noggin's posts, page 318

Programmes which do not interest you

Could I suggest the following would be worth thinking about :

1. Be nicer to each other.
2. Be more tolerant of each other.
3. Where mistakes are made in factual terms, politely correct them without snark or sarcasm.
4. Where opinions are disagreed with - remain pleasant whilst stating the opposite case.
5. If you can't say something nice about a fellow forum member, then best not say anything.
6. Remember this isn't just a forum visited by enthusiasts. It is also read by people working in the industry (who may also be enthusiasts)
7. Think about who is reading your posts, and how they would feel when reading them.
8. If you DO have dyslexia or another issue that may mean your posts look unusual or are difficult to read, then it might be worth putting something in your signature. A couple of colleagues I have at work who have quite severe dyslexia have a standard part of their e-mail signature that mentions it to avoid people thinking they are being disrespectful by rushing their replies. (And not everything can be picked up by spell check)

I know we're all guilty of getting caught up in personal opinions, enthusiasms and obsessions at times (and I'm sure I've been guilty of not doing everything I suggest above) - but you know this forum would be a lot more pleasant to visit if people on it were a bit more pleasant to each other.

If I'm honest, some of the conversations here amount to little more than bullying at times.

BBC Newsnight

There are no general TV cooking shows made in NBH - it's a news building in TV studio terms (with the exception of The One Show). There are cooking segments on Woman's Hour (a radio show) sometimes, but they don't need 'TV friendly' cooking facilities. Cookery isn't news. (I know some US local news shows are quite soft and might include a cooking segment - but these days that really isn't what the BBC does in news programmes. Though in the '80s on - the very soft in places - BBC Breakfast Time there was a resident chef - Glynn Christian)

The One Show have done cooking occasionally in the past - and I assumed just hired in suitable facilities (it's relatively easy to hire a cooking set from a props company in West London) - though as ever with studio cookery you have to be aware of limitations (4 ring electric hobs are high current items, gas cookers require a very safe gas supply to be properly tested - even if from a gas bottle - and you need to risk assess how bottled gas is stored and moved - you certainly don't leave pressurised bottle of propane or butane hanging around in corridors... This is often why you see self-contained cartridge gas stoves or 'portable' twin electric hobs used)

The near total lack of set storage facilities in W1 (it wasn't designed for set-strike but for set-standing) mean that things like a cookery set that would be used once or twice a year make no sense to store locally, and it is far more cost effective to hire.

Of course you also have to ensure the right fire protection systems are inhibited and the inhibition is mitigated). There are a LOT of continuous news services on air 24/7 in the BBC W1 buildings, you really don't want to take them off-air because someone forgot to arrange for smoke detection to be disabled...

Eurovision 2017

Yes - though only for some of them. There were still a number coming in via satellite I believe. I believe they used a mix to allow for more spokespeople to be lined-up simultaneously, and to avoid the issues they had last year with some countries.

Eurovision 2017

2005 was the first 16:9 SD contest.
2006 was 16:9 SD to audiences at home, but AIUI was produced in HD as a trial (but not broadcast as such)
2007 was the first 16:9 HD contest to be broadcast to audiences at home (and was carried on BBC HD, SVT HD etc.)

(1968 was the first colour contest, which the BBC broadcast from the Albert Hall. Ironically BBC One was still 405 B&W only so audiences in the UK only saw the contest in colour when watching the repeat on BBC Two...)

BBC launches in-house creative agency

AIUI this is the result of the BBC not renewing their deal with Ericsson (formerly Red Bee) for trail production, after deciding to bring it back in-house.

Eurovision 2016

It's all front projected I think - using front projection to light him in some elements (a technique that has been used on Melodifestivalen a couple of times). I saw some off-air pictures and I don't think you could rear project through the frame and people were hiding behind it, plus there was a support for him towards the end (where you only see his torso and above)

The panel was angled and behind the rubber surface had - I think a frame he could push into for support (effectively kicking in) - though it could be there were elements pushed out slightly by dancers behind?

The rotation was simply a nice DVE move (rotating a cropped section of the image) - you can see the floor reflections rotate.

Peston On Sunday

In that era it was indeed. I'd missed them out!



There was also a hybrid Working Lunch/Newsnight set in TC11 (which Newsround then rigged a cut down version of their normal set inside of) during the installation of the Barco walls in TC7 when Mon-Fri TC7 shows moved to TC11 for some weeks (which up until then had housed The Seven O'Clock News on BBC Three, and before that Liquid News and Celebdaq as well)

Eurovision 2017

Helena also represented Greece as part of the group Antique in 2001. (That performance also included Shirley Clamp, a Melodifestivalen stalwart, as a backing singer.)

If you look at the Swedish influence on many songs this year (whether through production, backing singers, composers etc.) you'll see it's pretty major.

Thomas G:Son (Swedish composer) was certainly there this year with both Georgia and Cyprus (interestingly the two most frenetic songs IMO) in the final. (He was involved with Georgia and Spain's entries last year...)

Eurovision 2016

Agreed - 25-30 minute voting window would be fine. Given that the jury results delivered by the national spokespeople are known the night before, you only need a relatively short period between closing the lines and bouncing round the countries to get the jury results. That should take long enough to allow phone/app/sms votes from the public to be ratified.


Many countries did provide the breakdown I believe.

I agree that the charm was gone to UK viewers who like watching Greece and Cyprus vote for each other etc. - but I think the benefit in tension probably justifies it, and it reduces the potential for the (in my view flawed) 'it's all political when countries vote for each other' accusations that Brits always make... (Ignoring the fact that there is nothing political about shared culture between countries that aren't an island...)


Actually - think the opposite. With 42 countries, going round more quickly really speeds things up.


I think the problem was that the total score was kind of dwarfed by the individual points on the scoreboard.

I also hear that they tweaked the board after the Friday rehearsal to remove a 'total points available' bar during the public results voting (which would have reduced as each set of public votes was removed from the pot). That would have made Ukraine's win obvious as soon as the penultimate public vote had been revealed rather than having to wait to hear the final number of points awarded to Russia. (Unless you were doing your own calculation removing each country from the 2436 total points available. (Each country allocated a total of 58 points = 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+10+12 for the phone vote results - and there were 42 voting countries = 2436 points for public voting in the 'pot')

Eurovision 2016

Err - the posts a few pages back suggest the opposite and match the one's I'd seen - we'd have finished a couple of places higher with the previous system. (Obviously there were twice as many points available with the new system as each country gives twice the number compared to the old system)

Peston On Sunday

Peston once a week - but yes. No different to the days when Newsnight, Breakfast, Working Lunch, Sunday AM and The Politics Show shared TC7 at TV Centre with separate sets (in the pre-Barco era)

I don't know how much is common between Lorraine and Loose Women, but I understand they share a studio with Peston.

BT to launch rival to Sky 1

I don't think they have. They started with sport and Premier League football in particular, but that won't drive subs during the off-season. So it makes sense to diversify a little to include other offerings that could tempt subscribers all year round. Launching platforms is like driving in a wedge - you start with a sharp end (football, and other sport) and then widen out as you move forward.