BBC Breakfast

Nope it's the real backdrop. Been through several incarnations throughout the past few months but that's what is being used.

your memory seems have have more gaps than a barco wall.

not only was there a massive initial outrage due to the fact the preposterous angle the initial map was at made Scotland appear smaller than one pixel but the complaints only really lessened due to a mix of them:

1 - upgrading the software so the utterly horrific judder stopped
2 - re-introducing isobars and numerous other ditched concepts
3 - people realising that they were refusing to listen re: the maps and therefore giving up

They are, and remain, utterly crap and I still have no sodding clue what the weather is going to be from watching a TV forecast anymore. The website brought symbols back, I use that now.

I don't see what people's problem is. It is much clearer and gives a better representation.

As for the backdrop, though. It's horrific! Shan't repeat why though!

a much better representation of what exactly?

What the weather's going to be like.
It had its problems when it launched, but now it's fine.

Yes it took a bit of getting used to but as soon as you learn how to interpret it it's great - unlike Sky News which I still can't fathom out. I suspect many of those complaining were the people who have no idea where on the map they actually live.

And what is with the sofas in the background - will people randomly come into the backdrop and sit on them (at the same time every day!)

Conversely, since I understand them perfectly, and did since they were introduced, I love them. Admittedly, the concepts they initially dropped were stupid.

However, the increased detail afforded by the BBCs clear representation of precipitation means a better forecast. That's why ITV's national weather is useless, when one symbol covers the whole of Yorkshire.

It's not fine, it's simply less worse. What it fails to do is allow you to simply glance at the screen and get an idea. You actually have to concentrate and search out your location, which is fine when you live somewhere like Dundee which happens to be next to a rather distinctive bit of coastline, however when trying to find somewhere smaller, or somewhere less familiar (if you're on a trip) then it becomes tricker.

What I would prefer would be a mix of the two, with symbols on top of the other graphics. Perhaps if they appeared and vanished again in the style of the temperature icons.

I still object to the tilt which I find needless.


Oh and also the BBC World version is utterly horrific, and I appreciate it was previously "one icon to a country or two" but have you seen it? Whats with the powerpoint transition between slides. Looks completely amateurish.

What happens if a region fails to opt in on Breakfast, and throughout the BBC? Never noticed this because Reporting Scotland usually cut in as soon as they can!

I think it looks a bit bare. Either go for a newsroom and skyline (like they had in TC7) or just have a fake skyline show. The red sofa s and litter bins look stupid.

EDIT: What they could do with IMO is the 'frosted swirls' that are present on almost all the BBC News fake backdrops (including North West Tonight)...

At least that would hep disguise the silly sofas!

'cut' in, opt out dear

But usually the sustaining feed is shown, this is (was?) BBC London, if BBC London failed they'd take Midlands Today.

Basically each region opts out onto a dirty feed of NET1 (BBC One Network in plain speak) - so they usually opt early, Midlands Today went further than this at one stage, rather than messing up the opt used to show N6 on the big screen;

That's entirely subjective. What exactly is "dated" in news pres?


A lot of people wish the swirls had never happened. Formless ribbony-things dancing around a globe and resolving into some kind of abstract shape. Always looked a bit like a knight's helmet to me. A dreadful colour palette of black and orange, then black and red; the former clashing horribly and the latter still jarring with the sets brought in at the time. Not to mention the nuclear explosion at the start! No concept behind it whatsoever. It really was woeful.

You'll remember too that for the first few years of that era the animation was extremely basic, as on N24 it had to be rendered live, so that the main headline (generally two words repeated over and over, which looked bizarre) could revolve around the globe. This was an idea that never really worked. For some reason the same extremely basic animation was also put in place on the BBC1 bulletins.

Overall the whole thing was a mess. They tidied it up a couple of times, and each improvement made it slightly more acceptable, but the concept (or lack thereof) was still a problem.

Unsurprising then that Lambie Nairn, when given the chance to rebrand the whole thing, resurrected their 1999 concept and put a new twist on it. It had been killed off far too quickly.


It hasn't - bar the David Lowe music it was dead from 2003 to 2008.


I thought so once but now I entirely disagree. Just because the current look seems tired to you, a pres fan, doesn't mean it is so.

Because the 1999 Lambie Nairn idea was so ground-breaking, it was entirely unique to the BBC at the time, and although it may have influenced others, it pretty much remains so today. The pulses, the pips, the drumbeats all just scream BBC. Everybody recognises them, and nobody can copy them without it being blatantly obvious. In other words, it's the perfect example of a strong brand. Ditching it would be madness.