The programme is all in Irish, but it's one of the most easily understood programmes on TnaG. It's aimed at the 10- to 16-year-old age group, and the centrepiece of the programme is that kids can ring in from home and play computer games live on air - it's one of those totally interactive TV shows. "Hiudai" is the character in the games.
We have a couple of games going each show. There's the head-to-head battle between classes at different schools - Ras Ranga - and Sludge Tank, which involves someone coming along with their parent/teacher/some other adult they want to see sludged.
All eyes are on the computer-generated sludge tank image, which holds five units of sludge. One unit of sludge is emptied out per point won by the competitor. Whoever empties the tank first, wins. The other competitor gets a pile of goo poured over their head!
My co-presenter Molly roams the country picking up characters all over the place. She's linked by satellite to us, and every so often we tune into her, wherever she is. The other week she was in Ardee, Co Louth, with Rolf Harris. He had a chat with her, then it was back to a round of Sludge Tank, over to Hiudai and a quick computer game with a caller, then back to Molly who played a game with someone through the satellite link-up. Basically I compere the sludge game, I talk to the callers who phone Hiudai and I chat to the audience we have in the studio and the kids doing the Ras Ranga. Rolf Harris was - surprise, surprise - drawing a picture for us. He got started, then it was back to studio where the audience had to guess what he was drawing, then back to Rolf to see who got it right. It all goes out live so you need a lot of energy, and you have to be prepared for any sort of technical hitch.
I have the running order on my clipboard clasped in my hand, but at any minute I might get a message saying "such-and-such is not happening, ad lib a bit!"
I'm a law student at UCD, and so far the job has slotted in nicely. I get into studio - in RTE - on Saturday at 11 a.m. and we do a technical rehearsal. We'd work on camera shots, work out my moves, stuff like that, until lunchtime. After lunch - the best part of the day - I go to make-up. Then we do a full rehearsal, with stand-ins for players. At about 5 p.m. the kids come in and I'd chat to them, play a few games - get them excited.
At half-past-five I get about 10 minutes peace to myself, then we're off and running. Throughout the day there is a whole team working together and I'm just another cog in the wheel, so it isn't all that stressful. But once the show starts it gets very hectic. We've done plenty of rehearsals so I'm well prepared. It's a live show, so there's always a chance of running over time - but we just can't, because the news comes on next. So sometimes we just have to lash through the last items.
Really, it's more fun then stressful - but I've only been doing this for a couple of weeks, so there's plenty of time for disasters. At the moment I still find the whole show is an incredible buzz. The kids just go mad. They're all there screaming their heads off and it's just brilliant.
No one has recognised me at college. Hiudai is aimed at a slightly younger age group, so no one I know sees it - which is fine by me!
In an interview with Jackie Bourke
