Ed Petrie
@edpetrie
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TV presenter, actor, comedian, wedding celebrant and Labour Party organiser. I know, it's a lot
Joined March 2009
Having spent 12 years working in kids TV (first Nickelodeon and then CBBC) and seeing the thought and care that goes into providing content for young people, there needs to be some serious questions asked about how You Tube functions.
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I think my favourite thing about today is that Richard Branson’s just been in space and no one cares 🏴.
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(THREAD) Brexit is creeping towards us and I feel frustrated that so little thought has been given to people in families with dual nationalities. If you’re interested to know why Brexit is rubbish for me and my loved ones, please read on (fully expecting to lose followers here!).
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A good start? On their YouTube kids app they should vet every video before it’s posted, instead of taking things down in retrospect after they get complaints. It will cost them more money. But they make A LOT of money. And with that comes responsibility.
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I mean, can you imagine the outcry if CBBC gave presenters a platform to show kids footage of suicide victims? But YouTube let this stuff go out and seem to think business can carry on as usual. Why are they not subject to the same rules as the rest of us?.
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They are such a large provider of children’s content now that they should start looking at the way the rest of us do things and learn a thing or two.
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Please retweet if you agree, because I think this is such an important issue and nobody in any position to do something about it seems inclined to do so.
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24/ I’ve always kept details of my private life. well, private. But it’s got to the point where I’m so fed up I felt it was worth spreading some awareness. Please pass this on to anyone who might be interested, and share similar stories below if you’d like. 🇬🇧+🇫🇷+🇪🇺=❤️ /END.
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5/ (Diversion - This is a win/win for the UK. They didn’t fund her education etc, but collect taxes from her now as an adult. That’s why the British Government used to understand that immigration makes economic sense, in case you didn’t know.) Anyway. .
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22/ So if you don’t support Brexit, please speak up for dual nationality families. And if you do support Brexit, how would you feel if I’d come along, cost you two grand, wasted LOTS of YOUR time and upset the lives of your family for 3 years? I think you’d be. annoyed. Also. .
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One of the only lockdown positives - reconnecting with old friends
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8/ My wife cried a lot for 2 days. She loved our tolerant country and felt that over half the population now wanted her gone. Came as a big shock to her. After a few months EU citizens’ rights didn’t seem to be getting resolved (the UK still won’t enshrine them in law). .
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12/ (Anecdote - when my wife passed her “Life in the UK” test there was a woman crying in the test centre. She thought she was upset. Actually she was happy, she’d passed on the 5th attempt. Costs £50 a pop. £250 just to learn the year Alfred Hitchcock died and other guff).
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21/ Anyway, back to ME. 3 years later my family is at least £2,000 down, faces an uncertain future if we want to live in France and are being forced apart from our family, all thanks to Brexit. 100s of 1000s of stories like ours too, most of them worse. We’re the lucky ones.
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18/ Waiting time at the border is likely to go up too. That’s REALLY annoying when you have to sit in a car with 2 small kids. And people who wanted to leave the EU used to grumble about bureaucracy and red tape. Hahahahahahahaha!.
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10/ Bloody hell it’s expensive. So many people have said to me “But you’re married. You’re okay aren’t you?” Nope. There’s a process that takes months and months. First you have to apply for residency, then citizenship. There’s nearly 200 pages of forms, a citizenship test. .
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3/ When I left school I thought “Ha ha! Now I’ll NEVER have to learn French again!” Fast forward 10 years - I meet the love of my life drunk in a bowling alley. She’s French. Well played The Universe, well played. .
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4/ She was living in the UK because she came to study here on the EU funded Erasmus scheme, so the EU is the reason we met. Thanks 🇪🇺! She liked the place and decided to stay. She’s worked here continuously since 2003. She’s super well educated and qualified in a specialist field.
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On the principle of “don’t get mad, get even”, after 14 years of getting very mad watching the Government crap over everything I hold dear I am now the Organiser for the Labour Party in Putney and Wimbledon. If you live in or near there, please get in contact and let’s do this!
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9/ What would happen to her if I died? What if she was denied her pension she’d been paying towards since 2003? What if she was denied healthcare? What if some crazy government put up barriers to stop her working, like they do with asylum seekers? So we looked into citizenship. .
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Just wanted to share some of the replies I had about how disruptive and unsettling Brexit is for dual nationality families. Is it really worth it when so many lives are being upended?.
@edpetrie Thanks for putting all that into words. We are a British-German family. I have no right to German citizenship as I have never lived there. Also have been paralyzed by indecision about the best choice for my family for 3 years.
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23/ How confident are you that you (or your child) might not fall in love with someone from abroad one day? I never really thought I would. But if you do, you’ll have to be dealing with all this. Quite possibly more. Consider it a reasonable use of your time, energy and money?.
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13/ So now I’m the only one in our family without 2 passports, so I feel like a lemon. I also want to keep my EU citizenship, which I’ve basically had all my life. French citizenship for me? Only £50! Hurrah! Oh. I have to speak fluent (and they mean FLUENT) French. .
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20/ (Sidetrack - just before Brexit another dual nationality couple we knew moved to London. He’s English, had a sizeable inheritance and was looking to start up a brewery. Brexit happens. Him and his wife think “no thanks” and move back to France. So the UK missed out there).
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6/ Up till 2016 our different backgrounds didn’t seem an issue. Her family are from northern France, so visiting on the Eurostar felt no different to catching a train to Sheffield. Her sister (cancer specialist) and brother (maths teacher) moved here too, so that was nice.
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11/ AND a frustrating level of information required (every visit in and out the UK for the last 5 years, all your P60s, years of proofs of address etc). By the end of it we reckon we’d spent around £1,700 at least. Had to take a day off work to go to the patronising ceremony too.
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16/ Meanwhile, French bankers are pulling their kids out of my brother-in-law’s French school in London. Brexit means around a third of the UK’s banking industry is moving abroad. So my brother-in-law might have to go back to France. That’s sad.
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7/ We had 2 kids. I’m a bit of a fusspot and made sure they got dual nationality straight away. My wife thought I was being a bit over dramatic since we were all EU citizens and had the same rights wherever we chose to live in the EU. Then the referendum happened. .
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Had a cracking time on Wind Up with @samandmarktv and @OverloadGen . Good kids' TV that. Proper nonsense & fun.
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19/ Oh yeah, and every now and then I remember the little things, like having to give up my EU health card, or having to pay silly money again to use my iPhone every time I visit the family in France. That’s a kick in the derrière.
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PS/ Annoyed that I may have slipped up on my banking stat. Looks like I got confused and a third of firms are relocating staff, not a third of staff being relocated. From announcements likely to be around 7,000 people, & £1 trillion of assets have been moved abroad. Still - GULP!.
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PS2/ Overwhelmed by the responses to this. Much more positive than I was expecting. It’s restored my faith in humanity a bit. When it’s settled down I’ll retweet some of the stories people have been sending me. There are some important ones I think people should see. Thank you!.
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17/ And it’s unlikely that when all this is over my French in-laws will be able to live with us if they get sick in their old age. That’s sad. The Pound isn’t doing great since the referendum either, so when we go to France now everything is London prices or more. That’s annoying.
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1/ Now, before you go any further, I’m fully aware this is pretty low level stuff compared to a lot of other people. But this has brought us a lot of anxiety and sadness over last 3 years none the less. .
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15/ Also (I’m whispering now) this feels like a waste of my time. I worked in Europe for 2 years and got by fine speaking English, gesturing and smiling. I have other things to be doing that could earn me, not cost me, money. I know, I’M A BAD PERSON.
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14/ Hundreds of pounds on French lessons later and I’m still rubbish. Not sure when I’ll ever find the time outside of work to properly nail it, which is unnerving because if my kids move to France one day I probably won’t be able to live there with them.
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2/ First a bit of scene setting. I’m 100% British, and was useless at French at school (like most lazy English speakers). But if you’d asked me, I guess I liked the idea of the EU, grew up thinking it was our future, had some nice holidays in Spain and France when I was a kid. .
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Said our final goodbyes to my Grandma today. If you still have your grandparents, keep asking for stories from their past. I always did. It made them happy and I learnt so much about them, my family and myself. When they’re gone, a piece of history slips through your fingers.
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My animal facts advent calendar is really getting me in the festive mood.
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@Conservatives @pritipatel You’ve taken away British people’s rights to work, live and love across a continent. People don’t forget having their rights taken away. We’ll be back 🇪🇺.
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Genuinely bowled over by how good this @BeanoOfficial Summer Special is. It’s kept my son entertained for a whole week of holiday. With absolutely no financial incentive (sadly) I just want to point out a few things about why it’s so great…
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HAPPY ED AND OUCHO DAY! On this day 10 years ago Oucho & I made our TV debut on CBBC, with the help of these other goons. #edandoucho #cbbc
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No one in any position to do anything about it seems to care, but the YouTube Kids app is NOT SAFE FOR KIDS. And will not be until EVERY video is vetted by an actual human being before it goes up. Spread the word.
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Overwhelming sense of sadness in our house right now. My French wife and I met the night @BorisJohnson became London mayor (we weren’t very happy about it). Now he’s PM and he’s tearing up our lives. One man. So much destruction.
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BRAND NEW ‘All Over The Place’ starts Monday on @cbbc! As ever we found ourselves in the most ridiculous situations imaginable. Big ❤️ to all my amazing co-presenters and the nicest crew in telly. This is series TEN. What a ride. Hope you enjoy it! #travel #globetrotter
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I’m sure there must be a shorter, snappier word for “anti-racism critics” 🤔.
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.@TwopTwips Instead of running a marathon, save valuable time by donating £100 to charity and smashing your knee in with a hammer.
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@emmacellalizzi I’m quite shocked how little people care about it, even some of my British family. They just think you should have faith that everything will work out. Well the last 3 years haven’t particularly have they!.
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At midnight we lose the chance for an extension and all UK citizens lose our freedom of movement next year. We’re stuck on these islands. We’ll miss so many opportunities for work, love and friendship. But I think enough people will realise what we’ve lost. We’ll be back 🇪🇺.
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@llama_bottle0 Totally. A subject CBBC has tackled very well in the past. But filming dead people hanging from a tree and making jokes about it obviously isn’t the right way to go about things.
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@JimSterling @OfficialCDJ Too right. And what about panto? And before that, men playing the female roles in Renaissance theatre? It’s been part of our cultural life for hundreds of years.
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Four years ago to this day my cat was out in the garden on Bonfire Night, was startled by a firework and had a stroke. Little did Guy Fawkes know back in 1605 that he would be directly responsible for the death of my cat. But he was. So screw that guy.
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I have European friends and family living here in the UK and they all feel like this to some degree. As you would if you were in their situation.
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@MavisMoggie No joke. And the options they gave were really nasty too, like: a)1979 b)1980 c)1981 Just designed to trip you up. There are mistakes in the official book too, so you have to buy another unofficial book to teach you the mistakes so you pass! Bonkers.
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When I started working for the BBC over 10 years ago I thought I’d be presenting ‘The One Show’ by now.
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Not entirely sure this is canon, but I like it.
Here's Doctor Who Adventures in 2011, being remarkably ahead of the times when it comes to the idea of Pre-Hartnell Doctors. (although they did also think River was married to Oucho the Cactus, so they can't get everything right)
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Here is it everyone! The first new Ed & Oucho content we’ve made in nearly 10 years. Hope those of you who still write to us asking “Whatever happened to Ed & Oucho?” enjoy finding out. 4 more shorts to come this week.
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Something to be grateful for in all this. Friend of mine here in London took these in our local park - the top photo is 3 weeks ago, the bottom photo is today
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@DavidLammy Trying to spread some awareness of what a pain Brexit is for dual nationality families. Please pass on to anyone you think might care. I’m so fed up with people acting surprised when I tell them how it’s affected us!
(THREAD) Brexit is creeping towards us and I feel frustrated that so little thought has been given to people in families with dual nationalities. If you’re interested to know why Brexit is rubbish for me and my loved ones, please read on (fully expecting to lose followers here!).
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@hellothereeeee3 @connorjbyrne There are a lot of positive choices they could make. Vetting vids on their kids app, enforced codes of conduct for their most popular vloggers. They do have responsibilities, even if they prefer to behave like they don’t.
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Reminding myself I’ve been to countries where life is hard. People still laugh, dance and enjoy time with their friends & family. No matter how bad things get we will always have that. For those not feeling sad, I truly hope you get what you want, and that it doesn’t hurt others.
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Can you see the fear in our eyes when we realise Greg thought it was a rehearsal? One slip up and the last 11 years could have turned out very differently for me!.
Remember when Guy Fawkes (@gdavies) visited Ed and Oucho in the @cbbc Office on Bonfire Night ELEVEN YEARS AGO?! @edpetrie time flies!
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@cspencer1508 “Put into the care of people who don’t love you” is a phrase that stuck with me after I read a book on ‘Boarding School Syndrome’.
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This is a ‘No Dad’ sign my 5 year old made today after we had an argument. I’m particularly flattered by the teeth
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@aluneurig Yes, totally. I feel the vloggers are let down as much as the audience. Once your views are in the millions you should be getting training from YouTube about child protection and the like.
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When she returned to her seat her mum told her, for the first time, that her grandad (who see sadly never met) was a trumpet player. The mum rang the theatre today to say that her daughter has now started trumpet lessons. And that, right there, is why I LOVE panto. 🎺.
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This is really sad news about Caroline Flack. Everyone loved working with her at CBBC, and kids loved her too. She’ll be missed by so many of us.
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What do you think everyone? Is this worth us pouring some effort into? It’ll really cut into Oucho’s banana appreciation time. .
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I WANT TO MARRY YOU. because I'm a Humanist wedding celebrant (something I fell in love with working on 'Marrying Mum & Dad'). Bookmark my website and Insta me when Cupid's arrow strikes so we can plan the best ceremony EVER
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For a whole heap of Ed & Oucho 10 year nostalgia, follow Oucho's helper @WarrickBP. He's got a few plans up his sleeve today.
😮🌵 When you realise Ed & Oucho started 10 years ago! #EdandOucho #BringBackOucho #OuchoTheCactus @edpetrie
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There’s no denying that my mum made me some absolutely cracking birthday cakes
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@DanielJHannan We were buying time for your mates in government to set up an effective track and trace system. Instead you gave £12 billion to a load of cronies and we have nothing to show for it. Slow handclap.
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The 1st photo I have from ‘All Over The Place’, making the pilot ep in N Ireland (that’s Hugh Laurie’s wig from ‘Blackadder’ I’m wearing). Little did I know, 8 years later it would have taken me to several continents and we’d have over 100 episodes under our belt. What a journey.
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I went to a boarding school, and I can spot a public school bully a mile off. That’s all @BorisJohnson is. Laughing and joshing in front of the teachers. Punching you in the back of the head when he thinks no one’s looking. Don’t let the bullies win #BorisOut.
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My Boris Johnson story is that my friend saw him going on holiday and he was completely incapable of checking his family in at the check in desk and just stood there looking confused and making weird noises while his wife took over and did it all. So that bodes well.
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Unbelievable! This little traitor is hob nobbing round Salford behind my back! To be fair, I’ve been flying solo since 2010. but still, OUTRAGEOUS!.
Look who snuck into the studio to celebrate #childreninneed2018. Watch out @edpetrie, Oucho is back! 🌵😆@BBCCiN
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Crickey, he’s right. January 2010 was when we stopped doing this 👴🏻 (Guy was our longest running CBBC Office producer and something resembling a genius IMHO).
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Thoughts going out this morning to anyone who’s sharing a house with somebody who’s upset about a statue of a slave trader being torn down.
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@MarinaPurkiss They do this on annual tax breakdowns too. They moved public sector pensions into the “welfare” category to make the amount spent on welfare look much bigger. Winds me up every time I see the pie chart in the letter they send.
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Just written a personal perspective on how we keep kids entertained safely.
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UK is pulling out of the Erasmus student programme. Wouldn’t have met my wife if she hadn’t come here on it. Enriched my life beyond measure and I have friends and family across Europe as a result. What a sad day.
MPs have voted against New Clause 10 being read a second time, by 344 votes to 254. This new clause would have required the Government to seek to negotiate continuing full membership of the EU’s Erasmus+ education and youth programme.
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This morning over breakfast my son asked “Why don’t they just cut off his head?”, so if anything he’s had a lucky escape.
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That’s a wrap on TEN YEARS of ‘All Over The Place’ location filming. A decade round the UK, USA, Australia, Europe and Asia. Same producer, camera and sound operators have somehow put up with me that whole time. Heroes. #cbbc #allovertheplace #bestjobever
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