Broadcasting House, Salford Quays & TVC

I agree. In the old days it was usually technical requirements and in ITV's case IBA specification (not to mention the unions) which meant you had to produce from a fully blown studio with all the bangs and whistles. These days production standards are far lower and the kit more flexible so you can get away with it. The only place studios are desperately needed are for Drama (such as Dr Who, who have to make a programmes in old warehouses) and Top Gear where the sound of the audience in an old hanger drowns out the presenters. I've always thought news looks better coming from a dynamic news environment provided what appears on screen is of presentable standard.

Yep a lot of it is down to improvements in technology which allow you to adequately light the studio without frying your presenter with all the heat!


Quite, I think the likes of BBC News 24/Channel and BBC London who have both moved into 'proper' studios from newsroom locations look rather dull now, certainly compared with something like Sky News.

Although it's easy to do it badly, Midlands Today's view of people leaving to go home is very distracting.

There's a line from Windmill Road back to TVC, so any material needed urgently can be played down the line to wherever it's needed in the BBC. The archives are moving soon Perivale, and one hopes that it'll get better connectivity than the current PAL circuit.

There's a bit about the digitisation in progress at this short video about the Archive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Z2djrAW2M

I agree that BBC News 24 and BBC London were much better in their newsrooms but it's the fact that it can be done very badly that's the problem; once you've done it, it's done and there's not much more you can do. Midlands Today's set is pretty much stuck in that space and that backdrop for the forseeable. Look East is also another example - particularly dire.

I thought Look East had a revamp to match the national set last year?

Look East haven't had a newsroom set since 1991.

Apologies - I think I've got my facts wrong. Looking at the below picture (from TV Ark) I thought that was an actual window but seeing as they got a new set recently it mustn't have been. Still a horrible set mind.

The buildings in Salford have been named. 'BBC Bridge House', 'BBC Quay House' and 'BBC Dock House'. Although unimportant and very trivial, it's very disappointing. They hardly have the same ring as "Television Centre", "Broadcasting House" or "Media City" do they. Even something random like "Helios House" as a nod to the TV Centre statue would have been more appropriate.

Presumably the reason they're called that is because they're next to a Bridge, Quay and Dock and therefore the names make them easier to find?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/community/bh_communications.shtml

Have the newsletters on this page stopped or are they just being rubbish with the site? I rather enjoyed reading them.

Last time I came past it the building was more or less finished and ready for the internal fit out. Therefore there's probably not much point in doing a community newsletter

I'm not disputing that, I'm just saying they're boring names. They could have named Broadcasting House "Smog House", or Television Centre "Knifecrime House" based on their locations, but they're not really inspiring names.