Born Risky

[DanaC]

As part of Channel 4's Born Risky mission statement, they've been doing some really interesting stuff.

I haven't really been paying much attention to the whole thing (been going on since the spring I think) - I've seen a few channel idents with the Born Risky slogan - and there's been the odd documentary or show that challenges perceptions etc.

Then tonight I noticed something really interesting - and very new: a continuity announcer with tourettes.

I recognised her voice and one of her most common vocal tics (the word 'biscuit') from having heard a little of her on the radio a while back (I think she read some from her book, ‘Welcome to Biscuit Land’ and I've heard/seen the odd interview with her).

So - I googled channel 4 continuity and came across this:

Channel 4 is set up to take risks, give a platform to new talent and champion alternative voices.

As part of this commitment, five people with communication difficulties have joined Channel 4’s continuity team this December to introduce some of the channel’s biggest shows. An estimated 2.5 million people in the UK have some kind of communication impairment. We want to give them a platform and normalise the presence of disabled people on TV by adding fresh, representative voices to the rich diversity of our existing pool of announcers

Meet the five new announcers here:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/b...rnative-voices


One of the things I find interesting about this is that, although they've been throwing out the Born Risky ident, they haven't made a big song and dance about the new announcers - maybe they mentione dit at some point, but not that I have heard - and I watch quite a lot of this channel. The information is there on the channel's website for anybody interested - but this specific project has not been shouted from the rooftops - the new voice just appeared.

And she was great. Tics and all.