BBC News: Presenters, correspondent & rotas

You'll be coming in via the Bath Road, no doubt? (People who know will know.....)

Lukwesa Burak was off for many weeks during the peak of the virus.

Others, like Wilcox, have taken a few days here and there.

Kasia Madera working World this Sunday. Haven't really seen her on weekends lately...

Burak was doing Focus on Africa, wasn't she?

Kasia is on this evening due to her background and knowledge being useful in the coverage of the polish election.

Yes she was indeed.

Same with doctors, nurses, couriers, postal staff, shop staff etc etc.

Yes, absolutely. All of whom do a vital job and have been the backbone of this pandemic. I myself fall under shop staff but have been furloughed for most of it so have had it pretty easy in that respect, although I do have friends who work in a supermarket who haven't stopped going since the start of the pandemic, despite the rude customers who simply take them for granted. Also special mention to my postman who has also kept going throughout all of this with his usual cheery, upbeat exterior.

Kasia did the 23:00 half hour from E this evening with Shaun Ley returning at 23:30 for the papers. Just looks like a mess on air with Kasia 21:00-21:30, Mishal 22:00-22:25, Shaun 22:29-22:44, Kasia 23:00-23:26 and Shaun 23:28 until the film review, presumably Kasia again at midnight and someone else from 1am.

Send a strongly worded message to newswatch when it comes back. You'd fit right in.

Absolutely, as I work in the energy industry it's been hard going being back on the phones speaking to people who are going through the hardest of times.

Cannot wait for a fortnight off at some point.

As I’ve said before, whilst it may look a mess to some people on screen, please remember that the news operation is more than just the newscaster on-air.

There are multiple back room staff working different shifts and those numbers are depleted due to the social distancing regulations in the building and are further depleted due to weekend work patterns (the latter impacting less so).

The backroom (and on-air) staff need to have proper breaks, shift handovers etc, and the facilities they use must be disinfected to a degree between shifts.

Whilst that happens, largely for staffing and health and safety reasons, things on-air may appear a little disjointed (but only to those of us who watch rolling news for hours on end).

‘Normal viewers’ who dip-in to watch half an hour of news at some point in the evening won’t notice the presence of three different presenters in a short space of time.

I know this is the stuff upon which TVF thrives, but let’s cut these guys some slack, eh? It’s getting boring hearing the same complaint over and over again.

The folks at BBC News (both sides of the camera) are working their socks off to keep this big machine moving, against a backdrop of new rules and regulations that we don’t even realize.

Is there any workplace on the planet that hasn’t been operationally affected by the pandemic? No.

It just appears acute on BBC News because it’s always present and a 24 hour op.