Location, Location, Location: Best and Worst LIVE - Interview with Phil Spencer
16 October 2007 - This year, for the third year in succession, Channel 4 is set to reveal the best and worst places to live in the UK. Here, presenter Phil Spencer reveals how the lists are drawn up, where he'd like to live, and why it's not his fault if you disagree with the results.
So, come on then, give away all the secrets. What are the ten best and ten worst places to live in Britain?
I'm not going to tell you that! Actually, I can't remember them all, but even if I could, I wouldn't tell you.
The show's a bit different this year, isn't it?
It is, yes. It's live, for a start. And Sofie [Allsopp - Kirstie's sister] will be live in the place named the worst in Britain, asking for people's reactions. She's drawn the short straw, somewhat. It's not a job I'd fancy without a lot of security. Actually, I think she'll have a lot of security.
People can get a bit upset by the results, can't they?
Yeah, it's the nature of the show that some people can get very, very excited and pleased, and some people get very, very upset and disappointed. We are always at pains to get people to understand that we are analysing statistics. There are certain criteria and questions that are asked. There's clear analysis of every borough in the country, and the results are the interpretation of those statistics. It's not Phil, Kirstie and Sofie's opinion, we are simply reporting on the basis of the statistics.
Do you get given a hard time by people who are told they live in the worst place in Britain?
Well, I've never been back to Nottingham or Hull [named among the worst in past years], so I don't know. But my sister lives in Winchester, and I'm very pleased to go and visit her, after Winchester was named the best place to live last year. But people don't understand it's nothing to do with me. It's a mathematical system, the results are statistically led. We cannot influence results, we don't influence results, so there's nothing we can do. The results are all fed into a computer, and the computer spits out the answer. It's slightly more technical than that, but that's it.
Does it really change much, year to year?
What really surprises us is how volatile the results have been. The results change a lot. So much is influenced by things like crime statistics, education results, health, environmental issues, and those things can all swing quite wildly from year to year. It's genuinely possible to have a completely different top and bottom ten from one year to the next. It's unlikely to happen to quite that extreme, but there are certainly a lot of changes every year. Looking at the worst list, for example, there have been significant improvements by some places.
Why are you doing it live this year?
We wanted to add something new to the show. We wanted to give people a chance to react and respond. People will be able to interact with us during the programme, via the website and text and so on. Kirstie and I have never done a live show before, so it's challenging and different for us.
Are you excited or terrified by the prospect?
Well, I was talking to Kirstie the other week. She asked if I was worried about it, and I told her I wasn't really, it would be a new experience. She said she wasn't worried at all, I asked her how worried she was on a scale of one-to-ten, and she said "Oh, about 0.5". She's massively looking forward to it. I think it'll be fun.
Do you ever get people who agree with you if you say they live in the worst place in Britain?
It happens, yes. I got a couple of emails after the first time we did it - I think one from a police officer, and one from a teacher, up in Hull. And they said 'Just to let you know, Hull's got a lot of things going for it, but I do agree with what you're saying - it's appalling, the education's terrible' and so on. And they were long-term residents.
How do you build the lists?
Originally we polled about 1,000 people as to what they felt were important qualities in choosing an area. And they were things like amount of green space, quality of air, amount of rainfall, employment, crime rate, health, amenities like pubs, shops, restaurants and theatres. And then we ranked those in level of importance, weighting how important people found each aspect. All areas were judged on six categories – crime, environment, lifestyle, health, education and employment using data from local authorities, the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics. So it doesn't include subjective things like architecture and character of a place.
If you could live anywhere in Britain, regardless of work commitments, where would you choose?
I think maybe Devon. Devon or Lancashire. Devon is a beautiful, beautiful county, so it would probably be there. But I've been very impressed by Lancashire this year. I've been a couple of times, having not really explored it before, and it, too, is beautiful. Devon is maybe in a better spot in the country, though.
I assume you've filmed in many of the areas featured on the lists. Have you kept it secret from people why you're there filming?
No. We've been very careful not to do that. A complete honesty and openness is paramount. And we sometimes do vox pops with people when we're there. We don't tell people where they come in the list or anything, but certain places have been in the list before and know which list they're likely to be on. But we tend to get a pretty sympathetic response. Many of the councils have been very accommodating. Once people understand what we're doing and how we're doing it, and that we don't just go on the programme and diss places, they're okay. And we are very careful to point out the positives of a place as well as the negatives. And while some places may have terrible crime rates or whatever, they may well have done really well in other aspects, and we're careful to point those out as well. People on the street tend to understand what their neighbourhood is like. They know if it's got terrible problems, or if it's lovely.
You're presenting alongside Kirstie and Sofie Allsopp this time. Can we expect any more of them on our screens?
I think two's more than I can handle at the moment, to be honest! There are a few more in the brood, though, and they've all got plenty to say for themselves!
Location, Location, Location: Best and Worst LIVE is on Channel 4 on Wednesday 17 October at 9pm.
