Just Judi

Simon Stabler talks to broadcaster Judi Spiers

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Back when ITV was a network of separate regional broadcasters, the TV listings in newspapers would include a list of local variations. “As for London except” would be followed by a selection of weird and wonderful programme titles such as Calendar (Yorkshire) and Gus Honeybun (Westward/TSW).

I soon learned that Calendar was the local news programme, but it wasn't until a holiday in Cornwall that I discovered Gus Honeybun was the rabbit puppet star of the station; a much-loved character whose onscreen antics made younger viewers’ birthday announcements memorable.

“He worked with anybody who did continuity but there were two of us who made our name with him really because we did outlandish things,” explains presenter Judi Spiers. “There’s not a week when I’m not recognised. I've just come back from the Isles of Scilly and coming off the sea front one night, there were a bunch of 50-something ladies in the room. And one of them went: ‘Judi Spiers? Gus Honeybun?’ and they all went: ‘Oh, my God, oh my God!”

Judi’s broadcasting career has seen her work on Westward Television and, its successor, TSW in the southwest of England, nationally on the BBC TV, and more recently on Boom Radio. However, she originally wanted to act.

“I wanted to be a Hollywood actress. I wanted to be a film star. However, with red hair back combed up to here, skirts up to my backside, I didn’t fulfil the parts at drama school. I wasn't a Juliet or a Helena. And so, I never got those parts. I always got the sort of: ‘Ready to order?’ Julie Walters character parts, walking along the back and tended to steal the show with that.”