TV Years - Emma Cox

Emma Cox is a freelance journalist. Her career began at the Newcastle Evening Chronicle as a news reporter before moving to the Sunday Mirror where she was made TV Editor. After two years, Emma moved to The Sun where she held a number of roles over eight years including TV Features Editor.

For the past three years Emma has been covering programmes across all genres and all channels as a freelancer, writing for publications from The Sun and Daily Mail to listings magazines such as Radio Times and TV & Satellite Week. Emma's written a number of features for UKTV, most recently covering a press trip to Paris for Perception. Here Emma takes time out of her hectic schedule to talk to us about some of her favourite TV shows.

EastEnders

One of my earliest memories is sitting with my family to watch an exciting new soap. My dad, a Cockney, was intrigued: but so was my Geordie mum. It had universal appeal. Not only did the soap tackle brand new issues like AIDS, gay relationships, and teen pregnancy, but it turned actors into front-page stars for the first time.

The Fast Show

Paul Whitehouse is this country's most talented comedic actor, hands down.

I possibly prefer his collaborative work with Harry Enfield, especially the really great, mature stuff of recent years: but I've plumped for The Fast Show as it changed the comedy scene in a more dramatic way. That, and The Mary Whitehouse Experience could make me laugh until I cried as a teenager. And they invented the catchphrases that we'd repeat endlessly at school, too.

This Life

God, I wanted to be Anna. And God, I wanted to meet a guy like Miles.

The wobbly cameras, the swearing, the smoking, the sex. This Life may have had a cast of gorgeous actors, but it portrayed life as a 20-something-year-old in all its gritty reality: a life littered with hangovers, career fails, desperation and insecurity.

Big Brother

As a fan of fly on the wall shows like Seven Up, the idea of Big Brother instantly appealed to me. Little was I to know that BB would end up changing the whole fibre of our culture with its promise of 15 minutes of fame for any old Herbert.

The show's had its ups and downs, and we've often fallen out of love, but I did love the latest Celebrity series (even if that prat Jim Davidson was crowned the winner).

It was also the reality show that landed my first critic column in The Sun - 'BB Bitch'.

Dynamo: Magician Impossible

I don't have to tell UKTV how huge Dynamo is, and how he's changed how we view magic. Every other channel has tried to copy your format.

Three years after I appeared on the first series of Dynamo: Magician Impossible, being driven by a blind-folded Dynamo around a race track, I still get recognised and asked, 'Hey, didn't I see you on?' At the time, I thought I was doing a bit of filming for a niche show that would escape the notice of most people. If only I'd known, I'd have put on a bit of lippy?

Emma Cox is is one of Fleet Street's premiere television and showbiz freelance journalists.

@emmacox

@uktv_press