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Channel Five’s Controller of Youth, Music and Interactive Programming, is not good in the mornings. On the council of the Royal Television Society and a busy member of the BAFTA’s Interactive committee, Sham Sandhu tells John Morrell, “my ideal day is mid-day to midnight. I find it difficult to construct sentences in the morning.”
London-born Sandhu, took a Law degree at Oxford never intending to go to the bar but to get into television. He was on his way when he won a place on the elite BBC Production Trainee Scheme, starting the week after his finals in 1994.
Sandhu, now 30, quickly made a mark at the BBC moving smoothly into the Corporation’s fast track following an apprentice- ship on Blue Peter, Watchdog, Crimewatch and Live and Kicking.
Within four years he was at the hub of BBC l’s production process as Development Planner to Controller Peter Salmon. In 1999, he became the BBC’s Head of New Media and New Channels.
No question: Sandhu was going places. The ever-alert Dawn Airey at C5 spotted it.
“Dawn can be very persua- sive. She began to woo me. The more I visited C5, meeting people and getting a sense of what C5 was about, the more I thought, ‘I could have fun here.’ One thing
about BBC Management is, it’s not much fun.
“Since I got here, it’s been a blast. There is still a spirit of start up, a lack of stuffiness, that any- thing is possible. I have a huge amount of freedom. I thrive when I am given quite a lot of room to manoeuvre.”
But not necessarily in the mornings.
“I am” he re-iterates, “the world’s worst person early on - ask Sam, my assistant. At home I’m schizophrenic about informa- tion. I switch between Sarah Cox on Radio 1 and John Humphreys on Radio 4. I simply can’t deal with television in the mornings.”
For lunch he is meeting two young news presenters, Sam Delaney and Viv Brown: “My big challenge at C5 is to put the channel onto the radar screens of the 16-24 year olds. We have yet to make an impact with them. The channel hasn’t focused on it. The target area for me is weekend afternoons. “
“Take tomorrow: we are launching a brand new show, Five News Saturday with Sam and Viv - both new to television. Their job is to deliver a hard-hitting but entertaining news programme for young adults.”
News is followed by an American import Popular. “In my view, it is the best comedy- drama you will see this year. “The Pepsi Chart around 2.30 com- pletes Sandhu’s Saturday lunch menu to tempt those valuable but elusive 16-24 year olds.
Most evenings, he settles down at around 10.30 to watch tapes and catch up on the out- put from other channels.
Sandhu is buoyant about C5. “Barb have just given us 7.2% share.” He sums up: “My sensibil- ities are quite populist. C5 is now closer to my personality than the BBC.”
Way down the corridor, Dawn Airey smiled.
Rob Brydon’s
six of the best
Industry personalities hand out their very own BAFTAs
Best Film
I loved Field of Dreams, the last ten minutes are beautiful. Shadowlands and The Remains Of The Day, with Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino in most of his stuff. The Graduate has an atmosphere that sweeps over you every time you watch it. Being There always makes me feel like I’m glimpsing Peter Sellers. Recently, Rushmore reminded me of The Graduate, its colours and composition. Election was a perfect film. Annie Hall, Crimes And Misdemeanors, Manhattan Murder Mystery...
Best TV Show
The Fall And Rise of Reginald Perrin. As a child, it worked for its catch phrases and vaguely slap- stick feel. As an adult, it’s a remarkable picture of a man on the edge, quite painful to watch. Leonard Rossiter’s performance is exhausting; no wonder he had a heart attack. A good salesman on QVC demonstrating car cleaning products or cooking
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equipment can also be hard to turn off.
Best Chat Show Guest
Kenneth Williams, Peter Cook, Mel Brooks. I still have a tape of Brooks doing his wine tasting rou- tine - “Is it a soup?” - on The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross. Barry Humphries on Parkinson recently showed how it should be done.
Wittiest People on TV
There are many funny people but few wits. Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton...
Best TV Drama
The first few episodes of Jake’s Progress were riveting, all of GBH... very painful, great truth in Bleasdale’s writing, enormous heart without sentimentality, a great performance from Robert Lindsay and Julie Walters as good as ever.
Best American TV
Seinfeld - such a joyous, bountiful show, superbly realised charac-
ters and unbelievable scenarios that are utterly believable. The Larry Sanders Show works equally well as a comedy and a drama. Jeffrey Tambor’s performance as Hank is masterful. If they ever make an American Marion And Geoff, he’s my choice.
Welsh-born Rob Brydon, star of Marion and Geoff, Human Remains, The Way We Live Now and a recent Murder In Mind, was named Best Newcomer in The British Comedy Awards 2000. The writer-comedian-actor- voiceover artist also had a telling cameo in Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and appears in Michael Winterbottom’s upcom- ing 24 Hour Party People.
Photo: David Boughton/TV Quick