BBC BREAKFAST SHOW – INTERVIEW WITH MARG (TRANSCRIPT)
Hosted by Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams
November 3, 2011
Sian: The American television series CSI, about a team of forensics investigators, was first broadcast eleven years ago. Itās become a worldwide success.
Bill: So, we have good news and bad news for you if you are a fan of the show here in the UK. The good news is that the entire first series is to be shown again next month. The bad news is that one of its stars, Marg Helgenberger, is leaving the series. Weāll find out in just a moment as to why. Good morning, Marg.
Sian: Good morning.
Marg: Good morning.
Bill: First, hereās a look back at her very first episode.
(A clip from CSI is shown)
Bill: Yeah, we all do that (referring to āI tripped over a rattleā comment in the clip). Morning, Marg.
Marg: Good morning.
Bill: That was filmed — how many years ago was that?
Marg: That was done close to twelve years ago.
Bill: Itās like it was yesterday.
Sian: When your son was nine years old, and heās now?
Marg: Twenty-one.
Sian: Twenty-one and working on the show.
Marg: Heās twenty-one and working as a production assistant. Yes.
Bill: And youāve always played — is it your official title, blood spatter analyst. Is that it?
Marg: For some reason, I got that label. I donāt even know why. I mean, other times I seem to be better at fingerprinting. But Iām good at it all. (jokes) I can handle it all.
Bill: Yeah. Jill of all trades.
Marg: Yeah.
Sian: Did you think that when you were doing that pilot that this was a show that was going to last so long? To have 70 million viewers?
Marg: I believed in the show from the beginning from having read the script and then seeing that pilot shot, put together. This kind of success, I never would have anticipated. Being here twelve years later, weāre having the whole world sort of enamored with it.
Bill: How many series are there that last that long on television?
Marg: Not many! In fact, at the craft service table at work, thereās a big bulletin board of, you know, events that are coming up and this and that, and thereās a list of the longest running shows. At the top, itās The Simpsons, of course. And then weāre…
Bill: Which isnāt real.
Marg: Pardon me?
Bill: Which isnāt real.
Marg: Well yeah, of scripted shows I think itās still something like Gunsmoke.
Bill: Where does CSI come?
Marg: We are somewhere in the middle. Actually, there are a few shows that have gone eleven seasons, or twelve seasons, and I donāt think thereās any end in sight.
Sian: You love the show. Youāve been in it a long time. Itās a great part. Why are you leaving?
Marg: Why am I leaving? Thatās an excellent question. You know, sometimes I question what I’m…am I doing the right thing. But itās, you know, sometimes you feel a need to switch it up and thatās kind of where Iām at right now. I just, I feel as long as I still have the hunger to put myself back out there into the auditioning world. God, that will be crazy!
Sian: Youāll go back into the auditioning world?
Marg: Well, I mean, I would, I mean for — not necessarily for television — and I always know that I can always go back into television, and I can even, you know, if I want — Iām sure I could come back and do this series. Itās certainly been made very clear to me.
Bill: Oh, so theyāre leaving the door open? Youāre not going to die in a hail of bullets at least?
Marg: No. No, I wouldnāt want that because then, of course, my body would… my corpse…would have to be processed, and thatās just way too…
Sian: Are you squeamish? Because I see some of those shots, and I think, I know itās fake, but somehow Iām not sure I want to stand over it.
Marg: Well, Iāve actually, you know, witnessed real autopsies so in comparison, you know, thereās no… because you just donāt get this full effect from a… The smell is probably the most intense thing about it.
Sian: Did they tell you that you had to do that for the part?
Marg: They didnāt say I had to. It wasnāt mandatory, but I was… I asked for it and I was glad that I did because itās something that doesnāt ever leave you. Youāll always have that very strong sense memory of the experience.
Bill: The truth is sort of colder and darker really. It cannot be helped that CSI is going to condense what would be weeks or even months of work into forty-seven, fifty minutes — that sort of thing, isnāt it?
Marg: Correct. Yeah.
Bill: But it would be a pretty slow show otherwise if it went that long.
Marg: Yes, yes. Well, in fact, when I …back when I rode along with one of the criminalists and one of the calls was ‘dead body at the Hard Rock Hotel’, and I was scheduled to go to the coronerās office the following day, and they said well heās probably going to be one of the
bodies that you — will be a part of the autopsy. So I was able to track the whole case because then I exchanged email addresses with the coroner, because obviously the toxicology report takes a few weeks.
Sian: Do you think one of the reasons for its success is that you actually feel you learn something in CSI?
Marg: Yes, I think people — it makes people…
Sian: Like when you yank a piece of hair out, like in the Pilot episode. If you yank a bit of hair out, then it looks different under a microscope than if it falls out naturally. Thatās something you wouldnāt ordinarily know.
Marg: Correct. I think it does make people feel… Itās a smart show. It’s… and you do learn. And it makes science sort of fun, and thatās why I think a lot of school children, certainly back in the States, they teach science through the use of criminal science.
Bill: So, before you were on CSI, we saw you on television for various different things. You were a love interest in Frasier once?
Marg: Yes, I was. That was a lot of fun.
Bill: You were George Clooneyās love interest in E.R.
Marg: Which was a hell of a lot of fun.(laughs)
Bill: So whose love interest are you going to be when you move on from CSI? Who would you like to be?
Marg: Oh gosh, thereās quite a few. (laughs) You know what? Iād love to work with, I mean, there are a lot of actors that Iād love to have the opportunity to work with. I love Viggo Mortensen. Iāve always…
Bill: That would be a good love interest.
Marg: Yes, heās very handsome and…but just a wonderful actor. Iāve always liked Al Pacino. I think heās a terrific actor. And a lot of English actors. Gosh, a lot of wonderful English actors.
Bill: You can make a few contacts while youāre over here.
Marg: Why not?
Sian: Good luck.
Marg: Thank you.
Sian: Good luck with the leaving of the show. Leave while the party is still in full swing and you still love it.
Marg: Thatās what somebody said to me. Iām going with that.
Bill: Itās still in production. Do you know when weāll see your last episode here? Any idea? Here in the UK?
Marg: I wish I knew, but I donāt. I know when itās going to be in America.
Bill: In America?
Marg: Towards the end of January.
Bill: Okay. Alright. Good luck with that.
Marg: Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.
Bill: The original series of CSI: Crime Series Investigation on CBS Drama UK. You can see it December 12th at 9 oāclock.