TV’s Konnie Huq reveals her lockdown nightmare
TV presenter on lockdown, her new book and our NHS
She holds the title of Blue Peter’s longest-serving presenter and was voted the children TV show’s all-time favourite host in a Radio Times readership poll.
So most parents will be comforted to know that even Konnie Huq found home-schooling her two children a “complete nightmare”.
Konnie, 45, spent her time in lockdown with her husband, fellow TV presenter Charlie Brooker, and their two boys, Covey, eight, and Huxley, six, in their London home, trying to teach them using the online school portals many of us will now be all too familiar with.
She said: “Lots of people would say I am tech savvy but, when I compare myself to my husband and my kids, I feel like I’m in the Stone Age.
“We’re homebodies in our house so it’s all been fine except for home schooling, which is quite a nightmare because obviously kids listen to teachers, but they don’t particularly listen to their parents. Apart from that it’s been fine and we’re all together.
“One of them had their birthday just before lockdown.The other one had to have their birthday party cancelled and he was not pleased with that at all.They’re at that age where they’re a law unto themselves. We can only do so much as parents.”
Konnie’s own parents came to Britain from Bangladesh when her father landed a job with the Prudential insurance company. Her heritage and the Black Lives Matter movement has recently made her all too aware of the debates over racism in the UK.
Konnie said: “My dad got a job as an actuary. He probably wouldn’t have come if he hadn’t been given this job in the UK out of university as a graduate, which was something he couldn’t pass up.
“He saw that growing up here you have things like the NHS and schooling for all and opportunities. So they came over to Britain to give us a better life.”
Konnie was Blue Peter’s first Asian presenter when she joined the BBC children’s television programme in December 1997 and she admits she had to put up with accusations of being a “token Asian”. But she is proud she led the way for more diversity on our screens.
She said: “Most people don’t realise racism can be really subtle. Some say ‘I’m not racist’ but everyone has prejudices. Skin colour is there and I do think a lot of people came over to the UK and because of the situation they felt they had to stay in their communities because it’s scary.
“They’d come with the dream of being totally accepted and integrated but it’s a slow process because of the ignorance of prejudice. It is historical and goes way back.
“Young Asian boys are much less likely to get a job than their counterparts so being rejected early on means they start losing their confidence and it becomes a selffulfilling prophecy.
“Which is why people don’t understand why quotas are needed and comment on my being on Blue Peter and being the first Asian presenter. But I’d think,‘I can present. I’m just like everybody else’. In a way you do have to be a token before it can be the norm.”
After leaving Blue Peter in 2008 Konnie went on to present The Xtra Factor and the One Show. Alongside Brooker, who she met after appearing on his review show Screenwipe on BBC One, she co-wrote an episode of the Bafta-nominated Channel 4 dystopian series Black Mirror.
Konnie and Charlie got married at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas in 2010 after a whirlwind nine-month relationship and, after becoming a mum, she chose to reduce her television commitments to focus on bring up their boys.
More recently, Konnie turned her talents to writing and illustrating children’s fiction, publishing the first of three books starring Cookie, a Asian schoolgirl who is fiercely bright and independent, last year. The next book, Cookie & The Cleverest Girl In The World, is out this week.
She said: “When I was growing up there weren’t characters who were black or Asian, particularly as central characters in books.Asian characters