When I received a call from a former colleague to ask me if I’d be interested in making a charity film with The Media Trust, I was keen straight away. Volunteer film-makers would be matched with a charity to create a film for The Community Channel for expenses only. I thought if I wasn’t working at the time, it would be a really good thing to do. But as soon as I had accepted and been matched with a chosen London charity, I was offered a paid Producer job at the BBC. Luckily they agreed to a 4 day week which meant I had some spare time to devote to the charity.

The charity was PIP – Pursuing Independent Paths - and it’s based in Maida Vale, West London. It’s a centre for adults with learning disabilities. It’s a great idea because it helps them gain independence in ways you would not think of such as training them to travel on their own – crossing roads safely, taking a bus to the right destination or tube for that matter. There are all sorts of regular classes in computer studies, literacy, healthy eating and cooking, art and drama, all of which gives them confidence to communicate in our world.

I spent this summer making a selection of films to be played to a live audience in a studio at BBC’s Television Centre. But they weren’t for broadcast; they were to be signed off by the DG Mark Thompson and would be shown at the BBC’s annual Leadership conference. This is an event to inspire, brainstorm problems together and both update and buck up the top leaders across the corporation.

I’d worked for the BBC for many years before going freelance so it does feel like going home whenever I work for the BBC. However, this time I was to work for the Internal Communications department. These would be my very first corporate films!

Afterwards, Elijah tells me that he thought we went too far, we pushed the boundary to the limit. But I hadn’t been given a boundary. Elijah is a great director but he was not in favour of the behind-the-scenes idea, he doesn’t like to see offstage. I tried to reassure him that audiences love this stuff, but I’m worried this might blow my chances for further filming or Plácido’s interview. However, the ROH filming manager was fine with it all. Not a single artist had complained, nor the musical director, just Elijah. It’s wonderful to offer audiences access to the depths they need to dig to get the performance and I feel they probably concentrated harder because the camera was there.

Later Plácido is charming in his interview. He’s like to speak Spanish but I don’t let him. He has perfect good English though heavily accented. ‘How do I look?’ he asks me. ‘You look lovely’, I reply. He reached out a hand to run up and down my upper arm, ‘So do you’, he twinkles.