Ben Faulks: From CBeebies to Panto - Green-Fingered Adventures in a Magical World

Good evening, good afternoon, good morning, good and tag, bienvenue.

All those things, I always see me in the side.

It's the wrong time of day.

Okay, we're back.

I've been in Europe and I haven't even left yet.

I haven't even left and I'm acting like I'm back because when I put this out, I'll have come back, but I haven't been yet.

It's the same as Edinburgh.

I'm actually saying it before I've done it.

There we are.

I probably had a really nice time.

I'm sure I had some waffles and some frites and frit sauce.

I'm probably half a stone heavier for me and all that European stuff, but maybe not because it's healthier.

Generally, they have less rubbish in their food, don't they?

Well, anyway, I've had a great time in Europe, even though I haven't been yet, and the boat was really smooth, even though I haven't stood on it yet.

Due to an absolute hatred of flying, I decided that this time to cause a lot less stress that I would offer the idea of traveling to Europe by boat.

Luckily for me, everybody was on board, literally.

And a wonderful time was had by all.

It was so sad.

I haven't been yet when we're talking about it.

Anyway, today's episode of Television Times features the star of ZBBs, Mr.

Bloom.

Now, if you've got kids, you'll know who Mr.

Bloom is.

If you haven't got kids, you probably know who he is.

He's a character played by the fantastic actor, Ben Faulks, who I was lucky enough to work with a decade ago on a couple of pantos back to back.

And we got on famously.

He was a really nice guy, just genuine from the outset, you know, just the nicest person you could meet.

And he's gone on to be an author of children's books.

He's got this whole thing called Let's Grow, which is like this amazing idea he's had, a sort of initiative to get kids into nature and growing stuff.

And it's just brilliant.

The whole thing, he'll tell you all about it anyway.

And I could tell you about my holiday, but I can't because I haven't gone yet.

So I figure we'll just get straight into this.

No rants, no swearing.

This is a clean episode in case the kids accidentally click on it.

So if you're expecting me to be like effing and blinding, you got the wrong episode.

Come back next week for that one.

So this is him.

This is Ben Faulks, lovely man.

You're gonna love him.

I do, he's brilliant.

Maybe he'll be back because we really got on and we feel like we could do another one.

The only thing is the sound isn't great because Ben was outside in the lovely countryside surrounded by birds and sounded like parrots at one point.

And there's a bit of background noise, but it all adds to it.

Like I always say, it all adds to it.

It's all part of the thing, right?

So this is an outside broadcast on Ben's end.

This is drilling, banging, all kinds of stuff, but you'll be fine with it.

And I've edited as best I can.

And at the end, there's a little treat, a musical treat from Ben himself.

So look out for that.

So this is the brilliant Ben Faulks talking to me on Television Times Podcast.

It's Ben Faulks, Mr.

Bloom, Ben Faulks, Mr.

Bloom, it's Ben Faulks, it's Mr.

Bloom, it's both.

Welcome to Television Times, a new podcast with your host, me, Steve Otis Gunn.

We'll be discussing television in all its glorious forms.

From my childhood, your childhood, the last 10 years, even what's on right now.

So join me as I talk to people you do know and people you don't about what scared them, what inspired them and what made them laugh and cry here on Television Times.

You're from Cornwall, aren't you?

Yeah, this is where I grew up and all of my family is still down here at the moment.

So I'm currently down with family.

You're near Truro or anywhere like that?

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah, yeah.

We all grew up in Truro and-

And so-

Yeah, that's it, man.

That's it.

We're all-

I've spent a lot of time there.

Have you?

Yeah, yeah, I used to tour it a lot.

Used to stay up the hill in various digs.

Yeah, I liked going to Truro.

It was pretty good.

Oh, good stuff.

Yeah, call for Cornwall.

Back in the day.

Back in the day, yeah.

I worked there as a-

on the stage crew and doing the flies, like when I was at drama school.

Where are you from originally?

Whereabouts?

Well, I was born in London and I grew up in Ireland and London.

Okay, nice.

So I had the countryside and the urban city life.

Yeah.

Oh, best of both.

Best of both.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I hated it as a kid, I'll be honest with you.

Couldn't stand the countryside.

It was awful.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

Yeah.

It's the way it goes.

Because as a kid, it was like, where are the shops?

How do I get in?

There's no buses in Ireland, you had to walk everywhere.

Right.

So you'd like walk a mile and a half to school and stuff like that, like us in the 50s or something.

Oh my gosh, my gosh.

Well, similar story.

I grew up in Cornwall, bemoaning the same fact, wishing I lived in Plymouth, because all the bands, they wouldn't really tour down beyond Plymouth, that was the last stop.

So I had this kind of in my head that Plymouth was where the big white world really started.

I haven't seen you for, I've just looked at the years.

I mean, I don't actually believe that it's 10 years ago that we were doing those two pantos that I worked on.

So it was...

13 and 14.

We were doing, what did we do?

Dick Whittington, the Manchester Opera House, 2013, and then again at Bristol Hip in 2014.

Okay, that was, yeah, yeah, okay, man.

Yeah, gosh.

Bristol was...

I had to research it myself.

My God, yeah, yeah.

Well, Bristol was so fun.

Like, that was good, Manchester was good.

Yeah, there were tidy shows, tidy shows and a good cast and good crew, everything.

It was...

It was a good crowd.

I was still in contact with a lot of people from it, so it's really, really nice.

I went on to do the Torval and Dean one, the following.

So I did about four years with those guys.

Yeah, I did do one more.

I did one in Malvern and that was about it.

I had to sort of jump out of Panto World a little bit.

Yeah, I know what you mean, man.

I haven't done one for the last few years for a variety of reasons, but certainly this year, I got an offer, it fell through and then I was like, oh, that's a real shame because I kind of feel like I got bloodlust for Christmas, the Christmas grind.

It's where you're supposed to be, right?

Just work?

Yeah, just work here for Christmas.

Two shows a day and then running home for like whatever.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, do you still live in, not give you a dress away, but you still live up north in New York?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we do.

We're still in the same village up there.

So, and it's really cool.

It's lovely.

But yeah, I don't know, we've always got an open mind, you know, because of our work, we're not beholden at the moment to anywhere in particular.

So, we're there for that.

We've been there 10 years now.

We'll see how it goes, but the north is great.

Yeah, I do love it too.

I remember you telling me, cause it was good that you could get home at weekends or whatever the day off was.

Cause it was that fun.

No, no, it was commuting.

It was fine.

It was fine.

Yeah.

Bristol, I didn't go home once.

Yeah, Bristol's tough.

Yeah.

Going back to Panto, you did the CBBC Panto, didn't you?

The television ones.

Yeah.

The televised ones.

Yeah, did a bunch of those.

And they, I mean, they were really fun.

I mean, totally, I say totally different, not that dissimilar in as much as, you know, the rehearsal time.

I think the first one was, you had like two or three days to get it together.

And then, and then you just smash out the shows and that's it.

Is it just done live and just filmed?

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

So the way that they do it now is, I mean, there's a bit more rehearsal time goes in, but then it's usually two shows a day for two days.

And then they just, so they really kind of lean into the live, the live element and get all the footage they need.

So it's really positive on every level for broadcast and also for the live performances as well.

And it's great because it's just all of your favorite people working together to pull off something that you kind of passionately care about.

You're getting chased around by Justin.

Yeah, yeah, some cheeky, cheeky Japs with JF.

And yeah, and all the guys, I can't, it is like the dream job really, because it's such a lovely, it's just such a lovely family of people to work with.

And you know, the pedigree of the writing, the direction and production is second to none.

So it's always the sweetest gig.

Yeah.

I mean, they look great.

I'm going to show them to my children.

Yeah.

Obviously, I mean, we should mention here, obviously I'll say it in the preamble, but you know, Ben's main character, one of his main characters is Mr.

Bloom.

Mr.

Bloom's Nursery, the fabulous TV show that helps children get into nature and growing vegetables and whatnot.

And you've had a few incarnations of that show, and that character has obviously gone straight through to your new project you've got called Let's Grow, which is also Mr.

Bloom, yeah?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

So what made you decide to like, you know, bring Mr.

Bloom back for this particular project?

Well, so it was, it was a long time, and it still is a long time in the making.

If I thought kind of Mr.

Bloom was a project of passion, this is more kind of like life's work scale.

It's a real iceberg because we've got, you know, what you've seen on the website, but there's like an iceberg, because 90% of all of the development is all of the unseen.

So it all stems from the original theatre show, The Vegetable Nanny's, which was the original incantation of Mr.

Bloom.

So the theatre show was touring for years before I pitched it to BBC.

So the theatre company still continues to tour that show and other shows, whilst I was still doing all the CBB's work.

And it's been a hugely successful show.

It just continues to tour.

It just goes around the world.

It just books itself.

And the feedback that we've always had when we've encountered teachers is like, oh, this is great.

What's your provision for schools?

What do you do?

And we looked at the options of sending the theatre company into schools to do shows, but it just smacks of the old kind of TIE model where one day out of the year, you get an exciting visit from a theatre company.

You see the show, you get all inspired and excited.

And then the next day you're back to normal.

So we wanted to try and develop something which had a bit more impact than just a hit and run theatre show.

So what we did, I mean, it's yeah, over eight years worth of development.

We worked with our team and we worked with teachers, educational practitioners to develop Let's Grow as a means of bringing the theatre content into school, which doesn't necessitate actors, which is costly and it's not the big picture.

So what we did was, and this is all pre, so when COVID happened, everything flatlined for, you know, for so many people.

And so the whole touring live work, which took up so much time, because we weren't doing that, we were able to just crack on with the laptops and finish the content because it's online educational resource, which takes theatre work and puts it in the hands of practitioners to use and, you know, bring the creative practice alive in their setting.

And it's all based on the idea of video calls, which thankfully, again, the gift from COVID, now everyone just like, yeah, I'm going to do one right now.

That's it, we're on it.

And we don't have to meet in person in the studio and kids just understand that.

So it's done via the children and the practitioners video calling Mr.

Bloom or video calling Bob and Flo.

Having a real face to face conversation.

And then that's the catalyst for the learning and fun that follows.

So if it's a Mr.

Bloom call, then it will be something to do about nature.

And if it's Bob and Flo, then it will be one of the baby fruits and vegetables.

It's going to come and visit them in their setting to learn about the core theme of that module.

So these are live calls with you, or are they pre-recorded?

No, they're all pre-recorded and filmed.

So they look really good.

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it's done on the provision of...

There's a bit of interactivity, but the teacher just cues it up.

You go.

Then what happens is the teacher is able to pre-make the visiting baby, which is a real cabbage or a real aubergine, dress them up, and then before they know it, the children are like, Oh my God, we just saw Oz the courgette on the screen, and now he's here in the classroom.

They become authors of their own learning process.

So it's a model and a format that we've piloted, that we've tested.

We know it works.

And so then we've just developed a whole roster of curriculum rooted in the earliest foundation stage curriculum of lesson plans and enhanced continuous provision for teachers and practitioners to use.

So it's really exciting, man.

It's taken a long time to get here, but we are here now.

We're about to roll out proper in 2024.

This is through your company, right?

Egg Power Productions.

Yes.

So set up Egg Power 2021.

We've produced all of the video content.

And also, that's just a vehicle for me to pitch other kind of television content just to make, just to be more proactive because the BBC is great, but funding for television has never been harder to secure.

And the BBC, while it's a great institution, it does have limitations as well.

So it's about being a bit more proactive and taking what I've learned over the last 13 years or more in TV and then just rolling out ourselves.

Because again, these days, you can make broadcast quality content and you're no longer reliant on linear TV to find your audience because children, they watch more content now on YouTube than they do on TV.

Oh, I know, I know.

It's banned in my house.

Right, yeah.

Currently, just because of the stuff that they lean towards.

Yeah.

Isn't what I want them to watch.

So it is that idea, you know, it suffers with regulation of regulating what they can watch, but TikTok's going to catch up any minute now.

And so, yeah, so Let's Grow is our kind of foray into online educational services, really.

And just, and luckily I was able to, you know, bring Mr.

Bloom as, who's always been part of this process, but include him in there as well.

So that there's a familiar face and it just helps us as we start to roll it out and bring it to market.

Because obviously, when you're watching children's TV, you have no idea how long ago anything is, because things are repeated, and you seem to always be on.

And some of these episodes are like nearly 10 years ago.

Yeah, man, yeah, that's it.

It's a long time.

It's crazy.

You never know that.

It's like Peppa Pig, you know what I mean?

When did they make those?

I have no idea.

Absolutely, yeah, that's the thing.

The shelf life for kids content is extremely long.

Very much so.

So you'll always be in the sort of, children's, like, geist of television.

Yeah, somewhere.

Somewhere in there, yeah.

And I'm still, you know, we haven't made with the BBC any Bloom content in recent years, but it's still, the brand awareness is still really strong.

It's still there on the website.

And you obviously own the character yourself, right?

Yeah, so I share the rights with the BBC, so I don't have complete control.

But I think what we're doing with Let's Grow, I'm hoping that that will help kind of reignite, or just find a new avenue for the brand, because not my kind of mantra, but just the way that everything's kind of worked, or the way that, I don't know, trusting in the process is that all the kind of the theatre work I've done, which then led into outdoor street theatre, that then led into TV, that then led into publishing, that it's now led into online, it's always worked without the need, well, it's worked as a kind of word of mouth, meeting the right people, making those, fostering those relationships, so that you don't have to, and this, I mean, when you work with the BBC, obviously, you've got great brand awareness and you've got a marketing team dedicated, so that is slightly skewed, but it is about trusting in the process and fostering those relationships.

And then hopefully the kind of the proof of the pudding, the work gets people excited, which then generates a full momentum and you kind of build on that, as opposed to starting with a massive marketing budget.

From somewhere and trying to launch something cold.

So we'll see.

He says to a man with a podcast that's four months old.

Hey, man, it's great.

It's great.

And you know, we all have to start from somewhere.

Like we just got to build it.

Just do what you love.

Yeah, well, I mean, when you spoke about your trajectory, that I was thinking of my own, you know, I mean, I know you do music as well.

I'm a musician.

Then I became a sound engineer because of that, which led me into theater, which got me contacts with all these people, which led me to comedy.

Nice.

It was like, okay, well, if I start a podcast, I've already got all these contacts.

So let's call them all in and get them on and chat.

It all just links together and it all just seems right, really.

Like you, I'm an author now.

Oh, nice.

Which was published, but obviously not a children's book.

What is it?

What is it?

Oh, this is a, it's a memoir, but it's called You Shot My Dog and I Love You.

It's about, I'll send you a copy.

Oh yeah, brilliant.

I'd love to read it.

Oh, thank you, Ben.

I don't know if you noticed, but like I was always out in the auditorium.

I remember Manchester.

I was just, I was literally, that was draft two or something.

You were busy too, weren't you?

That's it, just constantly doing stuff.

Yeah, filling the gaps.

That's it, it is filling the gaps.

Yeah.

Oh, well good, man.

Good, good.

So your children's books, how did that come about?

Am I right in thinking you'd already started writing when we were in Bristol?

Yeah, it was, it was 2014.

So it would have been when we were in Bristol.

I pitched to a bunch of books to Bloomsbury Publishing.

And, you know, fortunately enough, they liked the titles and they liked the synopses.

And so, yeah, I got a four book deal with Bloomsbury Children's and they were just great.

Like again, it's a totally different way of, for me, I've never worked in children's writing.

I mean, obviously, the work that I've been producing, theater and TV, I'd written that, but this was a very different format.

So the prospect of, because I'm always very visual as creatively when I'm coming up with ideas for work, it always starts for me with a visual image.

And then I kind of flesh that out.

That's the kind of hook that gets me.

I'll get an image of something, okay, oh, that's interesting.

It's like the origin for Mr.

Bloom for the vegetable nannies.

I was in this antique center and I saw this old Victorian pram, and it was wooden and it was terrifying.

It was like an Adam's family pram.

I was like, what kind of baby would be put in that?

And the first thing that came to mind was like, well, it would be full of compost and it'd be like vegetable babies in this kind of...

And then that was like, oh, so what would happen to that?

If you had a cabbage roll, what would that be called?

And what would they drink?

Well, they drink like liquid compost with that.

And so then, so that's the kind of the process for me.

Ben, that is not what most people would think if they saw Victoire.

That is your brain.

That is, yeah.

That's my programming.

That's amazing.

And so that's what I did.

I purchased the program, went to the grocery store and wrote a show.

But with the books, it was right up my alley because it was a case of starting with the visual.

And so I pitched them a bunch of titles.

And it was just such a wonderful process to be part of because it's so collaborative.

You're working with your producer on the text and then you have the illustrator who then brings that text to life in a way that you could never kind of imagine.

It's wonderful to see because how illustrations come from nothing into absolutely everything.

It's a wonderful process.

And so-

Do you have a say in that?

Do you have an outline because it's your words and it's your vision or do you just let them run with it?

Well, yeah, I mean, I think the only say I had was, this is amazing, like fantastic, because they're absolute masters of their craft and I am definitely not.

So yeah, I don't feel like my kind of input in that.

Or for working with David Tassima and Ben Court, Neotuda, they've just, they've smashed it every time.

It's been so nice working with them.

And again, it's a different pace.

Like when we were on Pante, I think it's just normal you have, or like a week and a half to rehearse the show, a couple of days of tech and then you're up and you're running and you're in it.

And with a book, it just takes, I think, so I pitched in 2014 and the first one came out in 2016.

And the timeline is just so radically different, but I mean, it's just a pleasure to work in that way.

That whole world of publishing is just so, so long.

I mean, my book, obviously very different to yours, took, I think it was five years between first draft and it being published.

And that's quick, I'm sorry I've heard.

So yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What I want to ask about children's books now, don't take this the wrong way.

I just want to know just generally, I'm not talking specifically about your books, but when I read a children's book, I think that couldn't have taken long, right?

Now, is that true?

Do you just bash one out in like a few hours and then just hone, hone, hone?

Or does it just actually take a very long time?

Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, I think it depends on the person, doesn't it?

Because like your book, it took five years and some people were saying, well, that's really quick.

But you didn't hang about.

Whereas other people would see that as taking an age.

And I don't know.

I mean, just from my experience, there's a bit of back and forth.

But once you've locked down the idea of like The Grandest, The Greatest, the book that came out this year, is a text.

I love the text so much.

And I did, when I got the idea, I was out on a run because I'm big into fell running.

I love fell running.

And where we live, it's just, yeah, it's perfect for it.

So I was out on a run, I had the idea, and then I came back and I just bashed this text out.

And then it was just there and I just had it.

And so it was...

Just like a song.

Yeah, that was it.

That was it.

And it went through like loads of different drafts.

And so there was loads of like improvements and rewrites, but the core of the idea was there.

Yeah, that's why I was wondering.

Yeah, yeah.

So I think once you've kind of locked the idea down and you've got a format, you've got the nuts and bolts and then it is just about honing and editing.

And sometimes you'll have a passage you really like, but for the illustrator, it doesn't work very well.

It doesn't necessarily kind of, I don't know, lean towards something that can be visualized or it might be so abstract.

And I think that's like David Tasman.

I think he did such a great job with What Makes Me Amid because it is such an abstract concept of, like I wrote that as like an existential kind of crisis manual for four or five year olds, really.

It's almost like a poem, I mean, essentially.

Do you get all your inspiration from exercise?

Like a lot of people go running, come back with a song, come back with a poem, come back with a book.

Sometimes I think I get loads of stuff from running and mountain biking, but it's not like an ideas factory.

It's just sometimes because you're not sat down, locked into the mind.

You're freed up, you're out in nature.

You're not thinking about...

Open for things to pop in.

Yeah, you're able to think in different ways, which aren't necessarily...

It's not a linear process of, I've got to solve this problem.

Yeah, so you don't go in an office, shut the door and go, right, it's nine o'clock, I must start writing.

Yeah, although there is that as well, because sometimes it's just writing for writing's sake and seeing what comes out.

But yeah, it's...

Yeah, I just feel it's lovely to have an opportunity to just work in a different medium.

And do you enjoy the fact that you haven't linked, obviously, your book writing to Mr.

Bloom is completely separate.

Do you enjoy that sort of duality of...

Because it's your own persona in there.

Yeah, that's it.

I think we did have some...

There was a Random House published a bunch of Mr.

Bloom books when the show first went out, but they were all lifted from storylines, from scripts that we'd written.

So, yeah, this is nice because it is...

Yeah, it's just not Mr.

Bloom.

It's me.

And while I love playing Mr.

Bloom and he's such a lovely character to inhabit, it's nice, I mean, as an actor and a writer, it's just nice to put on different hats and just play different characters.

And that's the spice.

There is stuff on the horizon, and that's down to me to write the show, get the shows made, get the characters out there.

But also, yeah, I do just work as a commercial actor.

So that's going to auditions and going for plumbing for roles.

Because as much as I love to produce my own work, and I will always jump at the chance to jump on someone else's production with their vision, it's their script, and they think you're right for the character.

So I just I love that and that's my kind of...

Yeah, I guess it's just like turning up and doing a job for you.

That's it, man.

It's doing the basics.

And so it's just, like I said, it's both sides of the coin are just great.

I guess I'm surprised by that.

I'm surprised because you're making your own stage, as it were.

So it's like, and you're still doing the job in actor thing as well.

I'm quite impressed.

I thought that like you'd be like, well, I'm not doing that anymore.

I'm just going to do this, this and this and I'm done.

Well, no, but that's, you know, that is not me getting every role as much as I'd love to.

There's plenty of roles that you go for and they're like, well, thank you.

But yes, it's not going to work.

And so, and that's what kind of led me to writing in the first place after drama school.

I've just going for roles.

I was like, I can't just wait for the phone to ring.

I'm just getting knocked back.

So I'll just write a show and I'll write myself as the lead role.

And yeah, that's the one, that's the one.

So it's the balancing act.

And sometimes you get a bit more of one thing, like a bit more of the other.

But so because because you're so sort of, you know, known for working in the medium of children's television and literature, are there roles that you wouldn't take because of that?

Or would you take like a gritty BBC, hard crime, sexual vibe, murder thing, for instance?

Would you be in that?

Or would you be like, oh, I can't stop being a bit mindful about my audience or?

So obviously, normally I would edit out that noisy bird, but it was too impressive to not leave in.

It sounded like a parrot, don't you think?

Yeah, I think it's a good question.

And I mean, for me, I'll always never say no because there's always a conversation to be had.

And I'd love to kind of challenge myself as an actor or kind of working creatively.

And I think sometimes you can tell that there's an opportunity that presents itself that doesn't align either with your own values or the bigger picture.

And you can tell when it's crossed the line.

But yeah, I'd jump at the chance for a gritty BBC noir or whatever, something which I think some people working in children's industry, whether that's publishing or television, they will maybe be a bit more compromised.

But given, like you said, a lot of the Mr.

Bloom content that we filmed was, I mean, we made the first series in 2010.

That's 13 years ago now.

And I think, yeah, I do have a bit more freedom than maybe some other people to go and pursue other roles.

Like when I did a Hollyoaks storyline with Adele Silver back in 2015, that was great because it was a good character, it was a good storyline and it wasn't necessarily playing against type, it was just a different platform.

And yeah, I just loved it.

I just loved it.

So yeah, I'd never say never to anything.

What's the first thing you saw on television probably as a kid that scared you?

It'd have to be Terrorhawks.

Terrorhawks?

Yeah, Terrorhawks was...

What's Terrorhawks?

Well, it was a puppet show.

I don't know if it was Jerry Anderson's Thunderbirds.

Is it Jerry Anderson who did Thunderbirds?

Yeah, I don't think it was the same studio.

It might have been...

Oh my goodness me.

Face on that.

Yeah, that's it.

So the villain in Terrorhawks was pretty terrifying.

Oh, you like this, Ben.

The concept is in the year 2020, you followed the adventures of the Terrorhawks.

Oh God, that's what happened.

That's why we brought it all to ruin.

Yeah.

Sorry, you were saying.

It was a thrilling show, but it was just bordered on the mild peril was sometimes not so mild from...

Was it Zelda?

It's all pictures of Zelda and it does look like something out of a Blumhouse horror movie.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that was it.

I don't understand how that was kids TV.

Well, you know, they don't make it like they used to, Steve.

They do not.

I don't think they're allowed.

It's got an edge, all of that stuff.

It has got an edge, and I think because it's just otherworldly, because like you say, it's not CGI.

People found a way to actually make that happen.

And that has been lost to a certain degree these days because you're not as affected by anything, because anything's possible.

And so therefore, it doesn't necessarily get under your skin or have the shock factor.

Let's do another childhood one.

Let's go with this because it'll be interesting because you already are one.

If you could, for 24 hours, embody a TV character, but in real life, for 24 hours, you would be that person.

Which TV character would you embody?

Can't be you, Mr.

Bloom.

Yeah, okay.

I mean, it could be.

It could be in real life, walking around the garden center.

Very confusing.

You know, I've done it.

I've been there, done that.

That's a question that was a little bit on the nose.

So I decided to try another one.

What's the funniest thing you've ever seen on television?

The funniest thing, man, it's just, I love my favorite show on television is You've Been Framed.

It's just my great, yeah.

It's my happy place.

The Harry Hill era.

When it was Harry Hill's TV Burt, followed by Harry Hill's You've Been Framed.

It's absolutely fun, isn't it?

I think, you know, I watched it when Jeremy Beedle started it.

And I thought it was the best thing I've ever seen.

And then Harry Hill took it to a whole new level.

I know.

I can't believe they show it on ITV2 at 8am sometimes.

The kids are watching, they like to watch Milkshake, the Channel 5 stuff.

And I'm like, there's too many American adverts for plastic.

So I turn over and we watch a bit of Harry Hill.

And of course, they're not getting all the sarcasm.

And it's quite, it's not rude or anything, but it's not 8am stuff.

Yeah, it's certainly not in the morning.

I think it has to be after tea time.

Can't have it before 5pm.

But there's just something that doesn't get old about you've been framed.

Well, yeah, it's what TikTok is essentially, isn't it?

If it isn't dancing, it's, you know, people falling over and whatnot.

You know, it's just, it's based comedy.

That's it, man.

And I think, put Harry Hill on top of that and you've got the winning combo.

What's the TV show that you watch, but you know it's rubbish, but you like it anyway?

The TV show, The Guilty Pleasure.

It's The Guilty Pleasure.

The Guilty Pleasure.

Oh, that I know it's rubbish.

You know it's a waste of your time.

Yeah.

The stuff that's rubbish, but watch anyway.

I don't think there's anything, I'm pretty kind of selective.

There's nothing to watch that, I think it's just time, isn't it?

It's a precious, it's a precious thing.

And so there, and also there's just so much to choose from.

Like even, I went through a phase of like, oh God, there's so much to choose from, I don't think I'll watch anything, because there's too much and you're going to be missing that to get this.

I mean, obviously it's good that you don't watch trash because I do feel, I feel like I watch a lot of television.

I do watch a lot of television, but like you, I'm very selective, it has to be good and I'm not afraid to give up on something if I really do think it's a waste of my time.

And yet if I turn on the television or read any kind of like, I don't read magazines, where magazines exist, but you see the stuff in the culture of Zeitgeist, like all the TV shows people watch and refer to and Goggles Box and Strictly and things like that and challenge shows.

I have never seen any of them.

I don't watch any of them.

I watch The Apprentice still and I watch Dragon's Den.

But apart from that, I'm out of the loop.

So I feel like when people are talking about TV, I run a podcast about it, I've got, I don't know what they're talking about.

So they have to educate me on like, what is the Vanderpumps or below deck or these things?

I don't know, they could be in my lounge.

I wouldn't know these people.

But everyone does, right?

It's like there's this whole other sort of game layer of life over reality where people actually know all these people that I don't know.

I know, I know.

It's funny, isn't it?

It's a club that I'm not in.

But you can't, this is like the dilemma of the crisis of getting older though, Steve, isn't it?

It's like you can't be everywhere.

You can't do everything and you can't eat everything at the buffet, try as you might.

And I think that's the crisis.

So then you just have to be really zen about it.

That's true.

That is true.

I said that recently, something about, I think I equated it to Tom Waits albums that I've always, I love Tom Waits, but I don't love every album.

I've tried to, and there's some I'm just not going to like anymore.

I'm not going to try and like Raindogs.

I don't like it.

I don't know why.

It's just people love it.

It's not for me.

I like the nicer stuff.

Which are your favorites of Tom Waits?

Oh, two albums.

It will be Closing Time, Heart Attack and Vine.

I love that.

I really did like, I loved Big Time as well.

I like quite, I don't mind some of the, you know, Jean-Pierre.

You know, he released two albums, didn't he?

Like the mid 2000s or something on the same day.

The yellow one and the red one.

Was it Alice and what's the red blood, blood money?

And it starts off with I don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't.

Ben, I listened to it the other way around.

It was like, it's cold as hell.

Oh, that's nice.

And I was like, I'm a monkey and a bat.

I was like, this guy's crazy.

Yeah.

I played that.

Oh man.

It's like a bear.

The way of anywhere a bear would sing.

I put that on and my kids start just cried.

They cried.

Who is this man?

What's the matter with him?

With television, I'm a little bit more precious, I think.

We just saw the finale of Top Boy, which I have to say is fantastic.

I haven't seen the one that's just been released.

I'm saving it for tonight, Christmas.

I'll say nothing.

Try not to read any, there's a lot of stuff in the press, just the voice, but I think it's up there with The Wire and The Sopranos.

I really do, I mean, it's unbelievable.

It's unbelievably good.

That's good, I'm glad it's going out well.

And there's not a lot of episodes, there's six episodes and it gets the job done.

I don't want to talk about it too much.

I'll ask you one more question and I'll let you go.

Is that all right?

Yeah, man.

Yeah, okay, let's go.

Let's find one.

What wouldn't I ask you?

Let's ask the one.

Well, I can't ask a read one.

Let's not ask a read one.

Please don't.

I won't, I won't.

Okay, how about this?

What's a television show that you would erase from history so no one can remember it, like Men in Black, but it's gone and one you'd bring back from the dead?

I was thinking about this the other day.

And so I, it must be somewhere not too far at the back of my mind.

Um, I loved the hour on BBC.

Did you see it?

With Ben Whishaw, Ben Whishaw and, um...

Yes, it's a while back, isn't it?

Guy from The Wire, what's he called?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dominic West.

Dominic West.

I thought that was, yeah, that, that series, I think they only did two, two seasons.

That seems really recent to me, but I bet it isn't.

Well, it was, it was 2010 or thereabouts.

2011?

2011.

Okay.

And it was such a refreshing, it was just like the BBC when it was going from radio to television.

It's such an interesting point in time, I think, being British.

And it was just beautifully done.

But Ben Wishaw was young.

Dominic West was, you know, he was back from Baltimore and, and the lady in it who I can't remember her name, she was great.

And it was just, it was edgy.

It was, it was just fascinating bit of TV.

And I wish I could have watched a lot more of that.

So I do wish there was more of the hour.

I'm going to watch that.

I do remember seeing it, but I'm, I think at the time it would have been one of those theatre periods where I didn't have, you know, access to all the, well, what did you have 12 years ago?

It would have been what was on, when it was on, video it by the DVD or have love film.

Movies through the post in random order.

Yeah, that's it.

Lovely idea, lovely idea.

So what's the one you would cast into the, into the abyss so nobody can remember it?

I could really do without Noel's House Party.

Nice.

Because I used to be a big Noel Edmonds fan.

I really had this weird thing as a kid, because I used to watch him on Swap Shop and he was really cool on that.

And he had that other show that, because he was very kind of, he's quite adventurous, he was charismatic.

And I had this kind of weird thing.

I don't know where it came from.

As a kid, I was like, in my ideal universe, I would have an uncle and auntie.

Noel Edmonds would be my uncle.

And Kate Bush would be my auntie.

I don't know what kind of marriage or convenience that would be.

But, so I had fond memories of Noel Edmonds.

And then when Noel's House Party came out, I just did, and Mr.

Blobby just undid all of that goodwill.

And to be honest, yeah, that would be the one that I think.

That is a good call, because I hated it too.

It was so naff.

And then you had like, was it, which came first?

Don't Forget Your Toothbrush or that?

It must have been, because Don't Forget Your Toothbrush, I loved, I loved everything Chris Evans did.

I thought it was phenomenal when it was just the 90s in a bag.

But Noel Edmonds seemed like grandma to you at that point.

It was like, what's this, Silla Black Surprise Surprise?

What is this?

It was tired.

It was a tired format and it just, and then it's like, oh, let's get someone in a skin suit.

Yeah.

Noel's out by 1991 to 1993.

It came back in 1999 for a final.

1999, that's almost...

What a way to end the century.

We start with Mr.

Bloom and we end up with Mr.

Blobby.

I know who I'd rather spend an afternoon with.

Oh golly gosh, my goodness me, could have gone so wrong.

Is there anything you want to plug at the end of this, Ben?

Oh, to plug, plug your podcast.

It's just, thanks for having us on, man.

It's been great and yeah, it's been good to catch up.

When's that fourth book out then?

The fourth book, so it will be next year, next year.

Got, when will it be?

It'll be early, early, so February, March.

Oh, he's got it in the bag, it's in the bag.

And then it'll be on to, yeah, just writing more and we'll be launching Let's Grow next year and just coming up with new shows really.

Yeah, go again, we go again.

Yes, you go again and your website is?

benfaulks.co.uk and that's got, it's kind of like an archive of all of my kind of past projects, current projects.

And then Let's Grow, the online educational resource for early years settings is www.letsgrow.org.uk.

And there you can find out all of the details or for the resources.

Well, I'd love to read your book as well.

So please like.

I'll pop it in the post, Ben.

Yeah, nice.

Tell me yours too.

No, I'll buy yours, don't worry.

They're around.

I can see them all the time.

I know him.

How old are your kids?

That is information you, the listener, does not need to know.

Hence the redaction.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll send you one over.

Oh, thanks.

Oh, it's really good to connect, man.

Yeah, it's really nice to catch up with you, Ben.

10, 11 years.

Something mad like that.

10 years.

Yeah, it was 2013.

It's crazy.

Gosh.

Lovely talk to you, Ben.

And hopefully I'll catch up with you in person at some point.

Good stuff, man.

That was Ben Faulks.

That was our little chatette over the internet.

He was Mr.

Bloom, is Mr.

Bloom.

He'll always be Mr.

Bloom.

He is Mr.

Bloom to all those children and people with children who watch CBeebies and many other things too.

And normally, at this point in the podcast, we have a little beep beep, don't we?

And I tell you about an outro track, but we're gonna go straight in because today the outro track is not mine.

It is a song by Ben.

It was performed by his band, Aqute Couch.

I hope I'm saying that correctly.

In about 2001, the band formed in 1998 and originally contained the members Mimi, which is Ben's wife, and Vicky McGee.

Now, Ben joined as a guitarist, I think a year later from what I can see online, and they toured a lot and they did for music festivals and performed all over the place.

Now, this is not the kind of music you're gonna expect from Mr.

Bloom, I can tell you that.

So prepare, this is very original and quite something.

So here they are, this is Aqute, A-Q-U-T-E, Couch with the only cauldron.

There you go.

That is Aqute Couch with The Only Cauldron from the album Tatrums from 2001.

If you want to hear more, you can stream that whole album via SoundCloud.

I hope you enjoyed that episode with Ben Faulks, and we will be back next week with another episode of Television Times Podcast.

Please follow, write a review, do all the things on the socials, and we'll see you again next week.

Thanks for tuning in.

Bye for now.