MeeBox by Adam Buxton Page 4

I’m aware that left to my own devices the kind of stuff I produce is not particularly in synch with the world of Lilly Allen and Gavin & Stacey and it may never have the potential to cross over the way those chaps have but I hoped there might be room for a diversity of shows on BBC3, especially as a series of MeeBOX would have cost less to produce than a couple of episodes of The Wall, so it could hardly be thought of as a costly risk.

Most people seemed to like the show although I heard some criticism that it didn’t work as a parody of You Tube. Although that was one way I explained it to people in interviews and such, it was never meant to be the whole point of it. The vague on-line look was more just a peg on which to hang the videos. What was important to me was that each individual element was funny in some way. If it had been commissioned I guess I would have gone further with the You Tube spoof angle or perhaps pulled back from it completely but as it was a pilot I didn’t get too hung up about it.

I think MeeBOX is funny, not particularly obscure and very televisual. The BBC said they agreed absolutely but it had been a case of unfortunate timing. When the pilot was commissioned BBC3 was still a place where wonderful shows like Snuff Box (more BOX based marginalia!) could co exist with the channel’s more obviously teen-brained fare. Now that’s apparently no longer the case and there is a ‘brand’ in position that needs to be consistently maintained, or some such. I guess that’s the reality of life in the dirty UK multi channel world: get successful or f**k off. Well, duh! you may say, but in TV as with most other things ‘successful’ is by no means always the same thing as ‘good’.

As you can see, it’s impossible to analyse these kinds of policies without sounding like a bitter and twisted old fartcake so I’ll try to resist and say instead that I hope you watched the show and if you liked it, you might find some way of letting BBC3 know. They’re unlikely to reverse their decision but hey, who knows? If on the other hand you thought the show should have been called ShiteBOX, then I guess your interests are being well served.

Either way I was pleased with MeeBOX and I’m very grateful the nabobs at the Big British Castle gave me the opportunity to make it in the first place. I’m also indebted to everyone who helped on the show, especially Dougal Wilson who directed several segments, Garth Jennings who made Sausages with me, Jonny Greenwood who wrote and recorded the title music, David O’Reilly who worked tirelessly to create the title sequence and most of the graphics for the show, John Pocock who produced it, Robin Hill who edited it with me and tied it all together, Jack Cheshire who exec-produced and championed it from the start (along with Armando Iannucci) and all the actors and comedians who were kind enough to be in it. Thanks too to the rest of the crew and production team who helped it turn out exactly the way I hoped it might.