Journalism – especially the foreign journalism and documentaries that I have been paid to do, is an elitist profession. So I want to start this post by explaining where I come from. My grandfather came to the UK in the 1960’s and did back-breaking, dangerous work in the iron foundaries of the West Midlands. He worked hard and suffered much racism in this part of the UK, which was also home to Conservative MP Enoch Powell who made his incendiary racist speech “Rivers of Blood’ in Birmingham in 1968. It was against this backdrop that my Baba struggled – which I touch on in this Heart and Soul programme I made about how his Sikh faith helped him through life.
Sikh Sacred Songs from nina robinson on Vimeo.
He eventually brought his family over and my dad came when he was 16 and married my mom a year or so later. My dad worked as a steel engineer and my mom worked in a saucepan factory. I went to the local comprehensive which was majority South Asian and black, then the trajectory of my life changed completely when I got a place at Oxford University to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics. I discovered there was something I could do with my love for current affairs.
I managed to get into the BBC as a freelance through a contact whose dad worked there and I started on a programme called ‘Outlook’ in 2001. Presented then by Fred Dove and Heather Painton it tells extraordinary human stories. I used reel-to-reel tape and chalk to edit those programmes, which was a shock because I had been using adobe editing software at college but I loved the craft of it.
Outlook’s offices were located on the top of Bush House, back when you could go out onto the roof to look over the London skyline, watching the pink sunsets whilst smoking a cigarette! I remember the luxury of spending time just looking through newspapers and magazines for a whole day to think up story ideas. Was this really a job they were paying me for?? I wondered. Before this, I had mainly been working on a supermarket checkout – but by this time, I was used to making big massive adjustments. I started making Patterns of Faith programmes for Kristine Pommert – this was the very first one which was on Rastafarianism …
and another on the Iraqi Jewish community of North London at Yom Kippur. I fell in love with that whole process of long form programme making – and for that religious/spiritual strand – I have continued to make religion programmes over the years – the last one was a very significant one for me personally when I visited my family’s ancestral village in Pakistan. It was full of emotion and I cried quite a few times during interviews and when I got back to my base in Lahore overnight – which I never usually do. It was for Guru Nanak’s 550th Birthday. I shot a fun video to go with it though for BBC socials.
Around this time in the early days of Outlook, I first met someone who became a very dear friend of mine – Polly de Blank who tragically passed away and who I still miss and think of often. I worked with an incredibly kind and thoughtful team including Sue Waldram, June Christie and this is also were I met the creative powerhouse who is Ravinder Basra.
Next, I was advised to go and cut my teeth in local news so I went to Tunbridge Wells where Radio Kent and South East TV are based. This was another culture shock as it was a small villagey place and incredibly white and male but I found a niche by doing a series for the huge Punjabi Sikh community in Gravesend and Southall. My main job though was as the early morning reporter – it was a lot of multi skilling, driving this huge radio van including parking it in tight spaces, setting up the 6 foot mast and then doing live inserts and interviews for the breakfast programmes.
From there I got my first staff job at Radio 1 Newsbeat which was a big moment because it was actually my dream job. I cannot think of a better way to have spent my 20’s. Meeting all my drum n bass heroes like Roni Size, Adam F, Shy FX – getting backstage passes and interviewing 50 Cent in his hotel bedroom. I made some life-long friends, special mention to Helen Clegg for the time we were chasing down artists for interviews at the Brixton Academy and going to west-end clubs on a week night, sleeping very late, drinking too much and going for a bacon breakfast from Clippy’s after the morning news meetings. I was there with the twins Greg and Michael Mckenzie, Andy Brownstone when he was Andy Brown, Emma Beck before she got together with Robin Brandt, Andy Gallagher who became the Miami reporter, Nicky Asamoa who I have a memory of winning a team go-karting award, Mel Grant dear Mel Grant, Angela Davies, Toby Sealey and more. I can safely say it was here that the best work Christmas parties happened. At one of them, then PM at the time – Tony Blair showed up and I heckled him over the Iraq War. And where else would you have a ‘work do’ at Bagley’s warehouse nightclub with Fabio & Grooverider, Tim Westwood and John Peel doing back-to-back sets?
I was lucky enough to be there for the launch of 1Xtra when Willber Willberforce was the artistic, cool creative in charge and the station authentically and proudly stood for new black music on the top floor of Yalding House. I remember walking up the stairs at 8 in the morning to hear full-on dancehall being pumped out of the speakers and just appreciating and loving that so much. My contemporaries were Nick Davies who became a wonderful dear friend and Jamaica correspondent after me and Jade Day /Styles who I enjoyed my first work trips to Jamaica with. I remember working the bulletins night shifts with Manny Norte who moved to Capital and the Punjabi Hit Squad to keep me company and pub nights out with Bobby Friction and Nihal. There were occasions – usually Saturday nights – when you had to squeeze into the tiny 1Xtra studio where you sat on one side of the desk to read the news. There would be big hip hop entourages sitting right next to me and watching over my shoulder. Then after getting through the bulletin without any fluffs they would literally give you admiring looks and even once – a round of applause.
My boss was the infamous Rod Mackenzie but he supported my proposal to set up as the newsgathering reporter in Kingston, Jamaica after a couple of successful sends – one of which was with Phil Mackie who was at Five Live I think then – we reported on drugs mules and new security measures at the airport and Rastas on Bubba Hill. Soon after, I moved to Jamaica – living at the top of the Red Hills Road in Kingston and enjoying a life of menthol cigarettes, red stripe and jerk chicken for the next couple of years and lots of reggae and dancehall stage shows. I was there for the huge grade 5 Hurricane Ivan which was a scary night but hugely busy with me basically continuously feeding bulletins and doing live two-ways every hour. Oh and I also interviewed a young Usain Bolt just before he went to the Olympics and started winning gold medals. Special mention and thanks to the former Head of BBC’s Caribbean Service Debbie Ransome.
I was forced to return to the UK suddenly because my husband had leukaemia, he was admitted to Guys and St Thomas’s who gave him the most fantastic care but the cancer was too far advanced. In the 6 months before his death, I worked night shifts on the international news programme The World Today, setting up guests and cutting interviews. The people on that programme who were so supportive and cheered me up when I needed it most included Joerg Schulze (and the wonderful Nithat), Richard Howells (who I always thought was the best dad in the world), Rozita Riazati, Tom Hagler – (remember the Amsterdam elections trip?), Maggie Jonas, Hewete Haileselassie and the late Julian Keane and Sheila Kaur RIP. Sometimes we went to the pub after a shift at 5am, as there was a place open for the market traders I think it was from Billingsgate Market ? I remember walking through Farringdon and having such a laugh in a spirit of camaraderie which meant so much and saw me through the dark times.
Special mention to Rachel Rawlins, Leana Hosea, Richa Pant, Sarah Austin, Karen Chan, Huong Ly and Joerg Schulze again, Jo Jolly, Ed, Ron Bhola and Henry Tang for being such good friends and colleagues.
I was sent to the tiny volcanic island of Montserrat in the Caribbean via Antigua to do some reports and then later became UK and global development reporter under Liliane Landor who I can safely say was the most brilliant BBC manager who was a real life thought leader and inspiring person. It was an honour to have worked with her. There was also Mike Finnerty an editor I remember as inclusive and fair – I reported on the influence of Wahabi ideology in Birmingham amongst many other things and a report on the increasing use of the slang term ‘gay’ by British secondary schoolchildren.
The happiest and most professionally rewarding part of my career were the 7 years I worked in Bush House from 2005 – 2012. I managed the innovative citizen journalism project, ‘Your Story’ with Erica Brown who is a fantastically enabling person – she helps unleash people’s potential skills and creativity onto the world. The project established an incredible global, online community of citizen journalists, publishing to blogs and YouTube and it’s how I ended up covering Obama’s inauguration in Washington. It was amazing to be there on the Mall in DC amongst the crowds in a totally euphoric atmosphere of hope and emotion – with me were Orsi Szoboszlay, Piers Scholfield and Ros Atkins, camped out in our little media van.
Then, I got into making multi-platform documentaries full time. In a small team with Neal Razzell, Tim Mansel, Annette Mckenzie, Rob Walker, with Bridget Harney and Jeremy Skeet. Highlights included arriving in Benghazi, Libya to meet the fixer who was incredulous that I had just arrived into a post Qadaffi power vacuum, awash with guns, completely on my own, just my camera and recording equipment. The programme was called Freedom and Culture in Benghazi. It featured the amazing story of Al Ahly Benghazi football team.
Other memorable moments – there were many!! – trudging through the harsh winter of Detroit to report on crime and reality TV and a sweaty, blazing hot summer in New York setting up blind dates to explore the marriage market for professional black women.
I worked with the then World Service commissioner, Tony Phillips on a two-year project to report on a deprived housing estate overlooking the London Olympics development site which was being pumped full of money. I reported stories of gentrification, power and the displacement of poor communities. I found out the same was true and had happened in Beijing and Rio de Janeiro. It was called Great Expectations.
After the doc unit got moved to New Broadcasting House, my life changed again – I got married again, our family got bigger. I got to know a new team and worked on new programmes. I have had the pleasure of working on Profile with Mark Coles and Becky Milligan, I really enjoyed the Moeen Ali and Ed Miliband ones!
I’ve made many business programmes where my Economics major and masters came in handy. I made Women Truckers with Caroline Bayley, produced interviews with the biggest names in Advertising and Fertility with Matthew Gwyther and I’ve been wowed by the powerful craft and production skills of Rosamund Jones. I got Grumpy Cat onto the BBC weather forecast and just averted a serious international incident when Mike Williams offended Grumpy’s team handlers.
It has been very rewarding managing digital and social media output – thanks and special mention to Helen Shreeve and Emma Rippon. It is around this time, I commissioned animations for Radio 4 Free Speech AAA project by Timothy Garton Ash. Graphics by the very talented and patient Luis Ruibal.
It was a pleasure to work with Jade Thompson and Ellie Layhe, Natalia Zuo, Tural Ahmedzade who have a fantastic future in digital journalism and beyond. It is so rewarding to do deep dives into the data and social media metrics to manage social media promotion for podcasts like Doorstep Daughter, a brilliant programme by Sally Chesworth. It’s exciting to work on new platforms and tailor make content to reach new audiences.
They say that your life flashes before your eyes in death – I believe that I will see the following moments when I take my last breaths: Tasting red berries at a kitchen table in a tiny flat in Kazakhstan with Rayhan Demeytrie.
Watching the Honduran football team in Trinidad and meeting Jah David (RIP) with Judy Fladmark and working with the legend that is Tony Fraser.
Japan, writing scripts whilst sitting on a massage chair in a Tokyo department store whilst making Forced Confessions with Mariko Oi and nearly missing my flight after a v. heavy night drinking pints of sake!
Walking through a stinking sewage channel, stepping over drug syringes with desperation in the air on the Mexican side of the US border with the brilliant Valeria Perasso and Franz Strasser.
In Mumbai on top of The Hyatt overlooking the Arabian Sea with Rumella. xx.
Sipping Campari in Venice and cherry flavoured red wine in Milan with Manuela Saragosa. I could go on but better stop there….
Friendship bonds that form with fellow journalists are an integral part of the life in this job and among the best people I have shared stories and laughs with are Mike Gallagher, Arlene Gregorius, Tim Mansel, Dave Edmonds, Neil Razzell, Helen Grady, Farhana Haider, Linda Pressley, John Murphy, Shabnam Grewal, Chloe Hadjimatheou, Estelle Doyle, Leana Hosea, Alex Collins and so many more.
I will take all this good energy with me as I start my next chapter not solely working for the BBC anymore. I have always tried to be true to myself and do what feels right and makes me happy and I always go with my intuition – it has kept me alive up until now! So I am branching out with my own entrepreneurial adventures which include some upcoming commissions.
If you know me and I know there are many others I have not mentioned but please keep in touch on Facebook or look me up on Twitter and LinkedIn (my husband told me to say the LinkedIn part!).
Lots of love, Nina xx
Nina Robinson Documentaries 