Autistic Superstars

A Report by Alain English

 On 16th April, Ethney Anderson and myself plus a few others from Autism London attended the filming of a show called Autistic Superstars at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.  We were in the audience watching the show, as a group of autistic kids with musical and artistic talents were gathered together to demonstrate their abilities.  They had been sought out across the country and their skills had been developed in some cases with the aid of a tutor. 

There was a piano player who could play back any tune, note-perfect, after hearing it just once, earning him the nickname 'The Human Ipod'.  There was a guitar player, a singer with supposedly diva-like tendencies and brilliant voice, plus a young drummer who reminded me of myself with his cheekiness and intense style of playing.  Watching all this from the side was a brilliant young artist who recreated all the musicians plus a surrounding backdrop on a white board with some pens.  The show took around two or three hours to film so this was quite an achievement, especially given the depth and detail of his work.

We were waiting in line outside the theatre for a while, as they got set up in doors.  Once we got the all-clear, we filed inside.  There was about seven us in our small group in a crowd of about two hundred packed into the studio.  The studio was attractively laid out, in a tacky kind of a way that made me think of a night club, with the stage, orchestra and swinging disco lights.  The music, playing overhead through soundspeakers, warmed us all up, as did the efforts of the live band who acted as backup for the performers in the show.

Once we were all sat down in our plastic seats the floor manager, an older woman with earphones, gave us the warmup cues for applauding the artistes as well as explaining what would happen during the course of the filming.  She then introduced the show's host. I knew about Reggie Yates, having seen him on television several times.  Indeed the first thing he was asked by an audience member was "Are you Martha Jones' brother?" Reggie said "Yes, on "Doctor Who" I am Martha Jones' brother but he's better looking than I am.  He doesn't wear glasses for a start."  Reggie maintained this kind of self-deprecating charm through his time hosting the show, always keeping up an easy-going South London banter while never coming across as smug.

When you watch TV, the programme unfolds before fluidly and without stopping (except for ad breaks obviously).  Filming TV is another matter, as there is a lot of stopping and starting.  Reggie would often introduce an act, then there would be a break as the performer got settled into position and then Reggie would repeat the last line of his introduction (the 'throw' as he called it) before the performance began.  There was some shots of VT footage to introduce each artiste, with some filmed background footage of where the performer came from, what their talents were and the journey they took to get to performance standards in preparation for the show.  Reggie seemed unhappy with some of it, as he didn't want to be featured too much at the expense of the performers.

Each performer got at least two turns in the limelight.  The piano player demonstrated his skills when Reggie went in amongst the audience to name a tune and have him play it for them.  There were one or two songs called out that he didn't know but most them he did and he played them all beautifully with a real energy and zip.

The most remarkable performance was at it's conclusion.  From the footage we'd seen, it was hard enough to get solo performances out of some these performances as their autism created barriers.  But for the finale, they were all working together doing the one song.  They did it brilliantly and it was great fun to watch. 

Coming out of the studios with Ethney and the others, I thought this was an exceptional programme, and I credit the producers and the tutors for working their socks off to make it happen.  I hope they make some more like it, if nothing else so I can demonstrate my poetry skills...