Idea and presenter
Tano Vella
The programme was his idea. He opened every show, introduced the guests and chaired the discussion.
Television production portfolio · Updated September 2026
From 2012 I worked off camera on 4 b’Wieħed, a weekly studio programme on Maltese television. My part was support: sponsors, operations, strategy, compliance and quality assurance, so that each Thursday’s programme went out as planned.
In one line
Tano Vella’s idea, a studio full of guests with something to say, and behind the cameras a small team that had to get the sponsors, the running order and the paperwork right every week.
4 b’Wieħed came from Tano Vella, who also presented it. Each week he sat down with a panel of guests, picked one theme and let the conversation run. The first programme was recorded on Tuesday 25 September 2012 under the title Il-Kap hu… tikkmanda hi, roughly “The boss is… she’s in charge”, with five guests in the studio.
The later programmes kept that shape and changed the ingredients. One running order from the 2013/14 season, Carpe Diem, was about living positively. It had quotations for the guests to react to, a studio game, and one object each guest brought from home because it kept them optimistic.
Taken from the running order for programme one, recorded on 25 September 2012. Times are approximate, as the running order itself warned.
| Segment | What happened | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | Station ident, sponsor thanks, the opening video, then Tano in the studio. | About 1 minute |
| Guest profiles | A short on-screen profile of each of the five guests, with a voice-over by Carmen Vella. | About 2 minutes |
| Meet the guests | Around a minute with each guest on their own story. | 5 minutes |
| Feature | A filmed piece on the evening’s theme. | 2 minutes |
| Discussion | Three studio blocks, each split by an advert break. | 3 x 15 minutes |
| Vox pops | Two rounds of reactions from people in the street, played into the debate. | About 3 minutes |
| Advert breaks | Two breaks, carrying the adverts booked for that Thursday. | 2 x 6 minutes |
| Close | Thanks, credits and the sponsors named again. | 2 minutes |
A small team, most of it off camera.
Idea and presenter
The programme was his idea. He opened every show, introduced the guests and chaired the discussion.
Production assistant
Production support in the studio, the voice-over on the guest profiles and the graphics on the vox pops.
Support, off camera
Credited on air for advertising. Behind that credit: sponsors, operations, strategy, compliance and quality assurance.
Writing, research and executive production were in the hands of a separate producer, with camera, lighting, audio and editing crews behind them. The guests changed every week.
The side of the programme a viewer only notices when it goes wrong.
Sponsors
Six businesses backed the opening programme: a furniture company, a shirt maker, a health and beauty centre, a publisher, a local business in Ħamrun and a company from our own team. Each one was thanked at the top of the show and named again in the closing credits. The draft running order still carries the reminders to check every spelling before it went to air.
Advertising
For the spring 2013 run we sold one package that covered the TV spot, the programme’s website and its Facebook page. Advertisers picked a 5 or 10 second static spot. A registration sheet was kept for every Thursday from 21 March to 6 June 2013, so we always knew whose advert was running in which programme.
The role grew with the programme.
2012
Credited on air for advertising from the first programme, and supporting the team on sponsors, operations and the checks before each broadcast.
2013
By June 2013 the company I co-directed was the production house for 4 b’Wieħed. That month we also pitched the station a new one-hour programme on health, fitness and beauty, on a joint-production basis: we would supply the presenters, production and research, and the station the studio.
All of it off camera. Five areas, each one backed by the papers that survive from the programme.
Sponsors
I helped bring the sponsors in. After that the job was keeping them happy, which mostly meant getting their names right in the thanks and in the closing credits.
Operations
Advert breaks, timings, the weekly registration sheets. If a programme ran long or a spot went missing, this is where it got sorted.
Strategy
In 2013 we took on the production ourselves, and that June we pitched the station a second programme: an hour on health, fitness and beauty.
Compliance
Every sponsor was thanked at the start and at the end, and every advert ran on the Thursday it was booked for. What the sales pack promised is what advertisers got.
Quality assurance
Names, credits and timings were checked before broadcast, not after. You can still see the notes on the draft running orders asking for spellings to be checked.
My role
All of my work on 4 b’Wieħed happened off camera. I helped the team find sponsors, then made sure each one was spelt right on screen. I booked every advert against its Thursday and kept the sheets up to date, which left the producers free to think about the studio. That job stayed with me. A broadcast slot won’t wait for you, so the records behind it have to be right first time.
A Thursday night studio show on Maltese television, from 9.30pm to 11pm. Tano Vella picked a theme each week and talked it over with a panel of guests, with a short film and some vox pops from the street cut in.
Tano Vella. It was his idea, and Carmen Vella was his production assistant. I stayed off camera.
Support, off camera. I was credited on air for advertising, and behind that I helped with sponsors, operations, strategy, compliance and quality assurance.
More of the same record.
Portfolio
A two-day national festival, planned and run end to end.
Portfolio
The full operations, projects and events record.
About
The short version of the person behind the work.
Get in touch