Live from Aintree: ITV Sport’s Paul McNamara on the need for planning, efficiency and precision to deliver the Grand National

Paul McNamara: ‘Your aim is to tell everyone where their horses are on the field’

ITV Sport senior director and executive producer for major events Paul McNamara is one of the most experienced (and award-winning) hands in the business with a CV that includes everything from Six Nations rugby to football World Cups as well as racing, including taking charge of the Grand National for the UK commercial broadcaster since 2016.

“The core of the race is pretty much how we cover any other big race meeting like Cheltenham, Ascot or the Derby, but the size of the field, the scale of the course and the history of the event means we throw more toys and people at it,” he explains, ahead of this year’s event which takes place on Saturday (15 April).

Race coverage for the National is mapped out in advance, including cut points for each camera and a shot sequence which has evolved year on year, adjusting to suit editorial changes.

Inside the Equinox OB, which is on site for the event

“You are basically following the leaders but doing so in a certain way so that everyone understands how the race unfolds,” McNamara explains. “Once the leaders have jumped a fence you hold the shot to see the majority of the field over that fence – especially in the first circuit. Once the field spreads out more over the second circuit it becomes a bit trickier – and trickier still if one horse steams away from the pack – but your aim is to tell everyone where their horses are on the field.”

McNamara is in the director’s chair for all of ITV’s live afternoon coverage throughout this year’s three-day Grand National Festival. Production planning meetings have been taking place since the start of the year to decide which features to include in each programme, “who we’re going to concentrate on, what we’re going to look at. Any of that editorial is planned meticulously in advance,” he says.

This includes building features from the archive as reference points and comparisons for the current race.

You know the drill

On site before the live shows, McNamara’s job is to fine tune the planning and make sure everyone knows the drill.

“We do it week in week out, but we’ll always have a meeting every morning and go through the schedule. We’re checking that all the gear like wire cams and the AR is working, briefing our heli crew to pre-record some Liverpool city landmarks for a prerecord, checking everything through, organising the pre-record list for items that are maybe too tricky to do in a live situation, telling presenters where I want them at what time.

“It’s got to be military precision because we’ve got so many presenters and camera crew over such a big site you have to have everyone understanding the order of things. It has to run really efficiently otherwise it will fall apart.”

An important consideration, especially given the size of the TV audience, is being alert to injuries or potential fatalities on the course.

“We don’t want to cause any offence or distress to anyone – owners, connections, families, jockeys, the TV audience. If there’s an incident my assistant will get a call and I would immediately say to the guys here that we need to avoid that shot. I’d either get them to shoot tighter and definitely not use an aerial of that particular point. Often the stewards will bypass a fence and take that fence out of the course.”

“It’s got to be military precision because we’ve got so many presenters and camera crew over such a big site you have to have everyone understanding the order of things”

Once the main race is over McNamara and his team will cut all the celebrations and arrivals back into the parade ring, as well as interviews with the winning trainer and jockey, only after which will he have a chance to catch his breath.

“In the last 40-minutes of the show we’ll be dropping in all the best shots and angles the EVS ops serve up. The idea is to rinse as much of the material as we can. By going into and coming back from breaks and teasers we’re constantly trying to get bang for our buck and really use everything. It may be that we didn’t in the end use a particular camera at all so maybe you decide to do something different next year. Things have to get in on value.”

It’s not about any one person, he insists, it’s a huge team event. “We’ve great people in front of camera and an amazing crew behind it who have done the National for years and you couldn’t do it without all their skill and expertise.”

The weather hasn’t exactly been clement this year but that’s something that is not in his control.

“If there’s beautiful sunshine everyone’s got a smile on their face, it looks like a carnival event, and if you’ve got rain lashing into the cameras it’s a little different, but the National is such a fixture that everyone has a good time and we will reflect that.”