The Red Light

Text 1: On Air, by Celia Northcott

An original novel extract.

The studio clock showed nineteen seconds to six. Mari counted every one of them. She had practised the bulletin in her kitchen, on the bus and in the silent lift up to the fourth floor, but the opening sentence now looked as unfamiliar as a warning written in another language.

Beyond the glass, Dev adjusted a dial. He raised one finger. Mari arranged her pages again, although their corners were already perfectly aligned. Weather. Local news. Travel. She touched each heading with the tip of her pen. The studio seemed to shrink around her, padded walls pressing close, while the second hand marched towards the hour.

Five. Four. Three.

Dev’s finger dropped. The red light came on.

‘This is the six o’clock news,’ Mari said. The first words escaped in a whisper. Heat climbed her neck. She drew breath to begin again, but through the glass Dev was nodding, slowly and firmly, as if they were keeping time together. Mari fixed her eyes on the next line. A road had reopened. A council meeting had ended. The facts were small, solid stones; she stepped across them one by one. By the final item, her hand had stopped trembling. When the red light went dark, the last word was still hanging, calm and certain, in the air.

How does Celia Northcott use language and structure to show Mari’s nervousness during her first live news bulletin?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.