BBC News: Presenters & Rotas

Doesn't hell freeze over before the BBC is prepared to pre-record a news bulletin to be broadcast on BBC1. - I certainly agree with that. News should be live.

The programme also includes a news summary at the end of the programme but this bulletin - which is sometimes dropped - may also be of a variable length (I don't know).

It's hardly the end of the world to pre-record a 4 minute news summary. If they put a 30 minute programme on the NC from 9:30-10 they could show the end summary live!

Sorry but if you start pre-recording a 4 minute summary where does it end. The news channel decides they're fed up of having the schedule messed up by weekend bulletins and makes the BBC1 bulletins be pre-recorded. Live or nothing.

During the strikes they've aired pre-recorded bulletins where there's no onscreen or gallery staff to air a new one. And the difference is if you pre-record the headlines in Andrew Marr, there's a presenter in the studio who would be more than qualified to read the 'new' headlines.

In fact, I'd love to know the likelihood of breaking news at 14:55 making it to the 3pm BBC 1 bulletin, which isn't that much longer than the Marr bulletins when you exclude the packaged report that's featured.

Well ITV have pre-recorded their overnight summaries for years but it's yet to affect any of the daytime bulletins, all of which always have been and continue to be live.

And you can't say the BBC have never ever pre-recorded a news programme. The 2345 GMT edition of Asia Today used to be recorded 'as live' for many years. The on duty newscaster would pre-record it earlier in the evening.

The summer replacement for Marr, from a few years back, 'News 24 Sunday', presented by Peter Sissons.

That was a simulcast obviously.

Apart from music performances, which I've never seen the point of personally, what was the difference between N24 Sunday & Marr anyway?

(Do the Marr music performances exist clean separately minus end credits, so theorectically they could be used for future 'At The BBC' etc shows?)

Marr's music performances are very much part of the programme. Not only are there interviews with the performers the performances are very much 'Marr' branded.

Who is doing the bulletin during The Politics Show, is that Riz Lateef as well?

Maxine Mawhinney or whoever's on the News Channel at 1pm.

Not sure if this has been covered here already but the BBC's David Willey, who had been in Rome since 1971, has left (I think for retirement). Must have been one of the longest time periods for a correspondent to hold one posting, if not the longest.

All very quietly as well. I didn't really see him much anyway. Was he more on radio or worked part time or something? Absolute credit to him for his 40 year stint as Rome Correspondent. Now in the capable hands of Alan Johnston, whose quality of journalism speaks for itself really.

Incidentally, I got the impression he might have retired because he's doing a talk next Friday at University of Cambridge, and it mentioned him being a correspondent from 1971 to 2012.

You could say they're Marred.