East Midlands Today, Spotlight and Newsline are probably the most in need of a set refurb. Of course Spotlight's is just a temporary set so they can be let off but the other two are pretty desperate.
Points West could do with one I guess as it's about 4 years old now but it's still looking pretty slick so isn't desperate.
But 4 years is nothing compared to
10 years that the likes of ITV Central have had their current set bar a couple of relights
.
Imo, goes to show versatile those ITV regional sets are. 10+years later and they still look fresh and have went with the various looks over the years.
Most of them aren't too bad. They are broadly in line with either the N6 or NBH style - the more recent ones being in the NBH style.
As you say, Spotlight is languishing in a temporary studio awaiting their HD upgrade, but I do agree that EMT and Newsline are perhaps the worst. WMT seemed to have dipped out on their latest overhaul by ending up with some cut price screens which are probably smaller than those in the living rooms of their viewers.
A number of regions add blue accents to the set lighting, particularly for the 2225 bulletin to match the network style. Most have LED strips to light the top and bottom panels of the set, which can be lit in any colour (the steel blue was initially the style, but more recent studio refreshes including Birmingham, Oxford and Tunbridge Wells) have chosen to use red, steel blue or dark blue as an alternative.
To start, I must say that I disagree with DanielK on what regions need refreshing bar East Midlands Today, which despite having new flooring a nd a rostrum type thing painted onto the floor, still looks old. I also think Newsline needs doing too - I certainly don't agree that their design is better than the current BBC News look - never understood why they flew in the face of the rest of BBC News and ended up with a glossy, black, square desk.
However, as for the rest, South Today Oxford has only recently got their new set and it was, as they said on the programme, the first significant investment there for some time! For the space they have they've done a good job and it's highly unlikely that'll change for a while yet. Meanwhile most of the other regions are in an okay N6 style, which whilst isn't great and I'd like every region to look like Studio B, is understandable. Quite a few people have brought up the Points West studio as one that could do with redoing, but wasn't that one of the most expensive to redo in the first place? I seem to remember a figure that went up to over a million being quoted at the time, although I could be incredibly wrong! Either way, it is probably one of the nicest regional sets going, actually having a rostrum and being lit really well - I have noticed that they reintroduced their old sofa and coffee table after a while though, which looks a bit weird compared to the rest of the set.
