Let’s do this chronologically when did you join Granada? I joined Granada in 1981. I was approached initially, I used to work for the BBC on a freelance basis, I did a bit of radio for them. And then the riots took place in the summer of 1981, which I covered for the BBC. As…
Read MoreWallen Matthie describes some of the range of regional programmes he worked on.
Can you remember any of the other programmes you worked on? Yes, I worked on – as a researcher you moved in and out of programmes – in terms of regionals at the time Granada Reports was quite a big production. At one stage we had offices in Liverpool, and Granada Reports was being presented…
Read MoreWallen Matthie describes working on the programme, This Is Your Right
Wallen Matthie talks about some of the people he worked with at Granada
Any other people in particular you remember? Yes, the people who stood out for me, people I worked with very closely – Mike Short who was a producer for Granada Reports. Before Mike Short, there was Rachel Hebditch – a phenomenal woman working in a man’s world. And Chris Radzinski stood out; again these are…
Read MoreWallen Matthie describes his memories of Tony Wilson
You mentioned Tony Wilson, what kind of person was Tony? I found Tony to be a fabulous guy, I got on really well with Tony. When I first met Tony, these were people I used to see on TV, it was really strange, I’m a local lad in terms of schooling and the rest of…
Read MoreWallen Matthie recalls working on a documentary about gangs in Manchester
And also at the time you worked on a documentary about guns and drugs in Manchester. Did you feel that there was any antipathy from the black community? Yes, there certainly was. What I did was to do my research. And when you do your research accurately and properly you’ll generally find that all the…
Read MoreWallen Matthie on being one of the few black people working at Granada TV and his input into the company’s policy on BME recruitment
You were born in Jamaica but grew up in Manchester, how did it feel coming to Granada as a black person – where there many black people on the staff? No, when I joined Granada I just knew of two people on staff. Actually just one on staff because I was going to mention Oral…
Read MoreWallen Matthie talks about the views of the black communities in Manchester and Liverpool towards Granada TV
A lot of people have talked about Granada being really important to the North West, Manchester. What was the view of the black community towards Granada, did it view it with any affection? It’s quite interesting. I felt that the black community in Manchester felt that Granada was one of those companies that they were…
Read MoreWallen Matthie talks about whether there was bullying at Granada
Was there a certain amount of bullying do you think? Oh gosh yes, absolutely there was a certain amount of bullying went on. I mentioned the newsroom earlier on and certainly when I first joined in terms of the producer and the news editor were all females. It was quite interesting that because they were…
Read MoreWallen Matthie describes the support that Granada offered its employees
At my interview one of the things that was said to me was that you were entering into this family. And it was a family. I did feel that. People were really supportive. You could go to most of the senior people, producers. The fact that it wasn’t Mr Plowright, it was David, and he…
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