Ahead of the season launch, the pair discussed the importance of chemistry and their close relationship on the Virgin Media show. Brian Dowling and Katja Mia of 'The Six O'Clock Show' at the launch of Virgin Media Television's autumn schedule. Photo: Brian McEvoy TV presenters Brian Dowling and Katja Mia are geared up to host a new season of The Six O’Clock Show.
Ahead of the season launch, the pair discussed the importance of chemistry and their close relationship on the Virgin Media show. Dowling is returning from paternity leave after he and his husband Arthur Gourounlian had their second child – a baby girl named Blu – through a surrogate earlier this summer. Mia said the importance of getting along with your TV colleagues cannot be underestimated and she described Dowling as “super open” and said they “get on like a house on fire”.
“Most of the time when we’re on The Six O’Clock Show, it’s just myself, Brian, a manager and I think one other sound person,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like we’re putting out a show to thousands of people, it feels like we’re making our own little home YouTube channel show. “When we do get in the make-up room around two o’clock and we have about half an hour where we just talk, before we get into the make-up and hair and everything, and it’s just us two – it really has brought us closer, because when it comes to presenting together, chemistry is a huge thing.
” Dowling said he got a sense of foreboding when he “got the call” to be a presenter on the show and was worried about who he would be paired with. “I remember wondering, you know, ‘who am I going to be paired with because I want this person to be my friend, whomever they are’,” he said. Describing himself as a “talker”, he said he was hoping to have a co-host who he could vent to about everything.
“When I found out it was Katja I was like ‘oh, that’s a relief because I really like her’ and I wasn’t pretending,” he said. Aside from the connection with his co-host, Dowling said the relationship with viewers is also a special part of the job. The pair are hoping to use their social media reach to bring in new viewers.
“The age demographic is obviously quite different than people who will follow me on Instagram. And I knew every time I would host Weekend AM there would be an older audience,” he said. “What’s been really nice, though, is being stopped actually out and about.
.. and people saying they miss me.
” Mia said it is vital to utilise social media to grow their audience. “Social media is a huge part, I love TikTok, I love Instagram,” she said. "I think sharing snippets of even behind the scenes or hopping on a trend is a great way to almost get a different generation that might not be tuning into The Six O’Clock Show and know what we do.
” The Six O’Clock Show is on weeknights at 6pm on Virgin Media One and Virgin Media Player..
