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The penultimate RHLSTP recording tonight and the emotions are heightening. The audience were delighted to see the surprise guests, Jim Howick and Mat Baynton and then James Acaster came on and told us all everything that is going to happen in Traitors this week and who wins. The audience all agreed to keep it secret, but this is the sort of thing you get if you come to the live shows.
Ha ha, not really. But he did tell us about some of the funny stuff that happened on the show that inexplicably didn't make the cut.
Both the Ghosts men have been on Death in Paradise and I pitched them my idea of Death on Death in Paradise, a TV show about a murderer working his way through the cast and crew of Death in Paradise and the actors being useless at solving the real crimes. Anyway I am not jealous of them for their amazing film, but I am jealous that they've both been on Death in Paradise. They will be jealous of me when I am the murderer on Death on Death in Paradise.
James was his usual disrespectful self (which hurts because I am so respectful to him), but even he was moved to say one nice thing to me, so there is power in the podcast still. I don't think it's quite sunk in that the next one will be the last one. Chris Evans (not that one) told me he'd miss it. But then when he missed his direct late train back to Wales and had to wait for a slower one, post 11pm, I think like me he might have felt it was time to try something different.
I'd hung around a bit after talking to James about more behind the scenes stuff from Traitors. I did once think I'd like to do this show, but having talked to a few people who've done it, I don't think I could cope with the psychological aspect of it. I've already had quite a few stress dreams about it and I am nowhere near being asked to be on it. It seems like a fun game, but then again they really did bury all the contestants alive, which is pretty entertaining, until you imagine it from their point of view. James is rightly very sensitive to mental health issues and this kind of TV can sometimes overlook that. I had a very mini version of it with the pottery show, which had a demanding schedule, long days and isolation from the family. Getting to the final, where filming started the day after show 4 was completed, felt a bit like a punishment rather than a reward. We were knackered and then expected to do our biggest ever build, whilst two people got to go home and have a paid week off.
But we were at least allowed to socialise and as stressful as the makes could be, it was also rather glorious to give time up to being creative. Plus no one suggested burying us alive. The team on our show were supportive and keen to get the best from us. So ours was mainly a lovely environment, but it made me understand how tough Traitors would be and that's a game which deliberately plays mind games and turns people against each other and (you may have noticed) can induce paranoia!
I still love it as a show, but I have no desire to chucked into it. I do not think I could cope. I certainly can't in my dreams. Michael Sheen was pretty mean to me the other night.
So I was a bit late for my regular train home and the next one that I would just have made was cancelled.
And looking at my app I realised that the longer I waited on the platform and the later train I took, the earlier I would get home. The 22.59 would get in at 23.55, the 23.12 would arrive at 23.51 and the 23.23 would get me to Hitchin by 23.47. That's some kind of weird magic right?
Did I want to wait on a cold platform to get home earlier (though take the risk that a later train might get cancelled too) or did I have a long train journey, stopping at every station, but get home later?
If I waited 20 minutes for the middle train, it seemed I might as well wait another 10 for the quick one, but then again, if I was sat on a train I was more likely to get a bit of work done and at least write the blurbs for the show.
In the end the first slowest train was over 10 minutes late and arrived at the same time as the medium slow second train. So there was no way I was getting on the first one. I took the Goldilocks train, which actually left before the slow "earlier" one and stole a seat in first class to write my blurbs (though mainly cos I couldn't properly open my laptop on a regular seat and had been sitting sideways and a drunk lady had nearly knocked it to the floor as she passed). They will never catch me.
I was home long before Chris Evans (not that one) and the other Chris Evans was probably out on a bender with Danny Baker and Billy Piper or with the other superhero actors depending on which Chris Evans you are imagining to be that one.
We've made the right choice to bring things to a close. But two more great shows (I mean one show obviously) and they will both be out in November.
