I had to record my podcast in the wardrobe during lockdown Podcasts are child’s play for Bafta awardwinning children’s TV presenter Maddie Moate. MARION McMULLEN learns how she is making science cool for kids
Have you been giving parents a hand with home schooling over the last few months?
MY fiancé Greg (fellow BBC presenter Greg Foot) and I started doing a live show on YouTube right on the first day of lockdown. It was a half hour live science show Monday to Friday from the spare room with activities and questions and all things that children could do. Parents and families said they were so grateful.
The new podcast, Maddie’s Sound Explorers, launched as the live shows finished. (Laughs) Children could watch the show at home during lockdown and now they can be out and about driving and can listen to the podcast when they are in the car. It’s the first podcast I have put out into the world and it is going really well. I’m absolutely thrilled with the response.
The kids who have been listening to it love the songs at the end and it is something parents are enjoying as well. It’s aimed at children from five to 10, but even younger children can enjoy the music and sounds.
The podcast takes listeners on amazing science journeys. What have been your favourites?
THERE are journeys into space, the human body and the jungle, all with different experts answering questions using the sounds of nature and science.
All the sounds from the journey are then remixed into a song at the end. I couldn’t go into a recording studio so I ended up recording the podcast from a cupboard – just a wardrobe at home.
All the experts had to become sound engineers as well. We have people like astrophysicist Dr Jen Gupta, biologist Professor Kate Jones and zookeeper extraordinaire Charlotte Corney. The equipment to record everything was sent to their homes and we did everything remotely. (Laughs) It was all recorded under duvets and blankets.
Did you pick up any fun facts you didn’t know before?
LOTS and lots. Like one company is developing an idea to slingshot satellites into space and there are experts looking into the sound and texture of breakfast cereals. I never knew that and to learn about it on a podcast aimed at children is amazing.
I think the podcast is based on curiosity to get into the world and explore.
You present CBeebies show Do You Know? and your science and technology YouTube channel has had more than 32 million views. Where did your interest in the subject start?
I LOVED science when I was little and I also love drama and dance and the performing arts. I didn’t plan a career in science initially mainly because when I was young there were no real role models or anything like that around to show that it was achievable.
I did dance, drama, singing and all that.
I was doing theatre and performing arts already and was on that ladder, but in university I realised how much I missed science. I started out as tech presenter on YouTube and then started presenting natural science on the BBC and realised it meant so much and now I put those passions together. I’ve always wanted the career I now have, but in terms of looking ahead five years it is very difficult because things are changing all the time and there are different challenges.
Something new and exciting could come along and I could be presenting a virtual reality adventure show. The thing that I’m passionate about is encouraging young people who want to learn to go out there and explore their world.
As long as I can continue to do that on whatever platform or medium I’ll be happy.
Do you get recognised a lot by young fans?
IF I’m walking around by myself with my hair up and minding my own business no-one really notices me, but we’ve been filming at the Eden Project in Cornwall and if I am standing there with a camera pointed in my face it attracts a bit more interest.
It tends to be parents who recognise me. Children are more interested at what is going on at their own level to be bothered to look up at adults.
What would be your perfect day?
I THINK it would be something mundane like pottering in the garden, catching up with family and then going to eat at a local restaurant with really fantastic food. (Laughs) It sounds like Blind Date, but I rarely have the time to do that. Or it would be a trip to the Disney Theme Park in Tokyo.