Background:
- The BBC's Crimewatch programme is a national institution, having been on-screen for over 25 years
- Each month, the programme reconstructs the UK's most high profile criminal cases and tackles unsolved crimes
- The cases all come from the police force and officers present alongside the main hosts
- Producers had a shortlist of three and were looking to select a new presenter for the programme
- However, they felt all of them could do better so turned to us for help in both coaching and selecting the new police "star"
Solution:
- A half day's intensive coaching, using our studio venue
- We re-created the scenarios they would expect to encounter on the programme including ad-libbing, Autocue (teleprompter) use, voice-overs, "identikit" pictures etc.
- The executive and series producers came along towards the end of the session to review the footage and seek our views on who might be best placed to take up the role
Results:
- There was a big improvement in all three presenters - so much so that producers faced a dilemma of whom to pick for the programme
- The coaching resulted in two police presenters being chosen instead of just one - Rav Wilding (then Coothoopermal) and Jonathan Morrison
- Jonathan became the first black police presenter in the show's history
- Rav also shone on the programme, soon leaving the police force and becoming one of the show's main presenters
- He went on to have a prolific career presenting programmes including Missing Live, Helicopter Heroes, The One Show and The Cop Show, all for the BBC
- He was also a contestant on Celebrity Masterchef, Celebrity Mastermind, Strictly Come Dancing and was the winner of the celebrity edition of The Weakest Link
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