BBC News: Presenters & Rotas

She's okay, but I can't stand her stupid hand gestures and head movements. It does get on your nerves very quickly.

that has been the most he has been on since the move.

Nope, he covered for Annita for a week, covered for Matthew a couple of times, covered for Maxine Mawhinney, reported live from Cyprus for the whole day, presented along side Joanna in launch week, and has even presented a national BBC weekend lunchtime bulletin!!! Trust me, he's everywhere

ERMAHGERD - TIM TIM TIM

I don't care!

Who presented 630-9 this evening please?

I know I shouldn't feed, but Annita McVeigh.

Thanks. Was she or was she not joined by Ben Brown?

That slot has been single-headed since the move.

Wasn't Ben Brown doing the Man United coverage?

When you could hear him over the crowd noise, yes.

Geetha's back and Katya Adler seems to be off again, after her brief regular appearance last week. Judging from the past, I think they put Katya out for field work more than presentation in the studios. I wonder where she'll be reporting from next. Talking about the same morning shift, Nik Gowing seems to be gone for quite a bit too.

Oh before I forget, did anyone saw Juliette Foster presenting World Business Report alongside Naga Munchetty (main news) a week or two back? It was a one off thing. I've never really seen much of Juliette, and I think she makes quite a good presenter for business apart from the usual Sally Bundock, Alice or Aaron lineup. I didn't feel so bored listening to her, or maybe it's just because she doesn't appear that often so there's a novelty effect. And her appearance with Naga, makes Naga seems like the side presenter while she's looking like the main presenter because her height and size just overwhelms Naga. Nevertheless, Naga seems quite gleeful teaming up with her

Update (20-05-2013): Nik Gowing is back just when I mentioned him, and I saw Karin Giannone presenting Impact last week. One of the rare reliefs for Impact I guess. Another person I've seen covering Impact on rare occasion is Babita Sharma.

On another note, I think Yalda Hakim can do better with more practice. About being able to come up with words to fill gaps between while waiting for new instructions from the director, I have seen some anchors who are very good at this, like Martine Dennis, who's excellent at chipping in words to fill up awkward silence/pauses in reporting breaking news. I really admire her ability at this. Of course I think chipping in your words is a risky thing, as you don't want to end up saying the wrong things that could get you into trouble, so for the unexperienced, it's probably a pretty difficult task.

Curious that they appear to be choosing Carole Walker over most of the other female 'relief' presenters to cover during the week. I assumed in the run-up to the move to NBH she was on a short secondment while the main presenters were piloting, but even since the move she must have been the most frequent female, other than Sophie Long on her scheduled days. I like Carole (though I know many here don't rate her as a presenter), and I think she's improved massively over the past few months, but it's still curious they're using her over more established presenters like Sue Thearle and Rachel Schofield. Equally South Today's political editor Louise Stewart seems to have been working at least part-time as a correspondent on the national news, so I wonder if Carole is attached part time to the NC, part time to Westminster, as a compromise solution to try and cut down on freelancers?

By the way, has Sue Thearle left the BBC? I don't think I've seen her, Ellie Crisell or Fiona Armstrong on since the move, while the male relief presenters (Willcox, Parsons, Rogers, and even Grey) have all appeared as usual.

Oh, and does anyone know if Norman Smith has ever presented a live radio/TV programme before? It could be that he wouldn't be suited to presenting, but I have a feeling he could be rather good in the right slot. Say filling in for Huw on the News at Five. He's a very good interviewer and incredibly knowledgeable, and could prep him for future openings?