It was a Leicester takeover by the News Channel presenters yesterday - all three (Julian, Martine and Lukwesa) have worked for BBC Radio Leicester - I think Lukwesa still does so - Martine is from Leicestershire, Lukwesa as well I think and Julian went to University in Leicester before joining BBC Radio Leicester (this is all already public information).
It now looks like three different presenters on the BBC One news today (One/Two/One in Scotland). This doesn't happen often (Martine has replied to a tweet to say she's on until 1900 so I assume she's not on the evening bulletin). The last time this happened, which also happened to be a Saturday, had Emily Maitlis just doing the late evening bulletin - Martine was also involved as part of those three (doing the early evening bulletin - the news was obviously a bit later that what it's been today) and one of the items in the news was about Alton Towers (something in relation to the accident that had happened earlier in the year).
IIRC that was after some major news (possibly the Paris attacks) that the scheduled presenter was on location at short notice.
Weekends, otherwise, do seem to be 'whoever they can get' - Shaun Ley not on air today but Julian Worricker instead* (with Jane doing Dateline, maybe recorded yesterday, so perhaps my theory shot down and perhaps Ben was originally tonight) - with staff leaving recently - three very experienced presenters - they're probably down to chopping everyone else down (couldn't think how to word it but didn't mean it in any nasty way) to cover one seventh of the leaver's job on top of their own so leads to more presenters to cover what would have been covered by one person in the past (perhaps we saw that with Richard Lister the other Saturday).
*Mind you it is a Bank Holiday weekend so could have Julian covering again on three days.
Weekends have largely been 'whoever they can get' for a number of years and 2016 was by far the most consistent year for at least 10 years (although even then alternate Saturdays were largely a case of whoever). The old double headed weekend evening shift used to see a wide range of relief presenters including reporters, people who mostly worked on world and regional presenters (Roger Johnson and Geoff Clarke), and for a long time there was a Saturday shift without a fixed presenter (which even Sally Nugent presented on occasion).
I imagine the current situation is not permanent, with expected future cuts to the weekday output and the end of 100 days+ presumably taking place in the next few months. Additionally it doesn't help that the resignations have taken effect from the start of an unexpected general election campaign, an event that always displaces presenters.
AS
AlexS
Rico Hizon is in London for a week, presenting Newsday
Rico Hizon is in London for a week, presenting Newsday
It must be slightly weird for him to be doing the UK only opt-outs. But he did pronounce Nicola Sturgeon without any hesitation.
Wouldn't have thought Nicola Sturgeon was a tricky name to pronounce. Her christian name is pretty normal and her surname is a widely known type of fish. If you read it as it is written you won't have any problems.
Rico Hizon is in London for a week, presenting Newsday
It must be slightly weird for him to be doing the UK only opt-outs. But he did pronounce Nicola Sturgeon without any hesitation.
Wouldn't have thought Nicola Sturgeon was a tricky name to pronounce. Her christian name is pretty normal and her surname is a widely known type of fish. If you read it as it is written you won't have any problems.
Not to mention that Rico has been working for the BBC for years and I'd expect nothing else from him – Nicola Sturgeon as Scottish FM will have come up many times before, even outside the UK-only summary.
News Channel has now got Annita back after the One O'Clock News. This is unusual as it's usually one of the two (if there are two) presenters that is going to go on to present the afternoon shift. There must be hard times at BBC News at the moment, with them seemingly scrambling around for whoever they can find.