Steph Elmore - TV & Video Presenter and Voiceover Artist » articles

Jason Manford tells Steph Elmore how he rebuffed Piers Morgan’s ‘fatty’ jibes

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:38:00 +0000

After last week’s CityLife Comedian Of The Year final I met up with Manc comedian and youngest-ever winner of the competition, Whalley Range’s Jason Manford. It’s a name you will know if you are into comedy and, if not, one you will be hearing a lot more of soon.

Jason was just 17 when he captured the title in 1999 – following in the footsteps of Kay, Spikey and Aherne. Since then, life being a comic has been good, very good for Jason.

He has received a Perrier nomination, performed in China, Singapore and Dubai, branched out into radio, writing, presenting, acting, turned down a gig on the Charlotte Church Show and landed a part in the tv series Shameless, playing a security guard who gets into an unusual situation with a dog.

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Steph Elmore gets animated over lobster while grilling Corrie’s Antony Cotton

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:37:48 +0000

These are words that you wouldn’t normally hear coming from the mouth of Coronation Street’s Sean Tully – the soap’s part-time bar man and knicker stitcher:

“I’ll have lobster and pink champagne, please.”

But Sean, aka Antony Cotton, has a taste for the finer things in life. “People will think I’m such a toff ordering this, but I’m up at 6.45am and work till 7.30pm six days a week. I’ve got to take opportunities like this.”

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Frank Sidebottom and Steph Elmore enjoy an al fresco meal

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:36:05 +0000

Would you like to go for lunch at a top hotel for your interview Frank?

“I’d rather go for a picnic.”

What would you like me to bring?

“I love Lucozade, flying saucers. Oh, and Twiglets.”

So I spent my evening shopping for food for a man with papier-mâché head not knowing if he was ever really going to eat it.

Laden with my goodies I met with the man who has appeared on more than 500 television shows, radio, concerts, comic strips, does cover versions of everything from Elvis to the Arctic Monkeys, supported Bros at Wembley, loves felt tip pens, has a mosaic of himself alongside Morrissey and Karl Marx outside Affleck’s Palace and put Timperley on the map. Although don’t tell Frank’s mum he is in showbusiness – she doesn’t know. This is why he will never do an interview for Woman’s Realm.

Where’s your sidekick, Little Frank? “Don’t be stupid he’s made out of cardboard, he can’t speak back.”

Silly me, I wouldn’t want to interview someone made out of paper, would I?

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Steph Elmore Interviews Hollyoaks star Gemma Merna

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:35:19 +0000

From Harvey Nichols make-up artist to primetime soap star – 2006 has seen Gemma Merna take quite a journey. The Worsley-born actress joined the tv series Hollyoaks as the airy, sweet-natured Carmel McQueen, just six months ago.

And since then she has hit the front pages of the national tabloids when she appeared at the National Television awards in her stunning turquoise CoCu Desgined dress with Swarovski Crystal, styled by celebrity stylist Sian Lloyd Jones.

This is one girl who knows what she wants. We’re in Numero restaurant in Casino 235, and Gemma has just sent the waitress (admittedly encouraged by myself) half-way around the place looking for some cranberry sauce to go with our very festive plate of turkey and all the trimmings:

“Christmas dinner just isn’t the same without cranberry sauce, is it,” she jokes.

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Emmerdale star Mathew Bose talks candidly with Steph Elmore

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:34:07 +0000

Matthew Bose, the dashingly handsome gay character Paul Lambert in Emmerdale, is as dishy and charming in real life as he is on screen.

I had dinner with him in San Carlo restaurant in the city centre and we chatted for more than four hours and shared a lemon tart for dessert. But, although he looks pretty, he talks tough.

“I hate the futile celebrity hollow trinket bolted onto society quite frankly!” he tells me.

“I hate it when people say they want to be famous, famous for what? WAGs were built on the back of magazines.”

This wasn’t a sudden outburst from Mathew as soon as we sat down, but more a response to why he was in Manchester that day. He had been spending time with his old school friend who has recently developed brain virus encephalitis, which causes memory loss.

For Mathew the only useful thing about having celebrity status is bringing exposure to charities, especially the smaller “less sexy” ones.

“At the moment we are trying to discover what he can remember. He’s lived here for the last 20 years, so I’ve been walking round with him all day.”

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Steph Elmore Catches up with Embrace Front Man Danny McNamara

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:33:20 +0000

Embrace frontman Danny McNamara is all set to celebrate the first birthday of his legendary The Aftershow at Moho Live and he says he’s feeling pretty cool about it.

“The initial aim was to provide a platform for some of the best unsigned acts in Manchester, and the response has been fantastic.”

“We’ve had some brilliant new bands performing way before anyone had heard of them, including The Ting Tings, Twisted Wheel and Delphic,” he said.

One year on, the night has gone from strength to strength and Danny’s taken The Aftershow to bi-monthly spots. “Manchester’s on fire, man,” he said. “It hasn’t been this way since the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays. And that was the idea: to find 50 of the best new bands on the scene. By November last year I’d unearthed 700 in Manchester alone. Any other city would have just a fraction.”

I wondered why Danny, who along with his own band has notched up numerous top 10 hits and No 1 albums, needs to take the career u-turn from being a singer in a band to promoting them?

He said: “People think i’m fu**ing mental but I love it. Every time I put a night on it’s one big party.”

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Steph Elmore Investigates the Commercial TV Industry

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:24:40 +0000

The commercial TV industry is in financial meltdown, so it’s no wonder low-budget reality shows are reaping the benefit – but at what cost to the viewer? Channel M’s Steph Elmore investigates.

When the wedding of Jade Goody to Jack Tweed is screened by Living TV next month it will likely serve as a watershed in reality television. For reasons as tragic as they are remarkable, the former Big Brother contestant is the most famous cast member in the story of television, which, over the past decade, has been all about the reality genre.

While the stakes for those in the spotlight are high, budgets are low. Low budget TV is enjoying its day in the sun at a time when cashstrapped commercial broadcasters can’t really afford to show anything else.

ITV, once a televisual powerhouse, is desperate to cut costs and it is widely accepted that the business models of both Channel 4 and five are in need of a radical overhaul. Meanwhile the BBC is under increasing pressure to curb spending despite the fact that it can rely on us, the licence fee payers.

Robin Ashbrook worked in entertainment programming for both the BBC and Granada before accepting an offer to be creative director of Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine Limited.

Shine North in Whitworth Street, Manchester, produced more than 30 hours of television for the five terrestrial channels last year, the vast majority produced and filmed in our area. Key shows include two series of Battle of the Brains for BBC2 and Banged Up for five, which is nominated for an RTS award for best constructed documentary.

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Steph Elmore Discovers The Gambia

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:23:31 +0000

The Gambia is not the place for an African safari, but its stunning beaches, luxury hotels and friendly people make it the perfect place to unwind, as Steph Elmore discovered . . .

Be around the pool in six hours? ….Check.

Glorious uncrowded beaches like those of the Caribbean? ….Check.
Exactly the same time zone as the UK so no jet lag? ….Check.
Interesting culture, non commercialised, unspoilt land yet with luxury hotels and hot, hot sunshine that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg? ….Check mate!

Now, you would think the next thing I needed was a reality check on my list but this is exactly what is on the agenda when I reach the blaze of green, tropical flowering trees away from the crowded resorts of European destinations in the Gambia.

It is no wonder they call it the smiling coast of Africa as not only will you spend your time beaming from ear to ear here but the Gambians are the friendliest, most hospitable people I have ever come across. Even at passport control they greet you with a smile rather than with that unnerving stare that makes you seriously wonder whether someone could have actually smuggled something into your bag while you weren’t looking and you are about to be hauled off to a cell instead of your hotel (or is that just me who does that?).

No, not even could the heightened tones of Jade Goody’s mum on the plane and bumbling around at Banjul airport distract me from the fact that I knew this was going to be one fantastic trip!

Situated on the unspoilt coast of West Africa on approximately the same latitude as Barbados, Gambia is dominated by the majestic River Gambia from which it bears its name and is the smallest country on mainland Africa.

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Steve Frost discusses dropping Coronation Street cast with Steph Elmore

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:22:32 +0000

Coronation Street producer Steve Frost was labelled the Iceman when several cast members were axed on his arrival 18 months ago, but he has helped the show secure a clutch of prizes at this year’s British Soap Awards.

Corrie won best soap and six other awards, including best storyline for the explosive plot which saw Tracy take revenge on cheating Charlie.

Steve was also the producer at Emmerdale, where he transformed the once sleepy Yorkshire village by introducing the likes of Patsy Kensit to the show, but he admits he is no soap fan.

“Some people are diehard fans, but I’m not,” he says.

“Having a dispassionate view allows me to stand back and be objective about storylines. Plus, I’ll leave the room if it’s on, because I’ll end up seeing something that I’d wished I’d have done differently.”

We meet at the Lowry Hotel’s River Restaurant, one of Steve’s favourites, where Steve opts for seabass and I for the fish and chips – though I did toy with the idea of ‘hot pot’ in deference to the Rover’s famous dish.

Steve is from the East Midlands, is in his mid-thirties, and studied English Literature at Cambridge University. I ask him how he ended up as one of soap’s top producers.

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Steph Elmore corresponds from Belgrade

Steph Elmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:21:56 +0000

Steph Elmore puts Eurovision disappointment behind her to sing the praises of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, which is quickly reinventing itself as the city that likes to party.

Shocked as I was to learn that Scooch didn’t come last in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, I was even more surprised when I visited the homeland of this year’s winners, Serbia.

The break-up of the former Yugoslavia led to one of the most bloody and horrific episodes in recent European history and Serbia endured civil war, UN sanctions, economic collapse and a NATO bombing campaign. No wonder it is one of the last undiscovered tourism destinations in Europe.

But tourism is on the up here and Serbia is known for its beautiful countryside, national parks and an abundance of spas respected for their medicinal and vitality programmes. It really is an undiscovered treasure for many Brits.

The capital, Belgrade, nestled between the Danube and the Sava rivers, is where it’s really happening. If New York is the city that never sleeps, Belgrade is the city that never goes to bed! Techno and dance music is big in Belgrade. The clubs, bars, restaurants are as swanky as you’d expect in any European city, yet nowhere near the cost.

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