Broadcast news

I got an email from a researcher at ITV:

Dear ejh

I am writing to invite you to join the audience of The Jonathan Dimbleby Programme this Sunday.

This week's guest is Conservative leader Michael Howard. The show is recorded live in front of a studio audience of around 30 people.

I noticed you had written a letter to The Guardian following Mr Howard's visit to Brixton earlier this year and thought you may be interested in participating in the programme.

Our studio audience of around 30 people is a crucial component to the programme and offers an excellent opportunity for people to pose their questions to decision-makers and policy shapers.

Audience members do not need an in-depth knowledge of the issues being debated, simply an interest.

Because the audience is small, it's particularly important that we get a good cross-section of opinions. If you would like to join the audience, please could you give me a call (number below) to discuss the details and so that I can get a rough idea of some of your views.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

J---- P-----
Researcher
Jonathan Dimbleby Programme
London Weekend Television

This was the letter (well, one of them is): not one of my very best, perhaps, but a reasonable effort in my occasional campaign to become the new Keith Flett. Short, a little sarcastic, makes a rhetorical comparison, the sort of thing I do. Anyway it seems to have impressed somebody.

So I'm on, in the audience, recording first thing tomorrow morning (there goes my lie-in) and transmitted in the early afternoon, annoyingly opposite the rugby league highlights on the other side. Also too early to take proper advantage of the Green Room, I suppose.

It's been ages since I was on telly - I think the last time was almost seven years ago now, on a Channel Four sofa with Bruce Grobbelaar and Sharron Davies. This time it's in an audience of potential Tory voters and Michael Howard. I hope he doesn't want to shake my hand or anything.