01/02/2018 The One Show

No trumpets today, what a shame.

A

disappointing day, never mind.

Welcome to the first temporary one

show with matchmaker... -- Matt

Baker...

And Alex Jones. We'll be

finding out what connects Bill Gates

with one of these, all will become

clear later on. It's not even funny,

it's amazing and I'm very excited

about it.

First we are joined by a

dame who we think could easily be

classed as the kindest woman on

British television.

Yes, this lovely

lady turned Downton Abbey into a

home for injured soldiers.

She

dispatched an army to giant country

to help the BFG takeout man eating

giants.

She then very kindly made

the ultimate sacrifice to save the

world by being exterminated by

Daleks.

We know who you are!

You

know nothing of any human, and that

will be your downfall.

Exterminate!

But the question is, how nice is she

really?

Let's find out, and welcome

Penelope Wilton! APPLAUSE

Penelope, Dame Penelope Wilton as

well. Welcome, welcome. I can't

believe it is your first time on the

one is.

They did a lot of research.

We found this wonderful story that

you were so kind on your first

television job you actually gave the

job away to somebody with better

legs for the role.

Yes.

You need to

explain this. You look absolutely

gorgeous. We can't imagine anybody

with better legs. It was a specific

kind of leg they were looking for.

Yes, you see when you started work

when you left drama school in my

day, you had to join the union

Equity. You can join a union unless

you had a job. It was a sort of

chicken and egg situation. I had to

get a job and my sister, Rose, was

working for man alive. She worked as

the BBC. She found out there was a

drama going on and they needed a

lady with very bad varicose veins.

LAUGHTER

She said, would you go along? You

won't be seen, it'll be just your

legs. It was a sort of hospital

drama. I said yes, that would be

fine, as long as... I would get my

card you see, I get the job, have a

contract, I could join equity, which

meant, you know, launched, as it

were.

Did you have varicose veins?

No, I didn't have any varicose

veins. I went along and in those

days they put a lot of spaghetti

down the back of my leg and then

they sort of painted it. And then

they sort of looked at it and asked

me to go on camera. I looked at my

legs and they weren't... There was

silence and people walked away. Then

during the tea break, I saw another

lady walking down a corridor...

LAUGHTER

She did have real ones.

Real, not

spaghetti.

Really quite bad varicose

veins. I said to the director who I

didn't even know who he was, I said

which one is the director? I was so

green. I said excuse me, he said

yes, what is it? I said, I know

you're having trouble with these

varicose veins but I've seen someone

with real ones, they might work. I

think she worked, either working in

the canteen... Anyhow, next thing I

knew, sure enough, there she was in

the make-up room having her legs

done. I was asked to go. But I got

my card, you see!

There you go.

Right, we go. Slight of topic.

Hospitals all around the country are

still dealing with high levels of

admissions and ambulance delay is

due to the severe pressures they

face to this winter.

A situation

that has been going on for weeks.

Serious concerns have come to life

about how one ambulance trust has

been operating. Here is Joe 9am at

the headquarters for NHS East of

England and top health officials

have been summoned to an emergency

risk summit to discuss a series of

potentially serious incidents

involving severe ambulance delays

over the Christmas and New Year

period.

Risk summit are only held

when there are serious quality

failings and they need to act

rapidly to protect patients. All

this has come about because a

whistle-blower raised the alarm. One

of those attending is Andrey Yacoub

of HealthWatch Suffolk which takes

up public concerns with NHS England.

It has raised an issue that would

otherwise probably have been looked

at historically two or three months

down the line. I just hope we come

away with some defined actions

because of it's just talking shop,

it won't have achieved anything.

The

whistle-blower has leaked a list

claiming there were 40 potentially

serious incidents where ambulances

were delayed over the 17 day holiday

period including a delay of nearly

17 hours and 19 deaths. I was

shocked reading it, the amount of

times some people are waiting who

had a stroke, heart attack, where

you shop?

Yes I was, that's why it's

being done so urgently.

Liberal

Democrat MP for North Norfolk Norman

Lamb met last January.

The assertion

was made there were periods when the

trust wasn't safe. It's a deeply

troubling situation.

Whether or not

it was unsafe is one thing they'll

be considering at the risk summit.

However The East of England

Ambulance Service Trust declared its

highest state of emergency on New

Year's Eve. When this happened a

trust can request help from

neighbouring Ambulance Services.

When the Ambulance Service moved to

its highest operation level on New

Year's Eve, did it ask for help?

My

understanding is that it didn't.

They should always ask. They should

always be taking all steps available

to them.

The trust says there was a

significant increase in resources

over the festive period. The

whistle-blower questioned the

decision to allow CEO Robert Morton

to have annual leave at the busiest

time of year.

Senior directors

appeared to be on leave out of the

region at the busiest time of year.

I don't know whether it's true but

it needs to be investigated. I think

it would be extraordinary, a

headteacher isn't away in the middle

of exam time. Someone running an

emergency service, I wouldn't have

thought, should be away for an

extended period of leave.

According

to the trust senior managers were on

duty 20 47 in this period and two

Gold commanders were available at

all times. What is your response to

this overall, how do you feel about

the situation?

The biggest concern

is can the people of the East of

England beat reassured there is an

emergency service there to meet

their needs in their hour of need.

Problems with ambulance delays

aren't just a recent issue,

according to the website since April

last year the East of England trust

failed to read six out of seven

national targets set for ambulance

response times. One evening in

August Kim called for an ambulance

when her son broke his leg in two

places playing football in their

back garden.

We called 999, the

controller was really honest and

said there would be a delay.

I

expected it would be quite snappy

because they are called the

emergency services. It was

absolutely mind blowing how long it

took.

It kept dragging on and on.

You kept thinking, this is my son

he's 11. He was crying and

screaming, it was getting colder,

getting darker, you keep looking for

the flashing lights and they weren't

coming.

It was an horrific

experience.

The family made four

calls to 999 and had to wait over

three hours before an ambulance was

finally able to take RV to hospital

for emergency surgery. The trust

since admitted the response time was

dreadful and apologise to the

family. At NHS East of England HQ at

the summit is over and a statement

issued. The details of which I

raised with MP Norman Lamb. NHS

England put up a statement, there

will be a series of actions. Is it

good enough?

It's not, they've been

left with a pretty bland statement

that gives no indication about the

scale of their concern. I don't

think it's acceptable and I think

there is a responsibility to

completely open now about the issues

they are dealing with, preliminary

findings, and what they are doing

about it.

Joe is with us now. Can

you sum up the potential issues the

whistle-blower was raising?

This was

all about severe ambulance delays in

the East of England over the festive

period involving serious calls from

life-threatening emergency calls,

for example one case we know of was

a heart attack patient who died

after waiting seven hours, over

seven hours for an ambulance. A

stroke patient waiting over 16

hours. There was extreme pressure on

the Ambulance Service. Given there

are questions being asked about

whether it was appropriate for the

senior executives to be on holiday

at the time, whether they moved to

the highest operational level soon

enough, whether they should have

asked for help from other ambulance

trusts. We saw Norman Lamb, he has a

question about how the ambulance

trust has conducted itself since, he

thinks they might have misled the

public because they say the

whistle-blower didn't raise his

issues internally first when they

were raised with the chair of the

trust. There are issues there as

well.

What have East of England

Ambulance Service trust said in

response?

On that point they say

they're honest and open and if the

whistle-blower raised anything they

didn't go through correct channels.

On the serious matters, they say

they are investigating 40

potentially serious incidents to see

if harm was caused. On the matter of

leadership, they say, they don't go

into specifics about who was on

holiday when, but they say senior

managers were on duty 20 47. --

24-7. This was a level of demand

unprecedented. At its peak they were

receiving calls involving

life-threatening situations every 20

seconds, that is absolutely extreme.

They constantly assess their

operational level and moved to the

highest operational level when they

needed to do so, mainly because of

hospital delays.

The paramedics will

have been flat out trying their best

to do the best they could, but there

is a bigger picture.

It's not just

about the Ambulance Service, this is

about our emergency care system, it

has been creaking under pressure

over the festive period and one

particular issue for the Ambulance

Services handovers, when they get to

a hospital are these ambulance is

just stuck in a queue? How quickly

can they hand patients? The East of

England, on New Year's Eve there

were over 1000 ambulance handovers

that took over 60 minutes, 60

minutes or more to get a patient

into hospital, an ambulance but

can't get back out on the road.

Clearly it's a big issue for the

whole system not just the Ambulance

Service.

We want to learn

year-on-year, what happens going

forward?

There has been a risk

summit, they say there will be an

action plan published soon. I'm sure

actions had been agreed and there

will be a meeting to assess progress

against those actions. We'll hear

more tomorrow because Norman Lamb

will be speaking about it in

Parliament.

Parliament.

This piece of music

might take you back...

Penelope.

Penelope's big television break was

playing the long-suffering wife of

obsessive neighbour Martin, played

by Richard Briers, in Ever

Decreasing Circles. Thankfully not

all neighbours are so problematic.

Here is some of the best.

John and I have been living next

door to each other for about 12

years or so. It's been a fantastic

12 years.

I've always been lucky and

had good neighbours. Jim, the best,

couldn't wish for anyone better.

John and Cath used to come and see

me after I had my bypass, it ended

up being in a chest brace for six

months.

He was in a bad state, like,

he asked me if I would, for half an

hour in the morning, half an hour of

an afternoon, which I did. I think

this is how we got more close.

John

came to see me all the while. It was

fantastic, the neighbourly thing.

How are you doing, John?

Now John's

wife has passed away and I'm pretty

much doing what they did for me.

My

wife died about four and a half

years ago. I was depressed, on the

bottom. Jones picked us up by taking

us out.

When we go out on the fells,

John's troubles about this and his

wife they tend to leave him and he

feels better. To me he's like an

extension of my own family, it's

just like your grandad living next

door.

I'd hate to see them move,

let's put it that way.

Cheers, mate.

There was a group of us, we got a

taxi home. We got here opened the

door and I fell, I'd broken my

femur. I was in agony, couldn't

move. Very kindly, some of the guys

came out of the mosque to help me,

offered me a blanket to keep warm.

They were so lovely and generous. A

few weeks later I thought I'd write

a letter to the mosque.

It was a

very beautiful sentimental letter,

it made me feel I want to go over

and see Sharon straightaway. She

brought flowers, chocolates, we had

a really fantastic conversation.

It's been a most wonderful

experience meeting Sharon. I hope

Sharon is going to encourage other

people from the neighbourhood to

build stronger positive

relationships.

Although it came

about in sort of like a not very

nice way, it has increased our bond

with each other as part of the

community. Go and knock on your

neighbour's door and say hello, my

name is...

I think Sharon has got to

know a lot of people from the

neighbourhood since she's been

coming here.

It's really great to

have made a friend who is wonderful

and lovely.

I never thought about it.

It's my

fault.

It's a case of knocking wood

together. We worked in the rain,

even the snow, we've even had the

grandkids in here, knocking in a few

nails.

This first side cost us no

more than £80. Everything was

reclaimed, taken from skips, people

donated, car-boot sales, charity

shops, then we put our own stamp on

it.

Coming out of our front door, to

comment Kelvin's, out of his back

door, turn left, to go into the pub,

so the name stuck. -- to come into

Kelvin's.

My wife and his wife come

in, have a drink, chat, and that's

it. We just carry on drinking then.

Because we love the place. It's just

a project. It's grown.

If we did

move I think we would have half

each.

That's a great idea, isn't it?

I love that. I was shovelling gravel

with my neighbour last week.

That is such a Matt Baker thing to

do.

It is a sad thing that more than

half of Britain apparently do not

know their neighbours.

What?

Sort it out, go next door.

And shovel some gravel!

LAUGHTER

On that point of Ever Decreasing

Circles, what was it like working

with Richard Briers?

It was

wonderful. I learnt about comic

timing from him. You cannot learn

about it. You either have it or you

don't. But watching him, I learnt so

much. He was the most adorable man

to work with. A brilliant actor. And

a wonderful colleague. Peter Egan,

as well, of course.

There must have

been so much niceness onset.

You say

that, we are not nice all the time.

LAUGHTER

Right!

Some people say that about us. That

was a big break for you. But your

career started well before that,

back in 1969 in the theatre. And you

are back at the old Vic. You are

rehearsing an adaptation of a famous

film. How close to the film is this

production?

Not that close. It's the

story of

Fanny, a little girl, and it is

about a theatrical family. I play

the matriarch who was an actress,

but gave it up when she had

children. Then she goes back into

the theatre. And it's about a lot of

things, the play, it's about life,

it's about growing up, it's about

the fear of death... It's also a

very witty script by Stephen

Beresford who is a wonderful writer.

And we have an enormous cast, there

is about 16 or 18 of us.

We saw the

rehearsal picture. We were surprised

at how many there were.

It is a sort

of wonderful story about a family.

Is it set in Switzerland?

Sweden.

Sorry, Sweden.

Yes, it is set in

Sweden, and at one point we sing in

Swedish. It's quite difficult to

learn.

We are practising. Git.

-- we are practising. Good.

I would

like to say a tiny bit more about

Fanny and Alexander. It is the

centenary of... It is the

bicentenary of the Old Vic. It is a

new script.

If it isn't like the

film, how does it differ?

They

advised Stephen not do it like the

film. You don't want to pale by

comparison. It has all of the

elements of the film. E-mail Bergman

was in love with the theatre. It's

about the theatre. And he worked at

the Old Vic. He had a connection

with it. It is wonderful we are

doing it there.

We must talk about

your recent co-star, the elephant.

Yes, this is a film, actually, we

showed here. Give us an idea of what

the film is about.

The elephant film

is about the zoo in Belfast, the

beginning of the war, that took in a

little elephant that had been badly

treated elsewhere. The head

zookeeper was called up. By way of

making his son, who was about 13,

feel better, he said, you better

keep an eye on that elephant. The

little boy was rather bullied at

school.

school. Then the shipyards were

bombed because they were building

destroyers for the Allies. They

started to shoot all of the animals

in the zoo because if a stray bomb

got into the zoo they would have

wild animals. This little lad and

his friends decide to save this

elephant. This is a true story. They

go to this woman, who they know as

the witch, and that is me.

CHUCKLES

Who takes animals that have been

injured off the road, and things

Comanche has a sort of menagerie.

First of all she is furious with

them.

them. -- and things, and she has a

sort of menagerie.

I cannot wait for

it.

That is going to be out in the

spring.

Yes.

But before that Fanny

and Alexander will be at the Old

Vic.

It was recently reported that

billionaire Bill Gates was investing

millions into a research study to

create a super cow. It is all to do

with increasing food production in

developing countries.

Surely we will be finding out more

from Professor Eileen Wall, one of

the scientist working on the

programme, but before that Jennie

has been to find out if calling a

Carol Marge -- cow Marge will make a

difference.

There is a big divide in the farming

community between those who named

their cows and those who don't.

Recently a major study by Newcastle

University has been trying to find

out if it makes a difference. Not to

be left out, we thought we would do

a bit of research of our own. Mark

Logan is the farm manager of this

farm outside Belfast. He names his

animals. He believes it is part of

the reason for his higher than

normal milk yield.

We keep about 100

cows, 70 jerseys, we have a nosy one

behind us.

Do you know them as

individuals?

Absolutely. Every one

is an individual.

New go.

They each

have their own personalities. They

have their own. -- on you go.

What

are the benefits of Neveu them

individually?

You would be much

quicker to pick up the problem. If

an animal is not her normal self.

A

happy cow gives normal milk?

I think

that's true.

Chris Wilson, nearby,

has a herd of 250 dairy cows, but

none of them are named. What does he

make of the idea?

We look after our

cows very well. To name 250 cows, I

don't know about you, I would never

remember that amount. A lot of us

would know their tag number. But

naming them I don't think will make

much of a difference.

Well, Chris

doesn't seem udderly convinced. But

he has decided to pick one and give

her a name. We have asked social

media followers to help with

suggestions.

Mavis...

Intrude...

Marge. Go with that one. I like that

one.

Without it was time to get on

with name-calling. Could Chris

with name-calling. Could Chris churn

over a new leaf? Those are the ones

must have felt like they were out in

the cold.

How are you getting on,

Marge?

Eventually they were

inseparable.

We are getting a few

more litres of milk out of her since

we named her.

Experiment is over,

how has her milk yield been since

she was named? Time to check.

Marge

It is doing well. As you can see, we

recorded her on quite a few days.

The weather has had an impact.

Rainfall, weather conditions,

anything to that effect, that

affects the grass grows.

I am dying

to know, was it up or down?

I

thought you might ask.

thought you might ask. Marginally

up.

Fantastic.

That is about it over

the month.

Not exactly bursting the

banks. And let's face it, one cow

isn't exactly a fair assessment. So

back to the Newcastle University

study. What have they discovered?

Doctor Catherine Douglas should have

one of the answers.

We did a big

survey. That is where one of the big

findings came from. If you give your

cows names you also got more milk.

So perhaps if you see them as

individuals, perhaps that would be

an indicator of advanced stockman

ship.

What kind of increase are we

talking about?

When we looked at the

different groups, those who did have

names for their cows had a 50 litre

increase in milk yield. Those who

had identified additional positive

interactions had an extra 500

litres. Looking at the 250 on

average milk price on an average UK

herd of 150 cows, that could be

about £10,500 per year from naming

your cows.

That's amazing. There you

have it. Naming your cows could

cause it to produce more milk. Kind

of. Let's call it the milk of human

kindness. Chin Chin.

There we are. We do not name our

sheep. Some of them we do.

But you have told me you have

favourites.

On lots of farms there are

characters who get named.

And the donkeys.

Yes, but once you get over 100 of

the same animal it's difficult. I

totally appreciate that. We are

joined by Professor Eileen Wall who

will be working on this incredible

project that Bill Gates has been

helping to fund. It is billed as

creating a super cow. To be fair

this is more about the farming

system that is going into the

developing world, and trying to come

up with something that will really

work and breeding animals that can

thrive in conditions like this.

That's a fair assessment. Super cow

grabs headlines. We are trying to

take some of the technologies and

techniques we've been using in the

UK to increase our yield very

successfully over the past 50, 60

years. And help African dairy

farmers to identify the best cows

for their systems and the best bulls

to increase their milk yields.

There

are lots of other animals involved.

Where are you with the cows?

At the

moment, in the UK, use or there,

that farmer was recording milk yield

all the time. In Africa that

infrastructure isn't there. We have

been going out with our partners,

Bill Gates and others, measuring

milk yield, looking at disease

burdens. In practice. In those

remote areas cut off from

technology. But using digital

technology to get the data. And

picking that up with the genetic

information to see what other genes

in those cars that help them thrive,

survive, and interact with systems

in Africa. -- those cows.

This is a

big project. What are the

aspirations? What are Bill Gates'

aspirations?

He brings a

businessman's approach. We are going

out there. Bringing research

students over to train them, help

disseminate the next generation of

technology improvements alt there.

He wants to seek it making a

difference. Not just science, he's

wanting us to double milk yield in

ten years, chickens, poultry, really

just change farming households that

only use animal products to feed the

household to sell eggs, milk, and

make income. Particularly in the

case of eggs where it is important

for women.

Absolutely. And as soon

as you have an infrastructure like

that somewhere, the remote parts of

the world, roads get re-routed.

It's

an explosion. Not just in

disseminating technology, but also

bringing it back to central

locations and making it safe.

Good

luck with all of it.

Thanks.

We

shall keep a close eye on that.

That's it for tonight -

thanks to Penelope for joining us.

Fanny & Alexander opens

at The Old Vic on the 1st of March.

Dan Walker will be here with me

tomorrow when we'll be

chatting to Mel Giedroyc.

And we will be talking David Bowie

with Jon Culshaw.

Good night.