In 1976, Icke worked for two months in Saudi Arabia, helping with the national football team. It was supposed to be a longer-term position, but he missed his wife and daughter and decided not to return after his first holiday back to the UK. BRMB gave him his job back, after which he successfully applied to "Midlands Today" at the BBC's Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, a job that included on-air appearances. One of the earliest stories he covered there was the murder of Carl Bridgewater, the paperboy shot during a robbery in 1978.