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All In A Day’s Work
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and what might develop in my stint. I’m actually quite boring, aren’t I? I watch news all the time.”
But it hasn’t always been so.
After reading English at Oxford, Kaplinsky worked as a political researcher for Neil Kinnock then at Pinewood with David Puttnam. Her first job as a television presenter was alongside Ali G on an afternoon chil- dren’s programme.
“At that stage I thought I would have gone down the light entertain- ment route. I might pick it up again some day, but getting the hard news journalistic background has broadened me enormously.”
More recently, Kaplinsky has made her first film appearance – as a news- reader in the fly-on-the-wall comedy, Mike Bassett, England Manager.
Back at Sky, Kaplinsky and her co-presenter have two-and-a-half min- utes during an ad break to swap seats with the previous presenting team. She has her own chair, ear-
piece, camera position. Her regular on-air partner is Jeremy Thompson.
“It’s like a marriage – especially with live breaking news, you’ve got to look after each other. It’s a roller-coaster ride when you don’t know what is happening in the next three seconds: pictures are coming in, you’ve never seen them before and you have to interpret them. We have computers in front of us. We click into whatever website is avail- able to pick up scraps of back- ground information.”
Meanwhile, she has to be clear and articulate despite a constant babble of voices in her ear from producers, direc- tors and correspondents.
“Every now and again you do sit back and think: ‘Hang on a minute, this is an extraordinary thing I’m part of.’ You feel a huge humility because you’re so lucky.”
Then off home to two kittens and bed with, er, more news. ■
Peter Capaldi, prolific Scots actor on stage and screen, won a BAFTA and Oscar for his live action short, Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life, which he wrote and directed. Strictly Sinatra, now on general release, is his feature film debut.
NATASHA KAPLINSKY’S
SEVEN
Wednesday, October 31, West London. Sky News’ Live At Five with Natasha Kaplinsky and Martin Stanford. Kaplinsky: “Eleven people are reported killed in Kandahar. Anthrax claims a fourth victim in New York. Tony Blair is in Damascus... now we are crossing live to David Chater in Afghanistan.” For Kaplinsky, a 28 year old Oxford graduate, these headlines launch her on a three hour stint anchoring the impres- sive Sky News. John Morrell watches her in action.
Best Actor
I have all the best actors in Strictly Sinatra [Ian Hart, Brian Cox, Alun Armstrong etc etc]... but apart from them, I’d vote for Richard Griffiths. He brings to everything he does grace, wit, wisdom, fun and truth. A god on earth.
Best Film
Impossible to choose, but I’ll stump for Michael Mann’s The Insider: great story, acting, music and fantastic visuals.
n a 24-screen video news wall, correspondents are waiting in Jerusalem, Riyadh, Downing Street, Damascus and Washington.
Later, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan will come on line.
This is 24-hour rolling news and for Kaplinsky, who learned her trade in the Meridian Southampton newsroom alongside the veteran Fred Dinenage, and at London Today with Alistair Stewart, this is the biggest story she may ever cover. It is a heady time to be in live news, three hours a day, five days a week.
“When I wake up, I switch on Sky News in the bedroom. Radio Five Live is on in the bathroom. A snack down- stairs watching Sky News then a breath of fresh air scooting (literally) down the road for the newspapers: a wide range from The FT to the Daily Star.
“Before leaving for the studio I watch at least one full hour of the out- put to know how the agenda is moving
PETER CAPALDI’S
6 OF THE BEST
Lifetime Achievement
This would go to Billy Connolly not just for all the laughter but also for the inspiration to go out and find the best in the world around us. Every time I see him, I promise to make more effort to banish cynicism and
begrudgery, and share and cele- brate the joys of life.
Best Uncelebrated Contribution To British Cinema
To Terry Gilliam and the Monty Python team for actu- ally going out and making films that were not literary adaptations, and creating a cinema that embraced the
visual and visceral, and for starting and encouraging a generation of craftsmen and technicians to whose expertise we still turn.
Best Producer
David Puttnam. Okay, I was in Local Hero which he produced, but can you imagine anyone today making The Killing Fields or The Mission? Big, ambitious, intelligent movies for grown ups. Sorely missed.
Best Screenplay
Withnail & I by Bruce Robinson, just because it is. ■
Industry personalities hand out their very own BAFTAs
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Photos from left: Peter Capaldi on the set of Strictly Sinatra; scenes from The Killing Fields and Withnail & I (Courtesy Kobal Collection)