In Which Riona's Journal Becomes Heat Magazine.

[rionaleonhart]

So it turns out that Charlie Brooker and Konnie Huq are engaged! I am a bit sad that the media found out, because I suspect that the plan was to get married secretly and then go 'LOL WE'RE MARRIED AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WE WERE DATING', which would have been hilarious. Alas, it was not to be.

I won't pretend my reaction to the news wasn't mixed, given how unexpected it was and the part of my little fannish heart that massively 'ships Brooker with David Mitchell/Victoria Coren/me. But the two of them are charmingly mismatched, and Huq seemed adorable during Konnie's Great British Wee (parts one, two): 'I'm Konnie Huq. I'm thirty-three years old, but I look about nine, and for as long as I can remember I've been fascinated by the world of urination.'

(I really hope that Konnie's Great British Wee was how Huq and Brooker first met. I can't imagine a better answer to the question 'So, how did you two meet?' than 'Well, we were making a documentary about weeing in public...')

Also, Brooker has seemed happier and calmer in recent months than he used to be, and perhaps that's due to Huq's influence. If so, that's a good thing. Brooker's misanthropy and rage may be entertaining, but I disagree with comments I've seen on the Internet criticising him for becoming more mellow; it's absurd to wish unhappiness upon someone we admire for the sake of our amusement (and, in any case, I think he's still hilarious even in his mellowed state). I wish them the very best of luck.

(My only real selfish concern about this is how it will affect the Brooker fandom. I love this fandom, but this revelation has made me feel a bit guilty about writing for it. I hope I'll be able to get past this, because Brooker and Mitchell are such a joy to write (and read) for. I'm not ready to switch fandoms yet.

I suppose I can always write gen.)

Comments

[anewcitylife.livejournal.com]

Great, now I'm imagining David Mitchell writing for Heat, thanks for that.

(I'm really happy for them - really, really happy - but I'm pretty worried about the fandom dying too. Whoops.)

[rionaleonhart]

You're extremely welcome.

(PLEASE DON'T DIE, BROOKER FANDOM. You are the best fandom I've ever been in! I love you!)

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

It's so much easier to write Brooker/Mitchell when they're both single, dammit. Or believed to be single.

And Konnie Huq is adorable, so I don't want to completely ignore her in fanfic, but I don't want every story to be 'polyamory yay!' and and and.

I swear, in future I'm sticking to closed canon fictional fandoms. Ones that are extremely unlikely to be rebooted. So... I'll get back to you when I've thought of any.

Oooh, Was Tun, Wenn's Brennt?, of course!

[rionaleonhart]

And Konnie Huq is adorable, so I don't want to completely ignore her in fanfic, but I don't want every story to be 'polyamory yay!' and and and.

I think you can probably get away with acknowledging her or writing in a Brooker/Huq-less AU as you see fit. The treatment of canon in RPF can be more flexible than in other fandoms, I feel. My particular brand of RPF guilt actively dictates that I ignore some aspects of canon, in fact, because if a figure isn't in the public eye (Mitchell's brother, for example) I'm not comfortable with including them in fic; when I was in the Top Gear fandom I wrote in a universe in which the trio were all bachelors.

Konnie Huq is in the public eye, of course, but I'm not familiar enough with her to write for her. (Also, writing 'canon' real-person pairings makes me feel a bit creepy. The further removed from reality my fic is, the less guilty I feel. Not that I judge other RPF writers; these are just my personal boundaries.)

[amchau.livejournal.com]

Off-topic a little, I can think of some excellent closed canon fictional fandoms. M*A*S*H, for example. Jam and Jerusalem. There should be more Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow fanfic, especially femslash. Ditto Monty Python and the Meaning of Life fictional fanfic (or RPF, for that matter). Lots of old British sitcoms need fandoms: The Good Life, Reggie Perrin...

[loz]

My mum emailed me the news and I thought she was joking about it being Konnie Huq. But I find it kind of adorable.

[rionaleonhart]

I did wonder whether it was a joke at first. Charlie Brooker and a children's television presenter! But, yes, the more I think about it the more charming it is.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Konnie Huq was a worldwide trending tweet on Twitter. Weirdly. I wondered what all the fuss was about, recalling her from Blue Peter, and then wondered how long before you'd post about it *g*.

I too wish them well, and they seem like a well-matched pair of British oddballs.

[rionaleonhart]

I saw that she was trending in the UK last night, but I'm surprised she made it worldwide! (I checked out some of the tweets. Nobody saw this coming, it seems.)

[inappropriately.livejournal.com]

I think Huq influenced his Hair as well as his Happiness. It all makes sense.


I am so ridiculously scared of the fandom dying. It's been fairly quiet recently and I fear this could be the striking blow. AT LEAST WE'VE HAD A GOOD FEW MONTHS OF RELATIVELY GUILT-FREE DELUSION AND GAY, RIGHT?

And I'm with you completely on feeling guilty about writing and reading in this fandom now that this news has emerged. Argh.

[anewcitylife.livejournal.com]

It was probably going to be quiet for a while anyway because of lack of YHBW/SWIR. Hm.

[rionaleonhart]

We all owe Huq a great deal of thanks for the Hair.

I freaked out when I woke up this morning and there'd been barely any activity on the meme. Nooooo! (There has been a little more writing, though. Maybe we can get through this? I hope we can get through this. GUILT, GUILT, GO AWAY.)

[zeitheist.livejournal.com]

I wasn't willing to believe this until somebody other than The Daily Mail reported it, but this is completely delightful. Weird, unexpected, but wonderful.

Although I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I remember watching Konnie Huq on Blue Peter as a nipper (by which I mean I may have been in my teens, I don't remember) and now she's getting married to Charlie Brooker. It's kind of a big idea to absorb.

[inappropriately.livejournal.com]

Yeah, um, yeah. Seeing her on Screenwipe was weird enough (for me; I may be alone in this).

[suthnoli.livejournal.com]

Konnie Huq is a fixture of my childhood. I am happy and confused! And a bit terrified that there will be porn.

I'm not worried about Brooker fandom fizzling away, but I am a bit worried about people sidelining her in fic (the way Abi tends to get 'dealt with').

Also, the way I see it, we've never been writing about real, actual Charlie. We've been writing about his public image and/or the implications of that public image. A) She's not really part of his public image as he creates it, yet and B) Even when she is, we'll find a way of writing about him that isn't uncomfortable. It's fandom! We can cope. It's a big ripple in the pond, is all.

[inappropriately.livejournal.com]

FACT: I'VE TRIED IMAGINING SEX AND I CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT CRACKING UP.

(I'm also wondering if they've shagged through Brooker's moodkiller mixtape.)

[thesh-t.livejournal.com]

pretty much agree with everything you said and omg them just announcing they were married would've been such a hilarious showbiz gossip pwn :)

I do have slight worries for fandom too but hopefully people will stay in it for the joy of writing such lovely characters, rps is always slightly weird anyway but mitchelbrook! and brooker/eveyoneelseomfg is too much fun for me to give up!

[strangeumbrella.livejournal.com]

I really hope that Konnie's Great British Wee was how Huq and Brooker first met. I can't imagine a better answer to the question 'So, how did you two meet?' than 'Well, we were making a documentary about weeing in public...'
THIS. I genuinely went through this thought process and hoped to god it was true. I'm still just amazed by this whole thing more than anything, but I do actually really like Konnie Huq, so well done to both of them on their excellent taste.

[sunlightdances.livejournal.com]

I didn't believe it because it was in teh Daily Mail and now it's true. :/

But, y'know, yay! He does seem loads happier, and she's FROM MY CHILDHOOD AND IT'S WEIRD SHE'S A GROWN-UP NOW and whatevs. I hope Brookerfandom sustains and does not sideline her because a) woman and b) of colour = c) WOC. Also, ridiculously pretty. Luff her omg. I think there might be strange Dara O'Brien crossover fic, due to that Mock the Week episode where he professed love for her?

[vergil24.livejournal.com]

I'm happy for them both, despite not really knowing who she is (we don't get Blue Peter in the States). It's adorable in a strange way, especially if they met during their Screenwipe segment :)

[fireholly.livejournal.com]

I'm actually really happy about this. Konnie Huq kept me sane when I was six and coming home to Blue Peter was the highlight of my day, and Charlie Brooker kept me sane when I was eighteen and moving out of home for the first time. AND THEY MET AFTER KONNIE SHOUTED THROUGH A LOUD SPEAKER AT A GROUP OF MEN TO PISS FOR HER. This is obviously the best RL celebrity pairing ever.

Both my father and I are jealous, though. I didn't think I fancied him, but it turns out I do. Oh.

[fireholly.livejournal.com]

Also, ficwise, I'm hoping this'll push meme!Charlie further away from 'this is my interpretation of what he's really like' and make him slowly more and more outrageous and based on the worst excesses of his comic persona. Because as much as I love the meme, I can't read anything where he's gentle and nice. I know IRL he is definitely a really lovely guy - a lot of the appeal of his persona comes from the fact that it knows this too, and it hates that as much as it hates anything - but I don't want to read about nice!Charlie the whole time, I want to read about the worst excesses of Screen Wipe/News Wipe Charlie who pours boiling water on the hands of his production team, shouts sarcastic angry nonsense at innocents and wanks to the eight year old who sung the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, who I don't see a lot of. So I think an event that forces the gulf between real!Charlie and fiction!Charlie wider will be good for the tonal range of fic in the long run.

[missnoface.livejournal.com]

... That is an adorable pairing. So much so that even italics were required.

And a part of me does hope that David Mitchell will be the best man and he will refuse to do a couple's first dance. Hahaha.

[hikari-datenshi.livejournal.com]

Well, I know I'll be sticking around in fandom! FAR TOO INVESTED IN MY MASSIVE CROSSOVER, ME. :D

[rionaleonhart]

Glad to hear it! (I suppose there's less guilt there, in any case, as it's an AU.)

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

You know, what with him becoming friends with Aisleyne because of the reality TV thing and now Konnie possibly because of the public weeing, my ridiculous head fanon is now that Brooker asks people to do Screenwipe segments based on how much he wants to befriend/have sex with them.

I hope people can deal with the whole 'object of my RPF is no longer officially single' thing. I'm so used to Top Gear where all three have longterm partners that it's a bit weird to watch other people be concerned over it, but everybody's way of RPFing varies.

[rionaleonhart]

Brooker asks people to do Screenwipe segments based on how much he wants to befriend/have sex with them.

I'll buy that. I wonder whether he knew Victoria Coren before A History of Corners?

I was a bit surprised by how much this shook the RPF-writing part of me, because I was perfectly able to separate the real-people-with-wives-and-children of Top Gear from the characters about whom I was writing. Then again, Top Gear is essentially about fictional characters. Brooker's public persona is also a construct, but it seems slightly closer to his 'real self', or at least we have more of a sense of Brooker's real self than we did of those of the Top Gear presenters (and most of the fic deals with the slightly more romantic, slightly less aggressive side of Brooker that peeks through the face he puts on, whilst most Top Gear fanfiction when I was in the fandom was about the personae).

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

I think it'll pull through. From RPF fandoms I have seen, they rarely die down when people get official partners. Generally, in the better ones, it's a lot of pretending the partners away for fic purposes, a certain degree of open-relationship fic (which, if it's a happy open relationship, doesn't squick me, personally), and a few angsty breaking-up-the-real-couple fic (which does squick me).

In the worse ones - well, we've all seen Supernatural fandom.

[hold-onhope.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't knock J2 RPS just yet. Most of it is AU, anyway, and I can't see how it's much worse than the 'better' options you mentioned.

[hold-onhope.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about the Brooker fandom, but I wouldn't worry too much. Jared and Jensen are both married and I don't see the RPF stopping anytime soon. Or... ever. It's all just fiction anyway, so people tend to just keep on writing.

[leonic-0922.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I was so surprised I couldn't stop gaping for the next five minutes. I remember watching Blue Peter whilst Konnie Huq was still a presenter on it, but I never expected her and Charlie to actually get married. In my books, they just don't match, but I guess it's one of those things that you just don't expect.

And anyway, I doubt the fandom's gonna die; I've been in fandoms where the people are married/have girlfriends and even have kids, yet people still slash them and so on - in fact, slash was perhaps the most dominant romantic genre.