Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a really good couple of weeks. Mine have been pretty busy with some interesting things going on. I have still not heard back from the new game show audition I did a fortnight ago as yet. But as it is being recorded at the end of this month I expect to find out one way or another very soon.

While I was waiting to go in for my turn with the producers at their production office I got talking to one of the other potential contestants. Around a year ago I helped to do some development work on a brand new quiz called Smart Ask.

This included me playing the game in front of some Channel 4 executives. To try and convince them to buy it.Well from speaking to the guy I met at my latest audition I found out that he was used as a contestant when they recorded the pilot episode of it in the studio.

It was nice to find out that something I had been involved in had made it to the next stage in its development. They have not commissioned a series as yet and I can’t say much more about it at this stage. But all I will say is this, the presenter who hosted the pilot episode was not the one that Channel 4 used when we ran through the quiz for them privately.

Recently I went to the BBC Elstree Studios to see an episode of a brand new ITV1 show called “It’s Not Rocket Science” being recorded. I was very well looked after and had a great seat, right in the middle on the very front row.

It is presented by Ben Miller, Rachel Riley and Romesh Ranganathan. As its title suggests it is a science and technology gadget show that features a mixture of weird and wild experiments. As well as a look at new innovations that are being introduced to try to make our lives easier.

They do some of the tests live in the studio during the filming and others have already been pre-recorded in advance but we still got to see them while we were there. The main guest on the show I saw was Eamonn Holmes. Who although he was on very briefly was very good, friendly and professional, as you would expect from a man of his calibre.

It was an extremely fun and different kind of show to watch. I can’t say why but during it I did get to hi five Romesh. If I am honest I would have much rather it had been Rachel but you can’t have it all can you? The series starts on Tuesday 16th February at 8pm. I not sure when the one I was at will be broadcast but keep an eye out for when Eamonn Holmes is the guest on it and then see if you can spot me.

For the second year running I attended the final London audition for Britain’s Got Talent. They hold them at the fabulous Dominion Theatre on the Tottenham Court Road. It really is a fantastic venue. Once again I was very well looked after. They sat me a few rows behind the judges. I had a good view of the stage and also more importantly a very good view of the judges, so I could see their reactions to what was happening in front of them.

Now if you have seen the show of course, you will know that at the auditions Ant & Dec only really interview the acts off the stage before and after they have performed. Happily before the recording starts they do come out on to the stage to say hello, explain what will be happening and they introduce the judges. During the filming you do sometimes see them popping up at the side of the stage watching the acts or more likely messing around. While the filming was taking place we did also get treated to a cameo appearance from ITV2’s “Britain’s Got More Talent” host Stephen Mulhern.

The judges all looked great and were in fine form. Joking with each other and messing about in between the acts appearing. While the stage was being reset. At one point Simon Cowell appeared to steal Amanda Holden’s phone and post something on her twitter page. They were also happy to chat to the audience during any down time.

Alesha Dixon and David Walliams were on fine form to. In fact David seemed to take control and keep things in order moving them forward more so than even Simon, which seemed slightly odd as he is technically the boss of the whole thing.

I think since the birth of his son Simon has very much mellowed a bit. Although I have to confess I do normally agree with everything he says when he is critiquing the acts. At the audition I witnessed there were the usual mixture of excellent and terrible acts. And the judges did rightly have to buzz a few of them off. There was one point when I actually wished that I had my own buzzer.

I obviously do not want to give anything away but I think I saw two acts that could well both make it to the grand final. One of them was a singer and the other a pretty unique impressionist. I look forward to seeing the show when it is shown in April. The game you can play when it is on is to try and spot me sitting behind Simon Cowell. It was a lovely evening watching one of my favourite shows being made in a great city.

Before I went to the Britain’s Got Talent auditions I stopped off for some food in a well known comedy venue pub in London called The Phoenix. It is a place where a lot of comics drink and it is also home to the Old Rope Comedy Club, which is on in their basement bar every Monday Night. It normally attracts some very well known comedians, who use it to try out new material.

The pub is holding its own comedy festival next month and I am looking forward to seeing Russell Howard perform there as part of it. Just while I was standing at the bar ordering my soft drink the other day. The Welsh comic and former flat mate of Rhod Gilbert, Lloyd Langford appeared next me. It is a cracking pub and just for the record the food in there is fantastic to.

I am currently in the middle of reading my second book of the year so far and as ever it is an autobiography. This time it is the life story of the twenty times champion jump racing jockey AP McCoy. As you would imagine it is brilliant and fascinating in equal measure giving a real insight in to his own life and the racing world in general. He is one tough and totally driven guy, the desire and will power to achieve what he did in his chosen sport is right there to see from the first chapter. The thing that really comes across is just how modest and low key he is. When you consider the levels he reached as a sportsman.

Many years ago my great friend Dez Kay and I did the Wedding Disco for the former jump jockey Gee Armytage when she married fellow jockey Mark Bradburne. At the time Gee was actually working as AP McCoy’s personal assistant. So he was there at the reception along with the great and good of the horse racing family, including John Francome and Clare Balding. It was a brilliant night and let me tell you those folks know how to party. I seem to remember we finished the disco in the end at around 4am.

But one man who doesn’t drink alcohol had left long before that and was I guess at home resting, as true greats often are. To be the best at anything you must be totally dedicated to your goal. I am of course talking about AP McCoy. For the record the biggest party animal there seemed to be Carl Llewellyn, who was also a hugely successful jockey and now is an assistant trainer with Nigel Twiston-Davis.

I would have liked to go out on a night out with him. I would imagine there would never be a dull moment. He is very close friends with AP McCoy, although it would appear from the outside their style of a social night out differs slightly. Anyway I am totally loving the book and now have even more respect and admiration for him than I did before. He seems like a ace man to be around and a great friend to have around you and in your corner.

The Jump has returned to our television screens for another series. It is a show for celebrities who do not think Dancing on Ice was dangerous enough to go on. With the events they make them compete in I am surprised that they can actually get insurance to be able to make the show. May be they go and have a private meeting with the head Meerkat or that annoying opera singer to thrash out a deal.

As ever with reality shows nowadays there are a couple of people on it who I have never heard of. But there is something quite fun about it that makes me enjoy watching it. Davina McCall is great on it linking it all together. And when they are not competing in those terrifying events, the contestants look like they are all having a good time. Enjoying all the excellent hospitality at the resort.

I am supporting Girls Aloud’s Sarah Harding for the very simple reason that she lives in the same town as me. Therefore I do want her to win it. She turned on the lights at Christmas last year and I have seen her in the local supermarket and filling up with petrol in the town. I think the place would look good with a golden cow horn bought back in to it. May be she could donate it to us. Good luck to Sarah Harding. I am behind you all the way.

My self enforced alcohol ban is now officially over. I took the whole of January off the booze, so I could try to have a slightly healthier start to the year and I also upped my exercise routine a bit. But that all that could come to an end this weekend. Not decided what I am doing yet but if I fancy a drink I can now have one. Looking forward to it and I am hoping that I might try to ease myself back into things gently but I guess we will just see how it goes.

I have got a couple of busy weeks coming up. Next Wednesday I am going to see a recording of Alan Davies As Yet Untitled at the famous Hospital Club in London. It is a comedy discussion show made by the TV station Dave featuring the comedian and his guests basically just sitting around a table having a chat. Which will be a lot of fun, I’m sure. And as it is quite an intimate venue people tend to may be reveal more through their stories than they possibly should.

I am also going to two new West End shows two nights running. I am off to see Gemma Arterton star in Nell Gwynn and former Friends star Matthew Perry in a play he has written himself called The End of Longing. Both of which I am very much looking forward to. I will tell you all about them next time we speak.

Have fun and we will catch up again in a couple of weeks. Cheers Neil.