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Operation London Bridge: the death of the Queen

Includes interesting info on how the media would respond (March 2017)

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EU
Eurovictorious
Head of State, possibly member of the cabinet.

Although Diana might be the template, it was 20 years ago. I would question whether or not in 2017 an alternative should be provided, even if it's on BBC Four.

Correct decision by Channel 4 to do what they did for the funeral though. The point of the channel is to be an alternative.
MA
Markymark
We do have bench mark it would seem, A sitting mp was murdered in broad day light and there was no breaking news for Jo cox. It would have to even higher, would a Cabinet minister get breaking news ?


Jo Cox wasn't a household name, so that will be a major factor.

Tory MP Ian Gow was blown up in 1990, the extent and tone of coverage was similar to Jo Cox's
AN
Andrew Founding member
I remember in 2003 reading that they were a bit worried that the Gulf War would begin on Red Nose Day and cause chaos with the schedules that night, though happily they held off for a few days. Of course the Paris attacks happened during Children in Need the year before last and some people on Twitter suggested they should have abandoned it, but that was never going to happen, nor should it have.


I recall the start of the War on Terror was a rare occasion of presumably 'network recall' being used on ITV, as it started Sunday teatime during regional variations, I recall Yorkshire's Soccer Sunday (which was a live programme at that point) was recalled and wrapped up as they crossed to ITN.

Also I remember that ITV's new live daily quiz show The Biggest Game in Town was slightly disrupted up by 9/11, as the questions were supposed to be about the days news, but obviously there was no other news after 9/11 that was light enough to put in a quiz show, so they had to just use normal questions.

Obviously The Queen will be of all together different proportion to what we've seen in recent years, but other than that, schedule changes do depend on what is in the schedule in the first place. Even at the BBC I bet decisions are made with one eye on this which they would never admit. Sometimes channels get praised or slammed for the speed they put out extra news bulletins or obituaries, but often it will depend on what was in the schedule in the first place, which leads to inconsistencies. The Doctor Who example is one of these.
AN
Andrew Founding member
Head of State, possibly member of the cabinet.

Although Diana might be the template, it was 20 years ago. I would question whether or not in 2017 an alternative should be provided, even if it's on BBC Four.

Correct decision by Channel 4 to do what they did for the funeral though. The point of the channel is to be an alternative.


I would predict that after the initial couple of hours, other BBC channels would go their own way. I can't see all channels being joined together for more than a few hours. I'm not sure viewers would expect it. The schedule would change to ensure nothing too extreme was being aired though.

I can imagine all ITV digital channels carrying on regardless as again nobody would expect any different.
NW
nwtv2003
We do have bench mark it would seem, A sitting mp was murdered in broad day light and there was no breaking news for Jo cox. It would have to even higher, would a Cabinet minister get breaking news ?


Jo Cox wasn't a household name, so that will be a major factor.

Tory MP Ian Gow was blown up in 1990, the extent and tone of coverage was similar to Jo Cox's


Interesting that there are no clips online of the day John Smith died in 1994, apparently the main schedules were torn apart that day.
JA
JAS84
Leader of the Opposition, right? That would definitely have been a significant news story.

What would Channel 4 do nowadays? They can't do what they did when Diana died, as they no longer air children's programmes.
MA
Markymark
JAS84 posted:

What would Channel 4 do nowadays? They can't do what they did when Diana died, as they no longer air children's programmes.


A live edition of Gogglebox ?
BC
Blake Connolly Founding member
We do have bench mark it would seem, A sitting mp was murdered in broad day light and there was no breaking news for Jo cox. It would have to even higher, would a Cabinet minister get breaking news ?


The Beeb used to have a Category 2 as well, that hasn't been the case for a number of years now but many broadcasters will still have a list of promenant figures for whom schedules would be interrupted. As well as certain named people (e.g. in recent years, there was Nelson Mandela and Margaret Thatcher) there would also be positions on the list - current prime minister, leader of the opposition, the Pope and so on. It's an editorial decision for each broadcaster.
EU
Eurovictorious
I remember that. Charlton Central's show was simply cut to black, about 10 secs of the "stars" ident and then into the news, which wrapped up very quickly for the first episode of Pop Idol.

With regards to the Eurovision question, the BBC will be castigated if they show it, even on Two or Four. Equally if it's not shown in the UK at all they'd be similarly hung out to dry.

Either way there's a lot of people who won't be that bothered. There certainly won't be the level of public grief we saw for Diana: the chance is she'll go peacefully in her sleep when she's had a bloody good innings.
IS
Inspector Sands
Interesting that there are no clips online of the day John Smith died in 1994, apparently the main schedules were torn apart that day.

One notable change was the comedy drama 'Cardiac Arrest' which was due on after the 9 o clock news. I remember Alexi Sayle's series at the time featured a character called 'John Smith Man' - a not very flattering portrayal of him. Never got repeated, I don't know if the original run had finished at the time


As for the actual announcement, it was a newsflash during Anne & Nick.
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 19 March 2017 5:47pm - 2 times in total
MA
Markymark


With regards to the Eurovision question, the BBC will be castigated if they show it, even on Two or Four.



Possibly yes.


Equally if it's not shown in the UK at all they'd be similarly hung out to dry.


Probably no
BU
buster

BBC2 went on its own way at three o'clock for Sunday Grandstand, as you say. I looked this up a while back, the match had already started so they showed highlights and joined it in progress. There wasn't much else in Grandstand that day. The original line-up is here - http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/18e264d2ce284fc096256f2836e45fd1 - and they showed a brief edit of the waterskiing. But not the motorcycling, unsurprisingly.


That's reminded me of that day's Fully Booked turning up on Tuesday morning during the CBBC Breakfast Show slot, which confused me at the time as to how all the guests were available again in Glasgow two days later. It was years later when I found out Fully Booked during the Sunday morning years was pre-recorded on the Friday...

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