BBC News Channel Presentation - 21/03/16 onwards

Does anyone know why Newswatch is the only programme that seems to be consistently aired from the Virtual Reality studio (Studio A)? Is it just because other studios aren't available, or do they need to have the show presented in a certain way that can't be done from the other studios?

It's always jarring on the rare occasion that Samira is conducting a "live" interview (it's not really live) and she's clearly looking at the camera, due to the fact no screen actually exists that she can look at. Same with those times she looks towards the "screen" to introduce a VT, you can see she's looking at the camera, but in a way that looks like she's turned to the "fake" screen.

I'd like to see Newswatch presented from either C or E, to make it more "at home" with the fact it's reporting on BBC News. Given Newswatch is only shown on Friday's, where one hour of the schedule is a simulcast with World News and a pre-recorded VT, the News Channel could easily present from the Virtual Reality studio for the 45 minutes needed, while Newswatch records from E.

I am making an assumption about when it gets recorded though. I assume it's in the evening, but given they almost never report on issues from that day, is it recorded on an earlier day?

I always assumed it was recorded in the afternoon, as i remember on one occasion when Ray Snoddy used to present i caught sight of his watch and it was around 4pm.

Not sure kicking the News Channel out to allow them to record is the greatest idea. But perhaps recording it in D would be possible?

Or use the boxes technique for handling DTL interviews where looking straight down the lens is expected.

Doesn’t studio A have video projectors that output content solely in green in the general virtual monitor direction like ITV?

If A was such a problem they could either record it in C before they record the film review or in E during Victoria Derbyshire.

I'm not sure I understand this dicussion. Surely Newswatch always has a virtual set because, well, that's its set?

The Film Review is actually a live programme at 17:45 every Friday (that's why you see Jane Hill in the same clothes is always presenting the News at Five and The Film Review at 17:00.)...

I don't remember the early days of Newswatch prior to the move to NBH, but was it presented from a green-screen studio prior to that? If so, that would explain their use of it in NBH, but it always feels weird when it's in the virtual studio, as if the BBC are just simply putting it there for the sake of trying to make the virtual studio have a purpose, and (for me) it makes it disconnected from the news studio.


The question was whether it's due to other studios not being available, or if it has to come from a virtual studio to keep things consistent. For me, it is jarring because they are trying to present the programme like it's coming from Studio C or E, but it ends up looking really bad as a result, due to them just looking at green screens and cameras only, so whenever "live interviews" from the public are done, Samira's looking at the camera to conduct said interview, but all other cameras pan around as though it was a main newsroom studio, which makes the DTL look very obvious.

There are several other pre-recorded programmes that come from the other main studios. As indicated, The Film Review is recorded live on Friday at 5.45pm in Studio C, and the same applies to Dateline London nowadays (but from Studio E). Newswatch would be the only programme that is recorded from the virtual studio that isn't broadcast from one of the main studios.

No, Newswatch used to come from one of the main studios, probably TC7 by the looks of the videos I've found, but it definitely wasn't a green screen or virtual studio back then.

Yes it came from TC7 once the News Channel moved into N6. Back in the days when News 24 was in N8 (pre-2008) Newswatch used to come from N6 as I recall. That was when there was downtime in that studio between national bulletins.

Oops-The wrong version of the filler was played out on the News Channel just before the late BBC1 Bulletin just now.

That's good to know, so for whatever reason, the BBC just feels it's better to present Newswatch from the virtual studio, or I'm gonna assume it's because the time of day it gets recorded results in no other studio being available. D would feel the same as the virtual, but without all that " DTL" stuff due to the lack of actual "TV screen" for the presenter to look at when introducing a VT or interviewee.