The Olympics, Songs of Praise, Football World Cup, — it’s all in a days work for Karen Graham at the BBC.

There is a famous — or perhaps infamous — TV clip of a fight on Grandstand, once upon a time the pride of the BBC’s sporting output. Behind Des Lynam two of the Grandstand staff start fighting while Des, unflappable as ever, carries on regardless — look for it on YouTube — as the punches fly. It was in that studio, actually a room behind the set, that Robin and I first met with slightly less aggro. I used to type out his copy for Des and co to read out. That was 20 years ago next year and I never imagined, having been London born and bred, we’d end up living in Helensburgh with two children, a mad puppy, a chubby cat and a podgy guinea pig.




While we got together, our careers went in different directions.I trained as an Outside Broadcast Floor Manager for television and left the BBC for a freelance career in 2001. The job is incredibly varied. At the last count I have worked on four Olympics, Sydney, Athens London and Rio, two Winter Olympics, two Commonwealth Games, including the 2014 Glasgow games, the World Cup in Germany, Euro 2008… the list goes on. I’m currently getting ready to work on the World Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium in London.

I also work for lots of other productions including Match of the Day, BT Sport — Scotland, The Proms, BBC Events, Six Nations, Songs of Praise, conferences, awards ceremonies — any event that needs a floor manager. The majority of the productions you watch at the Tower in Helensburgh from the Royal Opera House in London, the National Theatre or RSC LIVE, that’s me working on them. I look after the presenters hosting the broadcast.
Next year I am off to South Korea for the Winter Olympics, then Australia for the Commonwealth Games and thankfully back to Glasgow for the European Games in the summer of 2018. Each job is different to the next, no two days are the same.

We first lived together in Stratford before moving to the other end of the Olympic Park to Hackney. Iona and Torrin were born there — Londoners like their mum! — before in 2014, days after both of us finished work on the Glasgow Commonwealths, we took the plunge and moved to Helensburgh.




It was a combination of things that prompted the move; a career change for Robin and I knew how much he simply wanted to be back home in Scotland, and two growing children. We would spend each summer holiday in Mull and I love it there — Scotland was winning me over. On the way home one summer we drove through Helensburgh and were grabbed by it. Beautiful green streets, fascinating houses, the location on the edge of the Highlands, the sea and still within easy reach of Glasgow. We wanted more space for the girls, then seven and five, and in particular a garden, so they could get outside more. Helensburgh ticked boxes.



Robin had a friend from the Independent, Nick Harris, in Helensburgh and with his advice plus me stalking the town online via Facebook and other sites we decided this was the place for us. We moved into Sutherland Crescent the day before the school year started in August 2014 and have not regretted it for a moment since. I still have to travel a great deal but it feels worth it every time the train leaves Dumbarton and the mountains and sea begin to fill the view; I’m coming home.



Iona and Torrin settled quickly at Hermitage Primary and love life here — it is hard to think of a better place to bring up children. It is such a friendly town. The weather? Character building.
A year later we married in Victoria Hall — catered by the amazing Jonny Aitken and Riverhill. Jonny was one of the first people I met in Helensburgh while we were looking at houses and promised me it was a good place to live — he was not wrong!

A huge thanks to Karen for taking the time to write this and to Robin for his editing skills! Its a fantastic insight into a life combining both living in Helensburgh and an amazing career that has taken Karen all round the world.
