The Greene shoots of recovery for 80s icon launching TV return
Her beaming smile became familiar to millions of young people across Britain, first on Blue Peter and then on Going Live! But, writes DAVID STEPHENSON, Sarah Greene’s life delivered a string of tragedies and challenges that would try anyone. Now she’s tes
EIGHTIES TV icon Sarah Greene has had more than her fair share of setbacks – an almost fatal helicopter crash and then the death of her husband DJ Mike Smith after heart surgery.
But she believes such adversity has only made her stronger and even more determined to grab her TV comeback “with both hands”.
She is set to appear with co-host Roman Kemp on a new show called The Finish Line, made by the same company as ITV hit The Chase.
Her husband Mike, a qualified pilot, had founded and run an aerial filming company.
After his death in 2014, former Blue Peter star Sarah took over running the business. And the 65-year-old credits taking charge of the firm as a way of dealing with bereavement.
But the lessons she learned will also help her in her latest endeavour, she believes. She said: “Yes, it is something of a comeback. Because of what’s happened in my life over the last nine years particularly, I had to learn a lot about running a company very quickly. And I’d lost my husband.
“Now I can’t believe it. Nine years ago I took the decision to carry on with his company.
“It was a bit like going from being an actress to a presenter. And then all those years later, after the saddest experience in my life, I was on a learning precipice.”
But Sarah knows everything about bouncing back. In 1988 she and Mike, then a couple, were involved in helicopter crash. She famously returned to her hit show, Going Live!, to present in plaster and they married the year after.
Recalling the time after his death, she said: “In a sense, Mike left me with something that made me have to get up in the morning, get on with it, and put one foot in front of the other.
“I had to take some big decisions about areas of life that I wasn’t necessarily that familiar with. “You’re having to learn so quickly. And I did. “One thing I remember Michael saying – the important thing was to stay at least two steps ahead of current technology, if you can. And you’ve got to have good people around you to tell you what those steps are. I have always had that.”
She certainly assembled good people around her for The Finish Line. She reveals her new show may have a similar tea time slot and is relishing a ratings battle.
“We would have to take up the challenge. It would be a big one!”
But she knows what she is up against, having already triumphed on a celebrity version of The Chase. She said: “I’ve already beaten The Chaser when I appeared on it.
“But otherwise we’ll have to wait and see. Ask me again when the series is over!”
Sarah, a veteran of 251 Blue Peter episodes,
‘You’re having to learn quickly’
says she’s a fan of The Chase. And when asked about her favourite quiz masters, she said: “Historically, Huey Green or Michael Miles, but if you were to ask me who is the best quiz master now, it would definitely be Bradley Walsh. I think he’s probably the current king of quiz masters.”
But she adds swiftly: “I should probably say Roman Kemp actually. In fact, I think he’s a bit of a natural at this.
“And if anyone should be looking at his crown, it’s Bradley looking to Roman.”
The Finish Line is a fast-paced, 40-minute format on a bells and whistles set with fancy sliding pods ferrying contestants across the stage as they answer questions correctly. Get them wrong and they stay put, humiliated.
Roman, 30, asks the quick-fire questions, while Sarah plays what was the Richard Osman role from Pointless, joking with the contestants, and boosting their morale.
“Honestly,” says Sarah, “Roman is like my honorary godson now.we had a lovely very natural rapport right from the get-go.
“I have been very lucky with my TV ‘other halves’ if you like, but this is a slightly different thing. Our age differences are considerable in that he could easily be my son.
“Oddly enough, I was actually there when his mum Shirlie and dad Martin were introduced to each other. But I can’t take credit for it – that was none other than George Michael! So I call myself his honorary godmother, and George Michael, God rest his soul, is his godfather.”
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After several acting jobs, she got the gig on Blue Peter to get badges for her flatmates.
“I had appeared on the show as a guest, plugging one of the dramas that I was on.
“After it finished, editor Biddy Baxter and Edward Barnes, head of children’s programmes, said, ‘Would you like to come up to the bar – we want to talk to you about the show?’ That’s how they did it in those days.
“I was surprised because it was something I never dreamt I would do in a million years. It had never entered my head – but that was how it all started.”
And she says despite the heartache she is now in a good place and relishing her new chance.
“It doesn’t happen often in people’s lives,” she says, “but I think because of things that I’ve been through in the past with bereavement, and the things that life can throw at you, when these moments happen, it becomes more special, even more poignant if you like.
“You grab hold of it with both hands.”
‘You grab hold of the chance’