The Englishman on Your Television
By Mark B. Oliver | November 21, 2011
He’s hosted Connecticut Public TV’s – ‘Treasure Hunt’ - for the last two years, but just who is Brian Scott-Smith?
The English born presenter now lives and works in Connecticut and says he’s having the time of his life.
One of Scott-Smith’s first forays into the world of television was with Portsmouth TV; a brand new station that opened in Portsmouth, a city on the south coast of England.
He was one of the stations main faces for news and entertainment and multi-tasked as a producer too.
“When you work for smaller organizations you have more than one job, mainly because they don’t have the resources and budget. It keeps you grounded so you have respect and responsibility beyond just appearing on screen and being the public face of the station.”
But Portsmouth TV’s life was short-lived closing down after just a few years. It wasn’t long before Scott-Smith found himself working for, what he calls, “his greatest success to date,” a job with the BBC.
“Even now, to work for the BBC is the dream of many journalists and presenters. It’s such a prestigious company and so well known around the world.”
His time with the BBC allowed Scott-Smith to work on radio, television and online for news and documentaries, and after almost five years with the broadcaster, he decided to move to the United States in 2009 - a lifelong ambition.
His New England television career started quickly as the host, writer and producer of Connecticut Public Television’s new antiques show, Treasure Hunt. Scott-Smith helped to conceive the show’s format and researched the people who would be part of this local version of the popular PBS show – Antiques Roadshow.
“It was great to be part of the team and to find the people to take part. We attended an antiques fair in Connecticut and saw amazing antiques and collectibles coming through the doors, and had so much to choose from. We had to take a leap of faith in the people we chose in the hope they had other great items in their homes and they did.”
“Connecticut is such a great state and has such diversity from the landscape to the people who live and work here, and their stories were sometimes as colorful as the antiques we found. The New England states are like home to me with all of the names taken from the UK and the countryside looking so similar to parts of England.”
Treasure Hunt started off as a segment within the popular CPTV show – All Things Connecticut – and it’s popularity with the viewer’s soon made it a must watch part of the overall show.
New England has some of the best antiques in the country and together with local appraiser, Linda Stamm of Winter Associates, who co-hosted with Scott-Smith, Treasure Hunt went on to receive a full second series commission as a standalone program.
“It was terrific when CPTV ordered a second series of the show and even more so when it went solo. To be part of it and part of the PBS brand is brilliant, and a real privilege.”
And so successful has this twist on the Antiques Roadshow been for Scott-Smith, that it is hoped that the new franchise will soon be a regular fixture on Rhode Island PBS, and other states too including South Carolina.
“People like shows like this and basically we’re all nosey and want to know how much something is and whether we have something of value in our homes and that, I feel, is why shows like mine continue to do well in a world of reality TV and game shows.”
Scott-Smith is also an experienced media expert and assisted the UK military and many corporations before moving to this side of the Atlantic, and is continuing this line of work in the US.
“As a qualified journalist, it’s not always about reporting and taking all the time, it’s about giving back and showing people how my industry works and demystifying it for them. After all, you wouldn’t jump out of an airplane without a parachute, so why take on the media without knowing how they work?”
He certainly is up for the challenge and it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of this Englishman on our televisions in the future.
Details:
Brian Scott-Smith’s professional website can be found at http://www.brianscottsmith.com/ and he also has a YouTube Channel.
