Bedfordshire student helps BBC raise millions for Children in Need

Fri 02 December, 2016

A Broadcast Journalism student from the University of Bedfordshire helped BBC Look East raise millions of pounds during its Children in Need campaign.

Carl Turner, 21, worked as an Appeals Assistant in the run-up and during the live broadcast which saw Look East raise £4 million, a record for the BBC’s Eastern region.

“My jobs in the run-up to the appeal night included set design, graphic design, organising the attendees for the event night and filming for preview packages for Look East, as well as a whole host of other things,” said Carl, who is from Kesgrave in Suffolk.

The experience has meant Carl has gained a whole host of skills that will help him in his career when he graduates next year.

“It was an amazing experience. The variety of tasks really kept every day different. You never really knew what you would end up doing – one day I was producing a film for a live stage show, another day I was building a set for the Love To Read event,” said Carl, who is in his third year.

“It helped develop the skills that I have learned on my course, and throughout my job at the BBC. It will mean that I have more experience and this will put me in a better place to apply for other jobs in the BBC.”

The Producer of the Children in Need show for BBC East TV Shaun Peel said: “As an appeals assistant, you have to be a jack of all trades. One day you could be inside a Pudsey suit, the next filming school children who are raising money. This year Carl did all that, as well as assisting as floor manager for the TV broadcast, and helping the event management team organise 200 children, their parents and a posse of fundraisers dressed as superheroes.”

Carl’s tutor, Senior Lecturer in Journalism Kate Ironside, said: “Carl is a terrific student who has seized every opportunity going. He first met the BBC East’s politics team when he went on a trip to see the Sunday Politics programme going out live.

“From then on, he networked superbly and by the summer for his first year he had completed his first on air report for BBC Look East. He then returned to Look East for his placement in his second year, notching up an impressive 75 shifts and has gone from strength to strength. We are immensely proud of him.”