Rachel Forrester

What’s your favourite Solent memory?

My favourite Solent memory is pretty much every time I was in studio. Solent has an amazing studio, which operates like the real thing, run entirely by the students. Our third year studio series project, High Stakes was a lot of fun to work on every week and I loved working with the whole class in the studio. The sense of achievement after we had finished our seven episodes was amazing.

Tell us what you’re up to now

I’ve been running in television now for around a year and a half, and in that time worked on shows like Top Gear, Great American Railway Journeys, The Big Family Cooking Showdown and Strictly Come Dancing 2017.

On Strictly my week consisted of ordering everything for the Friday rehearsal and live Saturday recordings and prepping the dressing rooms and studio for show days. Show days themselves were long busy days, making sure all professional dancers and celebrities were fed and in the right place at the right times in the right outfits. Keeping the crew happy was key. It was also my job to look after the gallery, sound and lighting departments.

What's your career highlight?

There are so many highlights, it's hard to choose! I think my career highlight has to be either driving a Porsche to Germany and all the travelling with Top Gear, or filming on the edge of the CN tower 1,168ft above Toronto and crossing America with Great American Railway Journeys.

What tips would you give to someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?

• My top tip is to keep going and take every opportunity. The world of TV is very competitive with a lot of very talented people. It took about six months of constant CVs and applications before getting my first contract.
• Take every little day running job or experience opportunity at Solent - experience is what gets you work.
• If you’re looking to get into television, try the Facebook group ‘People looking for TV work: Runners’. This is a great resource that has helped me get several jobs since leaving Solent.