Warner, Arabella

Arabella was born in Nicosia, Cyprus. She read history at Oxford University and trained in radio journalism at BBC Oxford and network radio for two years.

Arabella joined TV-am as a researcher on Data Run.

On her return from a trip to Japan, she was asked to present the children’s series The Wide Awake Club (1984 – 1987).

Arabella presented the CITV links under The Wide Awake Club Gang in June 1986.

Correspondence

Paul R. Jackson corresponded with Arabella in August 2025 about her career.

“Since the age of 11, I wanted to be a Blue Peter presenter.

“My first job was at BBC Radio Oxford in 1980 as Wobbly Woo, the Wicked Witch from Wallingford on Timmy on the Tranny – Timmy Mallett’s very successful children’s radio show.

“It had games and characters doing funny turns and my magic spells were always going wrong.  That’s where we first met. I left in 1982.

“I then worked on other BBC network shows recording features for Tony Blackburn’s BBC Radio 1 show as well as BBC Radio 4’s output for children.”

How did your relationship with TV-am come about?

“It was as a result of a piece I had done for BBC Radio 1, where I was scouted to be a stringer for TV-am.

“When a researcher post came up on Data Run and Summer Run and I got it. I joined a couple of months after the channel was launched in February 1983, when the ‘Big Five’ still had jobs!

“No adults were allowed. It was an innovative improvisation show with children. The head of children’s programmes was Anne Wood, who went on to found Ragdoll Productions and produce a string of shows, including Teletubbies.

“I also produced a show devised by Gyles Brandreth called Crack It. An egg-themed quiz show (there was a scrambled egg round, which was anagrams) and the scoreboard was a line of hens who laid an egg with every point that was scored.

“I seem to remember we got the egg marketing board to sponsor it.”

Did you want to be a presenter and how did you transition from behind the camera? Did you get asked to audition?

“In 1983, I travelled for a month to Japan to visit my brother.

“The original line-up for The Wide Awake Club was me, Timmy Mallett (still friends from Radio Oxford days) and James Baker, who was working in the post room.

“Nick Wilson had taken over as head of children’s programmes by this stage. I don’t remember auditioning – I’d presented radio shows before, but not TV, so it was scary.

“Actually, none of us had presented TV before, so we had to look after each other.

“Tommy took over from Timmy, after Timmy took a job at BBC Radio 1 – but this didn’t last very long. He was brought back to present Wacaday in half-term and during school holidays.

“This was where Mallett’s Mallet was dreamed up and singing in the shower, which he did with Michaela.

“The children’s output had expanded hugely by this stage, so we needed both Timmy and Tommy and of course the lovely Michaela joined about this time.

“When Tommy joined, he was amazingly generous with his expertise. He was such a talent and such a brilliant improviser.”

Was your work at TV-am pre-recorded?

“Always live and occasionally at Christmas we pre-recorded. So early mornings. The taxi used to pick me up from my home at 4am, to be ready to go on air at 7am.”

What was the dynamic within the group and any memories/anecdotes?

“I particularly enjoyed my time working with Tommy and James. It was such fun. It was the first early morning TV show for children.

“People used to come up to us and say you are responsible for our second child! They could put the first child in front of the TV, while they went back to bed!

“It wasn’t the slickest show on TV, but we dreamed up some great games (The Spelling Game and Bonk ‘n’ Boob – you wouldn’t get away with that today).

“We all got on really well. It was the birth of the pop video, so we had loads of pop stars wanting to promote their stuff.

“We all loved the Housemartins. Patsy Kensit sang live and her top fell off.”

Did you ever meet any of the celebrities that visited the TV-am studios at Camden Lock?

“Yes, loads and we also had loads on the show too.

“Simon Cowell was a record plugger then. He was the one at that time desperate to take us all out to lunch. There was a very nice place in Primrose Hill that he’d take us.

“We had Prince Edward on to promote the Duke of Edinburgh Award and I had to make a WAC snack with him – a banana candle in a pineapple ring with a cherry on top as the flame.

“I can’t remember if we kept a straight face.

“I also interviewed a very very young Naomi Campbell.”

Why did you leave TV-am?

“The strike at TV-am basically disbanded the children’s department and outsourced it to Nick Wilson’s company Clear Idea.

“It happened to coincide with the birth of my second child, so I took redundancy, which paid for the deposit on our first house.

“We then lost it in the late 1980s economic crash.”

What have you been doing since your TV days?

“While bringing up my three children, I continued to work in Children’s TV – mainly writing for multiple shows, animations and puppets.

“I then went to work at Ragdoll with Anne Wood and filmed many of the tummy films for Teletubbies in Oxford where I live now.

“I’ve worked as a consultant for Nickelodeon pre-school and alongside all this, I was artistic director of a small charity called Kestrel Theatre, which takes professionals into prison to work alongside residents to produce high end theatre and film.

“One show even ended up being performed for a week-long residency at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

“I now write a weekly blog about my adventures in Oxford called The Oxford Sausage – https://theoxfordsausage.com/blog/“

 

Personal information

Clips of Arabella on The TV Room

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