Her sweet smile belies a storm of ongoing corporate uncertainty.
But no one could accuse Celia Taylor, head of programming for newly launched channel, Virgin 1, of naivety.
She's simply concentrating on what she's good at, which is spotting and securing golden-egg programming, such as the US sitcom The Riches, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a spin-off series of The Terminator trilogy.
Programme buying is something she gets infectiously excited about. "I was at the LA screening of Sarah Connor," she says, rubbing her hands. "As soon as I saw it, I was: 'Ooh, gotta have that!'."
She adds: "We were only going on an £8 million one-hour pilot, but I said: 'I want it. One hundred per cent.'
Taylor loves to fight for the programmes she wants. The dirtier the battle, the better.
Which is just as well, because Virgin 1 - which debuted on Freeview and Virgin Media's paid-for platform on 1 October - is up against a mob of competitors with very deep pockets.
Murdoch's Sky One boasts an annual budget of two-and-a-half times V1's £40 million, while Taylor's funds also compare feebly with the £93 million lavished on BBC3 last year and the £70 million Michael Grade plans to splash out on ITV2 next year.
Challenge
And more to Taylor's credit is the fact that she rustled the channel up in around four months, while also being pregnant with her second child. "My director ground his teeth so much when he found out I was pregnant that his tooth fell out," she says, somewhat ominously. But perhaps he can now put it back in following the news that the channel's first-night line-up averaged 323,000 viewers.
Taylor also presides over programming for Virgin Media TV's other channels, which were all part of Flextech TV, before its ill-fated owner Telewest was bought out - bringing the Trouble, Living, Bravo and Ftn channels under their current Branson-branded umbrella.
But even if Taylor has become accustomed to a shaky corporate heritage, the current situation is even more doubtful.
Virgin Media's chief executive, Steve Birch, has stepped down, citing 'family problems', and a 'for sale' sign is still hovering over the company just months after its launch. Not to mention the ongoing spat with Sky after Murdoch's mega-machine pulled its programming from Virgin's channels after rows over fees - causing Virgin Media to lose around 40,000 of its 3.5 million subscribers.
But one of the many things on Taylor's side is the support of the tycoon and part-Virgin Media owner, Richard Branson. The Virgin chief executive has decorated his cap with many a grand feat in his time, including destabilising British Airways and turning around a public railway line, but one feather that has so far eluded him is the kudos that comes from running a successful TV station.
The billionaire is already furious that he didn't get his way in buying ITV outright (Murdoch scuppered him with a personal share bid of £115 million), and is still bent on carving out a TV legacy.
Branson, who, more often than not, gets what he wants, is a man to have on your side. As a measure of his delight at the launch of Virgin 1, Branson - as he is wont to do - threw a party in his back garden for four coachloads of journalists, even laying on a fairground.
He's also promised not to sell his share in Virgin Media, come what may. "I believe the company can get to the top in the next two years," he says, with typical gusto.
However, Taylor insists that Virgin 1 is not a direct response to Sky One, and that plans were in place months ago to build Flextech's Ftn channel into a bigger Freeview offering.
"Yes, the spat accelerated it but, once we'd got the quad-play platform, it was clear that we had to do something about it, especially when the Virgin brand came along, because it's so strong. It was a bit of a no brainer," she says.
But talk of targets for the channel has been thin on the ground. Perhaps after the grand fanfare of the Virgin Media launch, which was swiftly followed by a grand mess, things are being kept low key this time around.
Taylor says she "wants to be allowed to experiment" and that, while she'd like Virgin 1 to be one of the UK's top-ten channels next year, such ambitions are an "aspiration rather than an iron rod we're labouring under".
Where Taylor really shines is not in the art of subscriptions or targets - she says she doesn't know much about those (indeed she confesses to enjoying a Sky subscription, at least until she moves house) - but in her commitment to TV on multiple platforms. This is the one other factor that may help to drive Virgin 1 out of the ranks of the niche channels and turn it into something special.
Taylor is known at the Trouble channel for being something of a virtuoso in the art of user-generated content and TV. When she discusses Virgin 1's website, she really comes into her own: "I'm hoping that it's going to be the kind of site that once you get there, you'll become really immersed in it and go from one bit to another - like when I go on YouTube, an hour can just fly by and I suddenly end up somewhere I never thought I'd be ..."
At time of going to press, Virgin 1 was promising simultaneous broadcasts on TV and online, downloadable previews, seven-day catch-up and video on demand, plus a focus on UGC and shows from Virgin Media's existing pay-TV services, which include Living, Bravo, Challenge and Trouble.
And Virgin 1's website, Taylor says, is going to be rich and community-based. Isn't that what ITV and the BBC say? It's not the same, she claims. "The website is absolutely central to the brand - I want it to be a unique entertainment area in its own right."
Combination
Taylor describes upcoming comedy-branded zone, V Funny, which she insists will be the UK's first combined broadcast video and social networking site.
"We've done a deal with Hattrick to deliver some comedy that is an online-only commission. We're going to push Ted Danson online, while also pushing UGC on to the TV platform on Sunday nights, from a pick of the best entrants. It's about an integrated relationship between the online and on-air content. My dream would be to take one of the best online comedy stars and give them their own TV show."
She adds that if she gets the UGC balance right, the channel should feel slightly out of control, as if the company is running after it.
"It's going to be monitored for all the usual taste and decency rules, but if they want to slag us off in the comments section, they can slag us off. Generally, we'll take the rough with the smooth. I love all that stuff - the democracy, the creativity. You can go from painstaking animation on one hand, to someone farting and falling off a chair on the other," she says, laughing so much that she nearly falls off her own.
"It's the new platform and it's genuinely democratic - it's so easy to sit there in an ivory tower and talk about the audience."
Fat pipes
Virgin 1 plans to make the most of its interactive potential by buying cross-platform rights for its shows, in order to take advantage of its 'fat pipes' ability to exploit them.
"Every channel is trying to do that to a certain extent," she admits, "but I think to launch with a vision of being a multi-platform TV brand, to have it built into your DNA, is unique, and because of that we will be market leaders."
But, for all the broadcaster's claims of interactivity, Virgin's website is chiefly a branded entertainment area and remains largely non-monetised. Taylor sighs when asked how it's going to make any cash. "It's not about that really. It will have some ads on it, but it's a brand ambassador where we can advertise some of our values."
Taylor is far happier when talking about negotiating programming - and Eddie Izzard (star of The Riches), who she says flew in hot from Tom Cruise's latest movie set.
"He's quite sexy when you meet him. He's one of those people that give you this eye, like you're the only person in the room, and I was like: 'Ooh, blimey, 'ello!' He's got an edge, an undercurrent and a great sense of humour, so he's a good ambassador for Virgin, mainstream but maverick."
It's been said that one of Murdoch's biggest fears about Virgin is its strong brand and powerful resonance with consumers, something Taylor is acutely aware of.
"You can expect us to be consumer focused and very people focused, because that comes from the other businesses we've inherited," she says.
But, naturally, deep down, Taylor is anxious about how the channel will fare. "I'd be foolish to say I'm not, although I think we've got a fantastic line up and a fantastic set of commissions - plus our original commissions and our new dramas. I veer between confident and really nervous. The spotlight is going to be on it and there will be people who want to have a go at us, and I have to be prepared for that.
"But I think anybody who thought about it for more than two seconds will realise that no channel is born perfect - it takes time. Just look at five and BBC3. It's the start of a long and massively exciting journey and things can only get better."
Taylor's present job is the culmination of more than a decade in broadcasting - having started as a secretary. And if she has learned anything, it's that things can change very quickly in the unforgiving world of broadcasting.
"I have seen TV go from four to more than 300 channels. Fragmentation makes everybody's job more difficult," she admits. "We're on the cusp of the biggest change broadcasting has seen. We're on the verge of seeing convergence; major changes in the way content is distributed."
Pausing for breath, Taylor looks perplexed for the first time when asked about ways to measure viewing figures on a plethora of new platforms "We will have to think about the ratings system. I have no idea how we will go about it, but I am sure Ofcom will be all over it."
But if anyone was perfect for the job of launching Virgin 1, it's Taylor. As well as sporting a rare optimism, her passion for sharing quality content on all platforms amid a quagmire of corporate wrangling could be what sees the fledgling channel succeed.
"It'll be a big, glorious, digital mess," she says of the future of television. "That's the way it is - undeniably it is going to happen and it's about being ready for it."
Taylor is certainly prepared. But will Branson have the last laugh? That remains to be seen.
CELIA TAYLOR CV
2007: Remit expanded to also become director of programmes for Virgin 1
2006: Director of programmes for Bravo, Bravo 2, Trouble & Challenge
2005: Joins Flextech (the previous name for VMtv before it was rebranded) as channel controller, Trouble and Challenge
2000: Senior commissioning editor, factual, BBC
1990: Various freelance roles, starting as production secretary and ending as series editor