Children’s TV Presenter Naomi Wilkinson
Having earned her stars on channel 5’s ‘The Milkshake’ show Naomi Wilkinson has quickly become a regular host on Children’s TV. Now with her own series, ‘Naomi’s Nightmares of Nature’, she has shown not just her talent in front of the camera but her bravery too as she comes face to face with some of the world’s most feared creatures. Her success is just reward for someone who set their sights on presenting from a young age…
“It was probably when I was about eight years old, I’ve got a book from school where I wrote about my ambitions in my English lesson and I wrote that I wanted to be a children’s television presenter! So I knew really quite early, I loved watching children’s TV and just thought that it looked a fantastic job but I didn’t realise the reality of getting to do it might be a bit more difficult!”
Like many aspiring performers Naomi’s path into television included a cameo as a Redcoat where she was able to hone her performing skills whilst taking every opportunity to pursue her dream of becoming a TV presenter.
“I did quite a lot of performing during my school years and became a Redcoat for a couple of years back in the day, so I’ve done a lot of singing and dancing. Being up on stage in front of an audience helps you understand those feelings of nerves beforehand. It helps you to learn how to think on your feet and also to make sure everyone can see what you are doing, which is something you’ve always got to be very aware of when presenting television.
Whilst I was there I got very busy trying to make a show reel and I sent that off to as many people as I could in the television industry. I got lucky and was invited to screen test for a digital channel Carlton Kids for a show called ‘Wakey Wakey’ and I was lucky enough to get the job which was a great training ground that led me to getting my job at Channel 5.”
Performing in front of an audience on a regular basis gave Naomi the confidence needed to land her first gig as a presenter where she has quickly learnt the ropes.
“No two days are the same which is something I love about my job. It will often involve travelling somewhere within the UK or further afield and will often involve wearing something quite ridiculous and making a little bit of a fool of myself. I’ll have to be on top of my script before I head off, making sure I have the right clothes with me for what ever activity we’re doing as quite often there’s something physical involved. There’s a fair amount of waiting around too, waiting for the cameras to be set up or the lighting to be put into place.”
Getting everything in place is something Naomi is all too familiar with, as she has also gained plenty of experience on the other side of the camera too as a producer.
“I’m just presenting now where as back in my Channel 5 days I was producing too. I think when you come from a background of doing both roles it just gives you an appreciation and understanding of what everybody’s jobs involve, which I hope would make me more grateful of everyone’s hard work and to sort of acknowledge that to make an activity happen, to make a piece of television come together it involves an awful lot of hard work from many, many people. I was often in the edit too and I think that helped me learn an awful lot about programme making. I can’t recommend sitting in on an edit highly enough.”
Naomi has defied the unwritten rule of TV never to work with children or animals and it’s this live interaction on camera that makes television so compulsive for many viewers and for Naomi it brings real excitement to the job too.
“That myth I obviously don’t agree with at all because I do it and it’s so much fun! I think half of that interactivity on the programme where you’ve got children in the audience and animals and you don’t know what they’re going to do, I think that is half the fun of it, you just have to think on your feet and go with the flow. I love that live TV feeling. You can’t prepare however much you try to, so I think that adds a real buzz of not knowing what will happen. I am often very much out of my comfort zone whilst we are filming items and they certainly like to find out which animals I’m afraid of and test me to see how I’ll fair in terms of my courage. It’s been kind of like facing my own personal fears!”
With an enviable list of growing credits what advice would she offer to anyone prepared to put their body on the line in the name of children’s TV?
“Be happy and upbeat because people would probably prefer to see a smiley person on children’s television than someone who is in a bad mood and be up for giving pretty much anything a go. I think you need to be prepared to make a bit of a fool of yourself and have a laugh at your own expense!”
Naomi is featuring in ‘Naomi’s Nightmares of Nature’ and ‘Marrying Mum & Dad’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows/naomis-nightmares-of-nature
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows/marrying-mum-and-dad
Julian Gaskell