BBC Breakfast - 2018 Refresh

I know I've said it a million times before but the set is in dire need of replacement. It was dated, insipid and badly proportioned in 2011, never mind now and I believe it may be the longest lasting national news set in BBC News history. Dan Walker shared a photo on Twitter this week of the sofa where the cushioning has collapsed in.

The studio itself is a terrible shape with a very low ceiling height but personally I still feel they could make much better use of the space, with a set that would allow for a much more dynamic show. There's a lot of space to the right of the sofa that is unused, though it is rather narrow.

It's been mentioned in the past that the BBC Sports Centre set could be used for Breakfast - I think it would need an overhaul for it to feel suitably bright and airy for Breakfast but it would be much better that way, especially if BBC Sport moved into the smaller studio.

It's just a shame that Breakfast was a last minute addition to the Mediacity UK switch and was not properly planned for.

If Breakfast was properly co-ordinated into the plans then I highly doubt they would have chosen that studio for it.

The Sport studio is at ground level and bar a couple of desks being in the way, has windows that look out either across the promenade or the water. I remember peering through the windows when I was there once and you could see the Sport studio. They could potentially utilise that view maybe and rebuild the studio for use for Breakfast/NWT.

So given it would get much more airtime (approx. 4 hours every day inc. North West Tonight) compared to the Sport studio which just has short bulletins across the day on the Nationals, News Channel and World News, it would make sense to switch them around. Or maybe use the converted office studio space that they've used before for the Winter Olympics. However they obviously might be hesitant at using a studio with windows as they wouldn't want to do a Daybreak.

If I look a little bit smaller this morning it’s because of this ⬇️
After 7 years of ‘bums on seats’ I’m afraid to say the #BBCbreakfast sofa appears to have given up. Does anyone have a spare red one knocking about?
👍🏻😂 pic.twitter.com/Mc5c4qv1ty

— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) March 27, 2019

When Breakfast were in their last studio at TVC even that was an odd shape and looked at they were literally just using a corner, but at least it was the right height, it’s weird because because when North West Tonight are using it the current studio suddenly looks a lot bigger, it must be because it’s using an abstract backdrop which has aged better then Breakfasts which is now out of sync with the titles.

The BBC Sport studio was used for Breakfast during the 2016 Olympics, which looked so much better than the normal studio.

It had better titles and music but looks too dark in the background despite the huge number of screens put in there to cover up the darkness of Salford.

On the one hand, Breakfast is in dire need of an on-screen revamp. The idea of the artificial office / sky backdrop is over a decade old - even the move to Salford in 2012 only saw minor tweaks in this respect (I suspect they wanted the notion of continuity and consistency from London). The introduction of new stings late last year to replace the old titles was a bit of a missed opportunity - but I imagine something is being held back in view of Reith roll-out (whether this will actually happen or not remains to be seen).

On the other hand, I feel there's a sense of complacent "Why fix what isn't broken?" mentality in Salford. Clearly, it's still doing very well in terms of viewing figures. I get the sense they don't want to do anything drastic to potentially upset that. Indeed, I can't remember where I read it now but wasn't someone behind the scenes at Breakfast recently quoted as saying that the programme isn't about big dramatic on-screen changes but that it needs to "take the audience with us", i.e. small and gradual change?

I do like the idea of moving it permanently to the BBC Sport set but, as others have pointed out, not in its current black backdrop incarnation.

They can't use the 'real view' out of the Sport studio, or the 'real view' where the Breakfast studio is, because both pretty much face East and would be looking directly into the sunrise during transmission hours.

Let's face it, it isn't just Breakfast that needs a refresh, the whole of the BBC News on screen image does. It's beginning to look incredibly tired.

While the news channel and other london-based studios don't need radical overhauls visually, the surrounding pres does. The main titles are now pretty much 11 years old, have been butchered to buggery in that time and everything has just become as mismatch of old and rehashed branding elements. The music is just remixes of what's gone before. Don't get me started on the regions!

At some point you really have to take a step back, a deep breath and think how well the branding has served the department in that time, but you have to move on. Clinging on to old habits and lack of aspiration for radical bold changes are modern traits of the BBC, which is a shame (BBC Two rebrand aside).

A clean start is always a good idea, you can blitz and reinvigorate a brand's identity in one go and set yourself up to be fit for the next decade.

Most are talking about using the space that BBC Sport uses at Salford.

But why not use the space that Watchdog uses. Far bigger than current studio, still have view of the Quays without it being ground level, and it is light and airey (even more so when Watchdog is shown in Autumn/Winter slots at a Wednesday evening)

It can be handled properly. Using something like RoscoVIEW filters can more than adequately handle the sunrise. They use polarizing film on windows and lenses to control the amount of Sunlight through the windows.

Isn't Watchdog filmed in a public area of the building so probably not practical for Breakfast.