Shortly after this incredibly mature approach had been established, the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 happened. After 9/11, it was probably the second news event in my life so far that I actually took notice of. I was a bit too young to care about Diana. For the first time I was watching Breakfast not just for the presenters but for the news. Call it a break through or growing up, it was just another way in which the programme was beginning to shape my life, my education, my general knowledge and my outlook on everything. I often first heard about new musicians through Breakfast, new series on television, I knew what was going on in Sports I didn’t, and still don’t, care about ... I damn well cared if it was Chris Hollins telling me though.
Anyway, the point is, it was December 2004 and Sian was sent to Indonesia to cover the tsunami. I woke up to see her talking to families who had nothing left; she didn’t seem so chirpy now. I remember saying some pretty dreadful things then, things I am more than not proud of ... something about wishing that she had been swept away by the wave too ... I know! Awful! Never did it occur to me in my ignorant little mind that it wasn’t Natasha who had sacrificed all her plans, dropped everything and gone to live in the basest of accommodation for a short period in order to report what a tragedy had happened to the wider world. No. Sian was still a Tash wannabe to me. I should have been gassed, on reflection.
2005 began and I began to accept that each Friday and throughout the weekends I would not have my precious D&N. At this point I began recording the programme, Monday to Thursday. The whole experience was some sort of love affair. I couldn’t get enough of them and I was genuinely sad when 9.15 came ... actually it’s 9.13am. I slowly became more tolerant of B&S, I think part of me even began to find their TV marriage a little endearing but I would never have admitted it. I certainly began to come around to the concept of Mr Turnbull as he occasionally presented with Natasha with when Dermot was away and thus of course was Bill graduated to my level of acceptance. Despite this, any feelings that were brewing for B&S were thwarted by 2005 being the year of Natasha’s “whirlwind romance” engagement/marriage. (A now 20 year old Vikki promptly vomits at this phrase.) Although my “obsession" with her lasted at least until 2008, I can safely say 2005 was the peak of my full blown freakish, stalker like love for her. I’m surprised I managed not to wee with excitement when I saw her wedding pictures in the newspapers. (I forced my parents to buy every newspaper that day.)
Later 2005 however, provided everyone with a reality check in the form of the London bombings, possibly one of the first news events I understood the magnitude of. Not only was I watching Breakfast, I was a News 24 addict and followed every detail, every eye witness, every report. At the same time, I was introduced to a new sector of this wonderful BBC News family, the likes of Simon McCoy, Kate Silverton, Jon Sopel, Carrie Gracie, Tim Willcox, Ben Brown, Joanna Gosling ... and so many others: more and more people to admire and analyse. Unlike with the tsunami, I had grown up a little since then, I understood why Breakfast had adopted a sombre tone for the next few weeks. You couldn’t go around giggling about jumper made of dog hair when people were carrying explosives onto the underground.
This said, it didn’t stop the 2005 series of Strictly Come Dancing taking over my life in a way I still struggle to comprehend. When I think of the winter of that year in my head, lots of little fireworks start going off because I can’t quite describe how wonderful the people were that it introduced me to. Natasha was suddenly less important. In that all important GCSE year of my life, I cared not about exams but about the dances that Bill Turnbull and Karen Hardy were pulling out of the bag. Following their journey was an emotional tsunami (should at least keep the theme going) and then some. They were my everything. They were so bloody amazing. I don’t think it’s possible to love two people more without actually knowing them than I did with Bill and Karen - the peak of this love coming at the time of “footgate”.
To add petrol to this already burning inferno of obsession, I was lucky enough to get tickets to the fourth week of that year’s Strictly. Back in those days, you could swagger around TC1 like you owned the place, security was non-existent and my, at the time, best friend and I ran around like loonies pestering everyone for their autograph. My very first victim was Sian who happened to be in the studio as well that night. My friend and I clocked her in the corridor as we entered the studio and in less than a second, over a year of hatred quickly evaporated, only to be transformed into unrivalled adoration for every scrap of her little 5ft 2ins frame. I’d never met anyone “famous” before and I didn’t expect them to really speak to me. I had no idea, as a 15 year old from Devon, what “famous person” etiquette was. Baring in mind the conversation I am trying to recount was nearly six years ago I honestly can’t remember much of it but all I do retain is that she was absolutely lovely. Having met more people now, very few ask you about yourself and instead of just indulging in discussing their disgusting levels of success but Sian did. I mean, she didn’t have to have a conversation with a hysterical fifteen year old, did she? But she bloody well did and looking back on that as a now hugely mature twenty year old I applaud that. I give that a bloody standing ovation.
Night of magic over, those huge blue eyes had committed themselves into my memory for a long time to come. For weeks following meeting Sian, each morning I’d say at the TV, “I met her.” As if to reassure myself that she was real. The Monday after that weekend, I took the plunge to email Sian to say thank you for being so lovely. This would sound acceptable yet I was still on my giddy high from the weekend and sent her an unforgivable rant essentially declaring my love for her that she still bothered to respond to. That was when this part of my life moved onto a new level, knowing that I could have contact with the people who were fast becoming my idols was like the most uncontrollable and exciting new addiction. It was all I thought about.
