories of the following programmes you were involved with?

You and Yours Throughout 1974/5, I’d been writing and presenting a live daily consumer news bulletin for Capital Radio. By the end of 1975, inflation in the UK had reached at an all-time high – running at a whopping 24% - so food prices would rise and fall by large amounts from day to day. This meant that my daily broadcast really helped people save money and gained quite a following. The BBC decided it would be a good idea to produce something similar on a nationwide basis on Radio 4's You and Yours programme. I was called in for an interview and offered a three-month contract. I decided to take the risk and accepted. Within three months, Monday’s You and Yours presenter announced she was leaving. Auditions were held for her replacement and to my amazement and delight, I found myself on the presenting team.

Nationwide In the mid 70s, a new invention arrived on the scene – the telephone answering machine. Shortly after joining You and Yours, I bought one. The first day I set it up, I came home in the evening to find a message from the deputy editor of Nationwide, asking me to come over to Lime Grove to interview for a job as one of the show’s film reporters. I was offered the job and jumped at it. A few months later, Sue Lawley took maternity leave with her second child on the way. Again to my amazement, I became one of the presenters, alongside Frank Bough, Bob Wellings, Hugh Scully and John Stapleton. It was a job I loved until the show was deemed to have reached its sell-by date in July 1983.

'Adrenalin-fuelled terror'

Children in Need After a summer thinking I would have to find myself a ‘proper job’, I was asked to co-present a live legal programme called Out of Court for BBC 2’s Documentary Features Department. A year later, the same department inaugurated the first seven hour marathon Children in Need Appeal. The idea had started as a brief Radio appeal back in 1927. Now it was to become a national institution on TV.

Terry Wogan was the principal host and I was brought on to be the sensible, factual element amongst the glamour and glitter. I explained to viewers how their donations would be spent, voiced short reports about the various children’s charities who would benefit and kept Terry Wogan to time when the news loomed at the top of the hour

Being ‘live’, and seven hours long, it was impossible to rehearse and I soon learned to enjoy the adrenalin-fuelled terror of not knowing what was coming up next, coping with technical hitches and busking my way through the unpredictable appearances by boisterous celebrities. I presented the show alongside Sir Terry for 13 very happy years.

Crimewatch In 1984, the production team responsible for Out of Court had been hatching a plan to launch another programme – one that aimed to solve real crimes, live on air. Police and BBC executives alike to a little persuading but eventually agreed to try out three shows. On the day of our first programme, the scenery builders called an all-out strike. We arrived to discover the cleverly designed, complicated set was still in pieces on the floor.

After some long-winded negotiation the builders agreed to get back to work and drilling and hammering began in earnest as we tried hard to rehearse. The last nail was hammered home 15 minutes before transmission.

The red light flashed, the first drumbeats of the signature tune boomed out of the speakers. Suddenly I had an awful thought. What if no-one rings up? Luckily hundreds of people did. One of the BBC’s longest running factual programmes had begun.

Who are the co-stars and other actors have made the biggest impact on you over the years? My favourite co-star was, without doubt, Michael Aspel in my early days of broadcasting with Capital Radio. A wonderful dry sense of humour, totally unflappable; a true gentleman and very generous with his encouragement to my fledgling career.

Are there any people working behind the scenes who have made an impression on your career? Many of the live series I worked on during the 80s and 90s were studio-directed by Pieter Morpurgo. Again, notable for his calm, unflappable temperament when everything was going wrong all around us, I knew it was up to him and me between us to keep the show on the road. I’d like to mention Peter Chafer too, who was the founder editor of two BBC TV programmes I loved working on – Out of Court and Crimewatch UK. He made working on these shows fun as well as worthwhile.

How important do you think it is to preserve the history of TV and radio listings? Very important. In many ways, we define our formative years by the programmes we watched and listened to and it’s so great to be able to call them to mind again. In times past, when there were few channels available, we tended to watch TV programmes as they were transmitted, so we all shared the same TV experiences. That sense of the shared experience doesn’t happen so much now, apart from big sports events and Strictly Come Dancing!

Have you ever searched for your own name in the Genome database? Yes! I've been totally knocked out looking at all the shows I was involved with – and several shows I’d totally forgotten ever doing!

Matthew Graham may not be a name that's immediately familiar to television viewers. But you're likely to have seen the screenwriter's work in the last few decades.

He has penned episodes of major shows including EastEnders, Doctor Who, Life on Mars and This Life among others. Here he shares some of the inner workings of his craft and stories of some of the actors and major names in television he's worked with over the years. Matthew currently has 110 mentions in the Genome database.

What was your first job in radio or television? My first job was writing an ITV children's show called Streetwise - must have been in 1990. I think I was hired because I was practically a kid myself. It was about cycle couriers in London and it starred an unknown young actor by the name of Andy Serkis. I wonder if he’s still in the business??...

What are your strongest memories from working on the following shows? 

EastEnders This was my writing school. I started at 23 and wrote about 35 episodes over five years. It taught me to work quickly and to interweave multiple storylines. It also taught me to understand production and how to write around production problems. For example I once had to tell story with Pat and Frank, where Mike Reid was only available on the Studio days and Pam St Clements was only available for exteriors. So I had them refusing to talk to each other and she would only shout at him through the window of the Queen Vic. It actually made the scenes more dynamic.

Doctor Who A joy. Both under Russell T Davis and Steven Moffat. You have to write with boundless energy and of course with those two leading the way you have to “run” very fast to have any hope of keeping up. Doctor Who is tough in the sense of the exposure and scrutiny that every line of every scene seems to come under from the fans. My first episode was Fear Her which the older Whovians didn’t much care for. But I was tasked by Russell with writing an episode specifically for the younger ones - and they seemed to enjoy it. Under Steven I got to do a two-parter that was darker. I tried to tap into the vibe of the Patrick Troughton era. I don’t envy the show runners on Doctor Who. It’s wonderful gig but the worldwide attention would drive me nuts!

Life on Mars We thought nobody would watch it. It was this big, indulgent white elephant - our attempt to get away with The Sweeney. It was only after we filmed Episode One that we realised how strong the chemistry was between Sam and Gene and so I beefed up Gene’s role. I remember after the first episode aired, I was in a cafe near my house and I overheard a couple talking. The guy was saying, “And you don’t know if he’s mad or in a coma dream or if he’s fallen back in time …” And I thought, “Hmmm, maybe we’ve got something here that people will get into …"

This Life It was a small, low budget BBC2 show with no real plots as such. Having come straight off EastEnders I wasn’t familiar with drama that didn’t end in a birth, marriage, affair, termination or death! It was initially terrifyingly vague and then very, very liberating. I felt I could just have the characters drinking wine on the sofa and talking about sex and careers and money (or lack of it) - in other words all the things me and my mates were talking about. My boss was Tony Garnett - an amazing producer of course and a man who once he trusted you, just let you write what you wanted. His only note was “keep it real”.

What is your experience of ‘giving birth’ to characters and shaping their existences? I usually have to picture an actor in the role to start with. With Life on Mars I pictured John Simm as Sam even though I knew we probably wouldn’t get him! Sometimes though I picture a person I know - a friend, colleague or relative that I think embodies the character. But everything changes at casting when a talented actor reinterprets the role. Often then you start recalibrating for that actor's strengths.

What is it like having such a pivotal role but working out of sight? Mostly I like being out of sight! More and more these days a show creator or show runner is visible. We give more interviews and the public link us more emphatically with the drama. In other words we soak up the praise and get the blame. It teaches you to be robust and I think it can make your writing more strident and more assured.

Which character and storyline of your creations are your favourites? I have to say that Sam and Gene are my favourite creations. The whole arc of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes I just loved and am very proud of. But I also wrote an episode of EastEnders many years ago when Sonia gave birth to a baby she didn’t know she was carrying. I tried to make it scary, funny and life-affirming and I think in the most part I pulled it off.

Tell us a killer line of dialogue you’ve come up with that you’re most proud of Gene, Life on Mars: (to small children in the street) Anything happens to this motor and I come round your houses and stamp on all your toys. Got it?

Who are the stars and actors have made the biggest impact on you over the years? I always loved writing for Bill Treacher from EastEnders. Arthur Fowler was such a tragic figure and Bill could make the lines vibrate with sadness or with gentle warmth. Of course it was always so much fun to see what Phil Glenister was going to do with the Gene Genie. I really loved writing for David Tennant - he’s an actor who actually inspires you to write in a different way because of the vibrancy and élan he brings to his performance.

Are there any other people working behind the scenes who have made an impression on your career? Tony Jordan was a big inspiration to me in my formative years. Tony was so effortlessly creative and he demystified screenwriting by being so blasé and down to earth about it. He showed me that writing wasn’t the exclusive domain of a certain middle-class quasi-intellectual. 

Jane Featherstone (who ran Kudos) was my executive producer on Mars. Jane is so clever at managing talent and driving through an idea. She believes in writers and fights for a vision. Courageous, creative and bloody good fun to be with. Russell T Davies - his boundless love for TV drama is inspirational. He knows his own creative mind so well and I’ve tried to emulate his confidence and self-belief and (like him) still try to not fall into the trap of arrogance and pig-headedness.

Do you remember the first time your name appeared in the Radio Times? Yes. Episode 779 of EastEnders. By Matthew Graham.

Have you ever searched for yourself in the Genome database? No, but I’m going to now you’ve put the idea in my head!

How important do you think it is to preserve the history of TV and radio listings? It’s the main artery of our popular cultural heritage. It reminds us where we were and who we were as a nation. It’s essentially important.

Maggie Philbin first appeared on our screens in the late 1970s as part of the team that presented Saturday morning children's show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.

She went on to present science programme Tomorrow's World. In recent years she has been seen on Bang Goes The Theory, and led a task force to establish ways of encouraging young people's digital skills.

Maggie, who currently has 755 mentions in the Genome database, looks back at her memorable moments in broadcasting and a listings regular - including being a Radio Times cover star.

What was your first job in radio or television? I joined Swap Shop straight out of University – so I had the rather bizarre experience of doing a series of interviews and auditions during my finals. I never dreamt for a minute they would trust me with three hours of live telly but the producer took a very big gamble and was incredibly supportive.

Do you remember the first time your name appeared in the Radio Times? Yes, it was very strange to see it there. But also a big relief. I’d been given the job in June and asked not to let anyone know until the show went on air in September. I was very literal about this and didn’t tell a soul outside of my family and best mate – so it was such a relief to be able to tell people what I was up to.

How did you feel when your photo was first published in the magazine? Slightly embarrassed as I’d had a haircut and didn’t really like it. I also used to be very self-conscious about stills photography.

Have you been honoured with an appearance on the cover and how was it for you? I am very proud to have had a cover – when I did a programme called Tomorrow’s World At Large – a 30 minute special about drag-racing. It was without doubt one of the most terrifying periods of my life – I drove a Ford Fiesta at the time and the programme editor had an insane idea that we would build a car to break world records. I did get my international racing licence and did some good runs but it was very obvious records would never be broken with me at the wheel. The wonderful bloke who’d be coaching me took over but the tyres exploded and the car spiralled out of control. Had that been me I and anyone on that course would have been dead.

Can you tell us your memories of the following programmes?

Multi-Coloured Swap Shop Swap Shop was a gift of a programme and a very happy introduction to the BBC. My fellow presenters and the whole production team were wonderful to work with and I learnt a huge amount.

Tomorrow’s World This was the show where I really felt like I’d come home. It was such a privilege to meet so many brilliant and innovative people from every area of science and technology. At the time I simply enjoyed sharing the insight and understanding with an audience who seemed very appreciative. Now I realise that the impact of the show was huge and again, it’s a privilege to meet so many young scientists and engineers who say it was TW which put them on their career pathways.

Playground This was an early show on Saturday mornings and was my first experience of Radio One. I did all the pre-recced interviews for the show along with Keith Chegwin. It was interesting to see how the friendliness of pop stars was in direct relation to their fame. Some of the rudest people we ever met were people we’d never heard of and who no-one ever heard of again. My dentist was opposite the BBC where we pre-recced those shows and sometimes I misjudged the time needed for my mouth to unfreeze after having a filling.

Star Turn This was where I discovered I wasn’t as fit as I thought I was.

Which co-stars have made the biggest impact on you over the years? I’ve been lucky to work with a huge variety of people – all talented in different ways. Noel and Keith taught me that it really doesn’t matter if things don’t go according to plan as that often provides the best moments of telly – a tip I found very helpful when I went on to do all those live Tomorrow's World studios with malfunctioning tech. I made some of my closest friends on TW – Judith, Kieran, Peter and Howard became incredibly close friends.

Are there any people working behind the scenes who have made an impression on your career? I owe everything to Rosemary Gill who gave me that wonderful opportunity with Swap Shop. She was a gifted, funny and incredibly clever woman. We named our daughter after her.

How important do you think it is to preserve the history of TV and radio listings? It’s a very powerful social record – you can see how tastes and interests change. It’s also useful to see how much braver TV was in an era of fewer channels.

Have you ever searched for your own name in the Genome database? I haven’t – but I will!