Elections 2019

It's not posh at all...it's just a Scottish thing.

And it was previously spelt Menȝies, it’s just that “ȝ” (the letter yogh) doesn’t exist in English (or Scots) any more and has been replaced by “z” in spelling.

One interesting thing to consider from the Election coverage is Reeta Chakrabarti handling the results analysis role that has commonly been held by a combination of Emily Maitlis and Jeremy Vine in recent elections. I do imagine that in the event of a full scale General Election, that the role would again be split into two. Nevertheless, I suppose there is a slim chance it could become one role. Reeta, from what limited coverage I seen, did fairly well and as has been mentioned has a political specialism so it was nice to see her involved.

That said, the point of speculation is in the event of a General Election in the non-too distant future, who would fulfil what role. We already know Huw is taking over from Dimbleby, not before time, as the main Election presenter. I’d also hazard a guess Vine would continue in his current role. The interesting point comes in the remaining roles: interviewer (held by Paxman and Neil in recent viewer), the results analysis centre (held by Emily) and the lead presenter who will take over at 7am (held previously by Huw). I do think the BBC is somewhat spoilt for choice in terms of potential suitors for each of these roles:

- Fiona Bruce- She is now the main Question Time Presenter, has held a role in previous election nights and in my view should have a prominent role in the next General Election. In my view, she would be best suited either to the interviewer role or taking over as the lead presenter at 7am.

- Mishal Hussain- Mishal has been really impressive in my view moderating previous debates, taking the interviewer role in the most recent Election coverage and when filling in on shows like Andrew Marr. In my view, she should either have the interviewer role or take over the lead presenter at 7am.

- Emily Maitlis- She is extremely well suited to her current role leading the results analysis but with her recent (well-deserved) promotion to Newsnight Chief Presenter, it will be interesting to see if Emily could make the move over to the interviewer role.

- Sophie Raworth- Sophie has a clear aptitude for politics, even if she has not been as higher profile In coverage as others. She has held roles on previous election/referendum nights but significantly has taken over rolling coverage into the afternoon and filled in on Andrew Marr. I think she’d be suited either to taking over at 7am or the results analyst role if Emily moved roles.

- Reeta Chakrabarti- Could her recent involvement be a trial run to get the result analyst gig at the next General Election? This will be interesting to see, I do think Reeta definitely should have some involvement. They could also split this role in to two shifts with Reeta part of a new team in the morning.

Would be interesting to hear others thoughts on who they would envisage/choose for what role.

My only quibble over Fiona Bruce is what she'd be like handling such a busy show with quite a lot of things happening. She's (as far as I'm aware) the only network presenter to have never done a shift or stint on the BBC News channel or BBC World News handling breaking news (the likes of Reeta, Sophie, Emily, even George Alagiah all have). I'm not saying its the be all and end all and not knocking her abilities but we don't know what she'd be like out of a controlled set bulletin environment (Question Time aside). Place her in an interviewing role by all means but not the lead presenter.

You could throw Clive Myrie's name in to the hat along with Simon McCoy and even Jane Hill (if/when she returns) to handle the morning slot.

Christian Fraser is another name you could also consider along with Jo Coburn.

I thought Huw's role on recent general elections has been to anchor the Wales coverage. Or did I imagine that?

Huw has hosted the BBC Wales version of election nights previously.

Christian on the (Emily M) analysis role is a great shout. And I'd quite like to see Emma Barnett in the interviewer role, she's was excellent covering for Marr.

And you can find more on that on the BBC News website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4595228.stm

Not sure I agree that they’re spoilt for choice - I’d say the opposite to be honest.

Emily Maitlis seems like the right person for the interviewer role (presume Emma Barnett will be involved in 5 Live coverage?) - other than that it all sounds a bit underwhelming.

For the 2015 and 2017 General Elections Huw shared anchoring duties with David Dimbleby (David presented the first chunk, Huw the second chunk).

It was widely expected that 2015 was the last General Election Dimbleby would present, as the Fixed Terms Parliament act meant the next one should have been in 2020.. However the 2017 snap election changed that...

I think the last General Election Huw presented for BBC One Wales was 2010?

Thanks for explaining that, I never knew the detail!

There is no guarantee that there will be a presenter changeover at 7am going forward, or if there is, it may not be for the remainder of the coverage. The arrangement used to be that the lead presenter would go through to the Friday afternoon bar a couple of hours rest. That may, or may not, have only been changed to facilitate the transition from David Dimbleby to Huw Edwards. In 2010 IIRC it was Jon Sopel and Sian Williams that gave David Dimbleby a 'break', and it ended up being at 9am rather than 7am as planned

It would be a shame for Emily Matlis not to keep doing her results analysis role, as she has been excellent at it

In terms of an understudy/job share for Huw, is there anybody else who has done the equivalent opt out version of the programme in the Nations but is known to the national audience?