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May 22, 2003updated 22 Nov 2022 1:12pm

Neil Sean

By Press Gazette

08.05.03

I always start the day with Sky News’s Sunrise to see what’s happening in the world before I get lost in a sea of phone calls and e-mails.

I rise daily at 5.30am and leave the house to get to the Chrysalis HQ – I supply three stations – Heart, LBC and News 1152AM with the latest showbiz news.

Arriving at 7.30am, I flick through the newspapers – then up to the studio’s for three live links, plus I appear daily on the Star FM network.

Throughout the morning I take calls from showbiz desks looking for stories and also follow up any leads that come my way.

I spend the afternoon at Sky News where I supply showbiz news through- out the week, then it’s back to LBC to add some glitter to the Drive Time show. Rush back home to change into a dress suit and head off to Grosvenor House to attend this year’s Sony Awards – looks like it’s going to be a late night.

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09.05.03

Up again at 5.30am to head back to Heart FM, a quick fly down to 1152AM, then a live link over to Star FM. After breakfast a swift switch over to Broadcasting House where I pre-record various links throughout the week to BBC regional television.

Quick lunch break at the BBC, then on to a meeting with one of my contacts – tea in the Langham Hilton, then dash back to LBC again for Drive Time.

I rush home to change for the showbiz highlight of my week – the birthday party of David Gest and Liza Minnelli at The Dorchester – it’s quite simply “wonderful” and I arrive home very late indeed.

10.05.03

Up at 5.30am, car picks me up at 6.30am to go to Sky News for a live appearance on all the week’s showbiz news and gossip, then back in the car and breakfast at the Hilton.

Today is not a normal Saturday but tonight I am covering the soap awards for Sky – so I head back home and write my Green Room column for Metro. I also start to ghost one of the 10 columns that I supply and write – feeling exhausted I succumb to a nap.

I awake and jump into the shower before heading off to the Waldorf Hotel to check into my suite for the night’s event across town. Des O’Connor is a joy – a true pro. As I don’t drink I tend to shoot off as soon as I am through. I leave the tacky end of the market to the Mirror’s 3am girls or the Sun’s Bizarre – they seem to excel in this genre.

11.05.03

Up once again at 5.30am, a quick coffee and straight into the car to take me to Sky. The slot today is a round-up of the winners and losers from last night’s soap awards.

The rest of the day is spent plotting and writing my column for New! magazine. I then go through the rest of my accumulated stories deciding on which publications should have which stories.

With some you would be amazed how cocky they get, insisting on first pick. However, a week out in the frozen store can soon leave them begging, trust me. After a shower and change, I head off to dinner with musical-theatre friends in Soho. For once, no one is begging to be mentioned in the press – they are far too luvvie for that.

12.05.03

After a quick chat to an editor who is panicking that they have left the name of a wicked whisper in the column, I rush off to Heart FM, 1152FM and Star FM Cambridge. A quick coffee and a flick through the newspapers before back to record a week’s worth of breakfast show material with Star FM Bristol. Then back to the laptop to write and send my column for Best magazine.

I then meet with a Daily Mail journalist to discuss a feature they are writing, then back to LBC Drive Time. I was supposed to interview Girls Aloud today, but they mess around too much with times, etc, and let’s not forget they have yet to prove themselves. So I ditch them and head off to see a real star, Lisa Scott Lee (I’m joking). But she plays the game and I do like her single.

Then off to the Royal Opera House to see Hamlet – arrive home at midnight and collapse into bed.

13.05.03

Start the day with a quick trip to LBC and Star FM. After breakfast I chat with the various columnists whose pages I ghost about what they should be using. This is the part that bores me the most as it takes time to make them get it, and I cannot abide slow people.

Quick chat to my boss at Sky News Active, Steve Bennidik. We discuss the stories for my pre-filmed slots on the showbiz channel – it’s a lot of preparation as the slot goes out on Friday and we record tomorrow.

After that I start plotting the Sunday columns and then link up live with Ann Montini at BBC Radio Bradford. Back to Drive Time at LBC and then on to Greenwich to see a musical on the life of Jessie Matthews.

14.05.03

Up again at 5.30am and straight to Sky, then Heart FM, quick record with Star FM Cambridge, before a car whisks me off to the BBC to supply showbiz to the breakfast show on 6 Music with comedian Phil Jupitus.

Back at home, I do a live link with Mark Grant, who appears across Europe on various stations presenting dance charts. Back in the car to Sky, after which I take a call from a fallen pop act that I knew while I worked at Stock Aitken Waterman in PR and as a ghost singer.

Let’s just say we’re all chums as she wants a mention in the column – not happening. Back home writing another column. I send over my ghosted soap column plus my showbiz news for Sky Online and then finally Broadcasters Bulletin gossip page.

Tonight I am off to interview Justin Timberlake and then on to the first night of Friends star Matthew Perry’s play. I like him, although I ditch Minnie Driver as she plays the big star and lets face it, she is not.

Arrive home to find a message from BBC LDN confirming my weekly slot. I go to bed with my dictaphone in hand ready to type in today’s stories in the morning.

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