BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals

After seeing the length of the queue to get into George Square, we decided to try the BBC area instead. Turned out to be an excellent decision, we got drinks straight away, a seat, and we were able to watch Sue Perkins being lifted up by acrobats while she filmed her TV show.
A great space, much less manic than other outdoor festival areas, and there’s the last minute chance to get into see bbc shows being recorded for free if there are spaces left!

Free shows. No, really. Free. Shows. No buckets at the door, free! It’s a lottery to get a ticket and you’re not even guaranteed entry if you do get a ticket but hey, it’s the Fringe — take a shot and you may get lucky!
This afternoon we were in the audience for a recorded radio show about what’s ‘Trending’ in the social media world. We had a panel of 3 comedians from Fringe shows discussing the pros and the cons of the current trend of Pranking Strangers and filming it for youtube. So really interesting discussions from the panel and studio audience and a great introduction to some comedians I wasn’t aware of until now.
In addition to free (really free!) shows, the BBC have created their own little oasis within the Fringe. You can get food, drink, watch BBC programmes on a giant tv with headphones, use clean toilets and play some pingpong.
It may be too late to get tickets (available on the BBC website) but if a show is not sold out, it’s possible to get in by turning up about an hour early. There’s a notice board with the daily events — so give it a chance — or just head along to chill out for a few minutes, or hours…

This is my favourite of the festival venues as it attracts the most chilled crowd, never any idiots here, even during the peak weekends. It’s pretty good for celebrity spotting, 2 years ago the Hoff almost fell over me, and he wasn’t drunk…
They have pretty good staff here, more professional than the other venues. The furniture is well spaced out, only problem being that the site is flanked by tall buildings so sun spots are limited. This year they have a great brew lab coffee shop and urban angels tacos, both of a great calibre. Also great for previews of shows as a lot of the nearby acts come and do thirty minute sets, which is always enjoyable…

Decent Fringe venue and being run by the BBC then it is pretty well organised.
You can log onto the BBC website and get free tickets. Just register for the shows you fancy and if there is space, you’ll get a confirmation email. Turn up early as more emails are issued than they have capacity for as there are always no shows and they want bums on seats.
Venue inside is spacious enough — lighting and sound is great and no obstruction views for what I could see. Even queuing is civilised as you get in based on your ticket number e.g. 1 – 10, 11 – 30, etc. Even getting there early is ok — fake grass, bar serving the usual options and prices not to horrific (£4.50 for G&T — Hendricks).
Good range of acts on from tasters of well known comedians and acts to kids stuff. Worth checking out.

Popped in here for a wee drink last night, They have the standard poor festival bar but there is a BrewLab coffee hut which is ACE. Thety have a big screen and you can listen in on the headphones they provide. A pretty cool place really!

Great space to chill. There’s a food stall & Brew lab coffee stall as well as the café/​bar in the green tent. Lots of seats & even half a dozen deckchairs to lounge on.
Lots of live music in the evening and shows on in the blue tent.
They’ve even got table tennis & foosball if you fancy being a bit more active.
Gets really crowded and hectic before the shows start but otherwise a good addition to the festival scene.