BBC News Channel: Presentation

Yes, that's right. Some of the English regions didn't convert until 2000, including North West Tonight, as I recall. I think Newsroom South East and the Nations (Reporting Scotland, Newsline and Wales Today) were the first, though I can't be sure of that. News 24 didn't relaunch until November 1999 and - a common error on websites - BBC World didn't adopt the corporate look and music until April 2000. Many websites erroneously state BBC World converted in 1999.

I completely agree with those that say the original incarnations of David Lowe's music were the best. I don't think any of his work since 2003 has been up to much when compared to the originals. His music seems to have lost its character; something which the 1999-2003 music had in abundance. It's all very bland and 'samey' now. I'm of mixed opinion about the next revamp. Part of me would be curious as to what DL could come up with, especially if he took inspiration from his original work. However, another part of me thinks it's time to move on. As I recall, I think BBC management thought the same way in 2008 - it was by no means certain that DL would provide the music then, let alone next time.

Almost, News 24 relaunched on 25th October 1999. As you say World didn't relaunch until April 2000 and this made overnights interesting for a few weeks after News 24 relaunched. As BBC Worlds branding was still the flag motiffs and News 24 was in the new 'soon to be coporate look' something had to give for the simulcasts. News 24 reverted back to the flags package overnight and all output came from N9 for the joint bulletins continuing to use the now ex News 24 flag branding. At 05:30 as soon as the final joint World/N24 bulletin ended News 24 would start coming from N8 with the presenter covering the breakfast shift starting 30 mins early (this was before the days of Breakfast as a joint service). I think it was from January 2000 the overnights shifted back to the News 24 studio and BBC World would take the new look for the 5 overnight joint bulletins. BBC World was still in its flag branding at the time so the bulletins felt very different to the rest of the BBC World output. Also when these joint bulletins went out the titles used were the generic BBC One music and visuals as BBC World had no new look packages as of yet and obvi didnt want the 24 branding on BBC World. I remember on one occasion overnight they had to use N9 for the simulcast, News 24 had long since ditched the flags stuff so we had bulletins coming from N9 which was still in flag motiff style and all the graphics, audio etc used was the new corporate stuff, it was a very strange bulletin to watch as it was a real hash of pres.

Thanks for the insight, David. I only discovered BBC World when on holiday in October 2000 so I completely missed this era. It's amazing to think the BBC let such a strange situation persist for 6 months! There's no way they'd do that now, given how brand conscious they are. I wonder why it took BBC World so long to relaunch? It would have made more sense for N24 and World to rebrand at the same time - either in October 1999 or April 2000.

I hope the next era when they move to new building is something totally new, fresh and different. 12 years of this similar look is enough, although it's been amazing, with the exception of the black era, it's time for a change imo.

It took almost 12 months to get all 3 main core services (BBC One/N24 & World) to adopt the same look. N24's studio was built over a period of 3 weeks. N24 & World simulcast for 3 weekends to allow the new N24 set to be gradually built around the existing set which was still in use during the week. They took out the sofa area and built the new set opposite the original News desk which looked out over the mezzanine. There was a video kicking around of the 1999 set being built in time lapse somewhere. I'm guessing it took time to rebrand them all as the services were not as intergrated with each other as they are now.

here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIwphR4i7QA

Deepest apologies. I'm such a stickler for spelling and grammar but because I've never seen such a phrase written down I obviously got it wrong.


"Hear hear! David Lowe must stay!"

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At the risk of becoming one of 'those' people that obsesses over presenters and rotas, I'd like to mention that I've not seen this cheerful fellow, Komla Dumor, before:


I don't know if he's a World News regular, but I've not seen him on any simulcast coverage before; I only saw him presenting during the 0500 hour, but I assume he did the overnight as well. Really enjoyed his presentation style; very fluid and a nice level of energy.

He's been on World for about a year now, mainly weekends and occassionally pod newsreading on Hub, Impact, etc. He also pioneered Africa Business Report. Like his presenting style, actually.

Contrary to popular belief, he is NOT the man from the Halifax Building Society ads from many years ago.........LOL.

Ref post above about the Six launch in 1999, wasn't it Sian Williams who was Huw's deputy? Or was she the weekend presenter? Contrary to most comments, I actually prefer the current David Lowe music to the 1999 version. A bit more "solid", I think.

IIRC Fiona Bruce was Huw's deputy in 1999, I think Sian was doing weekend bulletins around then.

That's right - Fiona Bruce was definitely Huw's understudy on the Six. Sian did the Weekend News for a while before getting the Breakfast gig. She did occasionally fill in on the Six, though. I also recall Nicholas Witchell returning for a few weeks to the Six during the china red and cream era, probably around 2000/2001.

George Alagiah was Anna Ford's understudy on the One and when he left for BBC Four News in 2002, Darren Jordon replaced him. As I recall, the Nine/Ten was almost exclusively Peter Sissons and Michael Buerk in this era. I can't ever remember anyone else presenting it.

When Breakfast launched in October 2000, the Mon-Thurs presenters were Jeremy Bowen and Sophie Raworth. Friday-Sunday was presented by Darren Jordon and Sarah Montague (now of the Today programme). Montague left after a few months and was replaced by Sian Williams. Eventually Jordon was replaced by Bill Turnbull (who until then presented News 24 afternoons with Valerie Sanderson).

Ahem, I need to get out more In all fairness, though, it was a great era for BBC News!

Many thanks for that info, BBC WORLD.


I hope members will indulge me in dragging the thread a little off topic here, but following recent discussion in this thread about the David Lowe era, and in the spirit of nostalgia given the milestone being marked here today, I'd like to highlight what I believe are a few gems from the Lowe era.

Two of them, the titles for Westminster Live and Despatch Box, can both be found on this page. I think it's a bit of a shame that political programming like The Record, This Week and The Daily Politics have moved away from the BBC News brand, despite BBC Parliament having been brought closer to it, and despite political programming having been quite neatly integrated with the brand a decade ago. Even in these early examples though, the versatility and diversity of the Lowe sound can be seen.

The sombre two-minute 'montage' sequence used from 2001-3 was another strong example of how flexible the audio brand package was back then, tightly integrating with the BBC World audio signatures of the time.

Despite there being many (sometimes fairly unpleasant) variations in the BBC News visual branding style over the last twelve years, perhaps the best example of how much variety could be extracted from Lowe's themes, while still maintaining incredible thematic consistency, is the various countdown packages that have been used on BBC News (24) and BBC World (News) over the years. A great celebration of some of these is available in this compilation package.

And perhaps the most famous example of all - and the one that is most fondly missed - is Lowe's brilliant breakfiller composition. In the spirit of looking forward to (hopefully) many more years of his involvement with BBC News branding, the example I'd like to highlight here uses not the original breakfiller visuals, but a fantastic interpretation of how the breakfiller might be revised with the current Lambie Nairn branding (rather than the god-awful breakfiller currently used on BBC WN), designed by TV Forum's very own mdtauk.

Much like TV Forum, the BBC News brand has had its highs and lows over the last decade. But David Lowe's audio magic has given us plenty to talk about here over the years, and it's certainly made BBC News branding stronger and more widely recognised than ever before.