London Bridge Is Down

Exactly.
If people think the BBC are going to behave like its 1952 all over again I think they're going to be in for a rude awakening.

In fact I dare say nobody knows what's going to happen, because the world has changed dramatically in the last 67 years and was seen as the thing to do in 1952 probably is seen as old, crap and archaic by now.

Precisely. The Queens's death will be a massive event but it will occur in a media and social culture that is so widespread and fractured that the reverence that occurred when George VI passed away won't exist.

What will be interesting is whether the media reflect or dictate the mood of the public. The printed press will of course be looking to maximise on it and sell their papers, and sadly the mood of the nation will probably be more through their eyes than the publics - we know they'll criticise the BBC whatever happens.

I do think though we've seen enough events, though not on the scale of a monarch dying, in recent years, to have a good guess at how coverage will play out in the first 24-48 hours. BBC1 will likely run news during the day, move the BBC1 schedule to BBC2, and then have a news special and tribute programme in the evening, with the next day probably moving from continuous rolling news to news specials dotted throughout the schedule and probably The One Show taking a more human approach to the event that evening.

Similarly ITV will run news in the immediate aftermath, but likely cutaway earlier than the BBC. The soaps will almost certainly air and they'll have a tribute show of their own. The next day would likely be a 9.25am news special and extended Lunchtime bulletin, but it'll be important to them to air certainly This Morning and perhaps Loose Women to get that more human angle. I think the evenings would remain largely unchanged, just removing anything deemed inappropriate.


One thing we don't know is how they would treat Charles becoming King which happens simultaneously, although the Coronation would likely be a year off. You'd imagine they'll be profiles of him alongside those of the Queens. And as for football - we're surely all looking forward to watching the England team and fans remember to say "King" rather than "Queen" when singing their anthem. Suspect it'll be "God Save the Quing" for a while

Who is arguing that the BBC will behave like it's 1952?! I only see posts talking about the coverage of the Queen Mother in 2002 and Diana in 1997 (admittedly very different as it was a shocking, unexpected death).


We obviously don't know what the BBC or the other broadcasters have planned for such an event. We also don't know what the public reaction will be to the news. Personally, I think people are underestimating how much of an impact the news will have.

God Save the Quing...love it or as was once said on "Bottom Live"

"God Save The Quim"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O74Nhbz8du8

The cornerstones of the schedules will remain, but there will be a lot of changes either because of events being covered or because they're trying to reflect the mood of the time.

BBC1 wouldn't show a late night action or raunchy comedy film after a church service or on the day when the schedules are taken up with the funeral for example. Topical comedy shows would also be pulled, not only ot of respect but also because they wouldn't have much else to talk about.

There will be a general lowering and quietening of the tone. It'll be the normal channels we know but turned down from 10 to about 4.

Some programmes won't go out because they might be deemed inappropriate, or because they contain a reference that is seen to be in that week. The TV companies will be checking through everything, none wants to be the channel who broadcast a joke about the Queen the week she died

The Coronation doesn't have to be a year, it can be pretty much anytime - Elizabeth's was 15 months between taking the throne and the coronation. George IV seems to hold the "record" between throne and coronation, just under 18 months.

There are all the other things that would have to change as well, not just the anthem. You'll be carrying Prince Charles's face around in your wallet at some point, put his head on future letters, new insignia will be needed for the police and military, passports, post boxes... None of this will happen overnight (since I believe some older post boxes still have Victoria's crest on them) but it will happen, and because we all got used to seeing the Queen's head on a coin looking to the right, tradition dictates the new King will be looking to the left. That on its own is enough to cause enough of a panic in this country where we fret if we run out of teabags in the office

Moving away from schedules briefly, I take it that the 'Forest' ident will be used on BBC One.

Yes they don't go round replacing postboxes just because there's a new monarch. There are postboxes around with the crests of all the monarchs since Victoria.. even some ER VIII ones ( http://inamidst.com/topic/edwardboxes ). They stay until they need to be replaced


That's except for viewers in Scotland who don't have ER II on their postboxes as she's only the first Queen Elizabeth there

Sorry for another cheap quip at Oneness, but I'm hoping by the time this event happens, we will have a whole new set of idents.

This is a key point - regardless of the national mood, the sheer number of highly newsworthy events in the days following the death of a monarch would tear up the schedules for the main channels. There are the events connected with the death itself (several huge processions of the coffin, the lying in state, the funeral, closure of the London Stock Exchange, tributes from around the world), then with the proclamation of the new King (with ceremonies in each of the devolved nations plus of course Australia, Canada, New Zealand, etc), then with the installation of a new Head of State (recall and re-opening of Parliament), then coverage of the disruption the whole thing causes (closure of major transport routes, cancellation of sports fixtures due to deployment of police to related events, closure of the London Stock Exchange) and very much more besides.

BBC One isn't going to be showing Homes Under the Hammer while the Garter King at Arms and his men are parading round Trafalgar Square in an historic carriage yelling about the new King - even if no-one can really explain why that's a thing in modern Britain. And there will be a million and one other equally weird, anachronistic and highly newsworthy things to cover live in the ten days following the death.

Complaints about the extravagance of the coverage of the whole thing will come later.

Of course with soaps it will depend what the content is I assume as to whether they air. If it's a particularly grim episode full of death and despair that's scheduled to air in the day or two after the Queen dies there's a chance they might delay airing one of the soaps by a few days. There's the example of the Raoul Moat saga delaying some Corrie episodes which focused on a factory siege.