His bottom lip trembled, just like Hannah’s did when she was going to cry. Poor kid.

‘Look, I know it’s really hard, being the new boy. And it’s a very female office, I know that. Let me have a word with them.’

He shrugged again. How much of this was his fault? I wondered. He wasn’t the most prepossessing figure; there was something inherently arrogant about his stance, despite the tears. The trouble was, he lacked the charm you needed to make it in TV-land.

‘Won’t that just make it worse? It did when my parents complained to the school.’

Aha. ‘Did it? Were you bullied, then?’

‘Yep.’

‘Why?’

‘They said I was posh.’

He was posh. ‘I’ll be subtle, I promise. I’m sure it’s in your head, anyway.’

But it wasn’t in his head, unfortunately. The truth was they despised him.

‘He’s such a bloody drip,’ Donna moaned when I summoned the suspected ring-leaders into my office later that afternoon, having sent Joseph off to get some tapes dubbed. ‘Always complaining we give him the dull jobs.’

‘Well, do you?’

‘Of course we do.’ She was defiant, her dark face sulky. I wouldn’t have wanted to get on the wrong side of someone like Donna when I started out. Driven and determined, she could persuade Blair he hated Bush if she put her mind to it.

‘You know how it works, Maggie. You gotta do your time. You gotta start at the bottom. We all did. Anyway,’ she sniffed, examining her pink palm-tree nails rather than looking at me, ‘he’s weird.’

‘What do you mean, weird?’

‘It’s just, he’s always poking around.’ She flicked her long braids behind her shoulder, her full mouth set firm.

‘He’s just a bit full of himself, I think that’s the problem.’ Sally’s broad pleasant face was thoughtful. ‘He gets people’s backs up because he acts like he’s too good for the jobs we give him.’

‘And have you talked to him about it?’

‘It was like this in the summer.’

The hairs on my arms stood on end. I shook my head as if it would bring memories back.

‘I’ve tried to explain, but he just bangs on about how he’s going to be a great auteur, and how this is just a stop-gap.’

I sighed again. Yet another aspiring Nick-blinking-Broom-field, about to save the world with his art. ‘All right, look, let’s just give him another chance, okay? I’ll have a word.’ I glared at Donna. ‘And be nice, yeah? I know how intimidating you lot can be if you put your minds to it.’

She grinned sheepishly, raising the palm trees in supplication before her tightly T-shirted bosom that read Respect Me. ‘Okay, okay.’