Interview: Mark Ryes

Featured image credit: Graham White. 

This January it’s Careers month at So So Gay and all month we’re talking to people across many industries to help you find the right career for you, today we speak to TV Presenter Mark Ryes… 

Mark Ryes started out in 1981, with his first stint on-screen when he was only 11. When Jimmy Savile couldn’t fix it for him to become a TV presenter, he wrote in to ITV and landed a spot presenting on a new Saturday morning show, shocking producers who’d deliberately set him up for a fall. ‘They’d written out an idiot board but they’d made it deliberately complicated so I would go wrong, I did go wrong, spectacularly wrong but I went “Oh I’ll start all over again”, so I did and I did it from the top and I did it word perfect second time and they were quite impressed with that.’ The producer of that show at the time then went on to launch The Children’s Channel about a year later and rang Mark and invited him to do a show called Rabbit Rabbit with Sally James.

Whilst still at The Children’s Channel Mark dipped his toe into local radio at Radio Wyvern in Worcestershire and after a while helping out, went on to do everything from news reading to presenting at the station: ‘Somebody went off ill and I was the only one who could do it and to cut a long story short I ended up doing pretty much every job in the building, became a presenter and did weekend shows while I was still at school.’ Mark then went on to do a Media Production degree at Bournemouth University though despite cementing a lot of knowledge he already had, Mark believes his degree hasn’t ever helped him find work, ‘It’s never a bad idea getting more education in the field though,’ he explained, ‘whether it will then go on and get you a job I don’t know.  Unfortunately, it’s not terribly politically correct but all of that stuff I was doing while still at school was for free, there was never any money anywhere,  if you want to do stuff in the media, you’ve got to volunteer.’

When Price-drop TV launched ten years ago, Mark was producing and doing voice-over at Thomas Cook TV but fancied a new challenge and decided to audition. Unfortunately, producers condemned Mark’s polished form in favour of a less experienced and more malleable contender and decided not to offer him the job. Three months later though, Mark got a call and found himself on air the next day on what still is one of the leading TV channels in its field. ‘Someone had just left. What [the producer] needed was someone who was sleek and professional and could just go on with no training and that was 8 and a half years ago, it was never the plan and it has worked out alright, I still enjoy doing it as well!’

Although he enjoys the career he’s carved out for himself, some have suggested that presenting on a TV shopping channel can harm your career, although Mark insists it’s never had a negative effect on his other work. ‘One or two of the producers I know in mainstream TV suggested that when I did my new showreel I ought to take out the shopping clips and I said to them this is what I’m best known for, why would I make a showreel that takes out what I’ve been doing for nearly ten years, that doesn’t make any sense at all. Yes it’s selling on TV, but it’s one of the hardest jobs on TV, and I’m not just saying that, its three and a half hours of live onslaught each day that you do it, it’s tough.’

With only 29 days off work in nearly 10 years, a rare feat for a freelancer like Mark, we were keen to know if being gay had ever effected his career. Coming out at 19, Mark says he’s always been open about his sexuality in the workplace, citing only one job in which he hid his sexuality: ‘It was quite homophobic at the time but that was a long time ago working at one particular radio station but it wasn’t a big deal.’ From then on Mark made it known to his colleagues almost immediately, claiming no-one ever had a problem with him being gay: ‘Where I work and the various different places where I work there’s a really good mix of gay and straight people and it’s not an issue at any stage and thank god it’s not.’ So did he think his sexuality had been a help, hindrance or irrelevant to his success? ‘I’ve never had to play on it; I’ve never had to sleep with anyone for a job, not that anyone’s ever offered but no, it really hasn’t ever been a big issue. I think certainly in my professional career I’ve not encountered any huge homophobia either. There have been two noticeable occasions in my career where the banter in the office has gone maybe a stage too far and I think my bosses have gone “I think we ought to calm the tone down in the office” and you do get that sometimes, that’s happened twice over the years, but I mean how fantastic is that because you still hear some real horror stories.’

Mark’s advice to anyone wishing to pursue a career in television and radio is simple. ‘There are an awful lot more branches of broadcasting now, especially with internet broadcasting. Podcasting is a way. I know a number of young people who are podcasting and doing a really good job, and also hospital radio is still an essential tool in this country and they’ll always need volunteers. You might just be sorting records but it’s all a progression. It is more difficult to get yourself noticed however. How you do that today I’m not so sure, it’s a toughie.’

Mark said his farewells as the voice of Challenge TV after nearly 10 years in October of last year and says he’s looking to embark on some exciting new projects this year to fill the void.

You can find out more about Mark at MarkRyes.com