General Election Thread

In those days they may still have been using Lime Grove - which is where Nationwide and other Current Affairs shows were based.

I'd heard that the BBC were so annoyed with how poorly the Light Entertainment Department were doing when it came to delivering hits that after 3 in-house series they let Talkback Thames have this one. The irony is you can't tell the difference as it looks and feels exactly the same as previous ALW shows.

I think it was also part of the deal to keep Lloyd Webber on board as he had intended to do this series with ITV (where it would have felt even more out of place than the Grease one they did a few years ago!) Whether Over the Rainbow would have moved anyway or whether it was always planned to film it elsewhere due to the election I don't know.

This has details about the Election coverage. I should have looked at BBC Resources sooner.

http://www.bbcstudiosandpostproduction.com/news/100430_general_election.html

You heard wrong then

Is the move still on? I was told that there was going to be a massive studio where the news would come from. Or was it a large newsroom? I think I've messed my facts up.

Another pic from ITV News rehearsals (gallery only I'm afriad):

http://www.networkfirst.tv/DSC01416.jpg

Can someone explain to me where they get the "coverage will start on the night itself at 21.55 and run continuously for just over 20 hours through to Friday at 18.00" from? According to the BBC One schedule (on their website) it's non-stop BBC One coverage until 'BBC News at One' (which, by the way, starts at 14:00...) which is over at 14:30. I can only imagine that they mean it continues on the BBC News Channel, but they seemed to be referring specifically to the main programme.

A large newsroom, with [IIRC] 3-4 studios. There's been (potentially unconfirmed) talk on here that one or two may be newsroom-based, but certainly no TC1-sized studios, thus my earlier question.

Also, the move is still on but is quite delayed on when they originally wanted to be in.

If you look at the schedules for Friday, CBBC on BBC1 has been moved to BBC2, and the BBC2 late afternoon programmes have been moved onto BBC1. That is how the schedule is intended, but the election result may throw up some surprises, one of which could be that if the Tories manage to win outright with an overall majority, it will probably be really tight, and we will have to wait until all seats have declared. Some seats will not declare until Friday afternoon, so if there is a change of government, it may not take place until later afternoon. On the other hand, if there is a hung parliament, they may want to stay on the air in case any quick developments happen (e.g. Nick Clegg says he will prop up Labour if they get rid of Gordon Brown as PM), but if it is clear there won't be any for days (likely if it is a hung parliament, lots of negotiation) may decided to go off-air. The schedule for BBC1 (BBC2's normal programmes) are easy to dispose of than CBBC, so they are just planning for everything, as much as you can when it is the most uncertain election result since 1992.

That does make sense, but it still seems odd to be actively promoting continuous 20 hour coverage if it may actually not happen, and isn't in the schedules (presumably suggesting they're not 100% convinced it will). In any case, if it's waiting for the last seats to declare would the programme actually have that much new to talk about most of the time? Wouldn't an update in between each scheduled programme make more sense, provided nothing totally surprising happens?


Also, if this does happen what's the logistics of it? Surely an awfully long time for the crew to be on air, especially for Dimbleby?! Or would another team, such as the NC team or Ten O'Clock team? And would Dimbleby be replaced by another presenter such as Huw Edwards or (an also tired) Jeremy Paxman?

As you said, it could be broadcasting the programme continuously for 20 hours on the BBC News Channel, with the potential in the BBC1 schedule to do the same. So while it may not (but may well do) go out on BBC 1 for 20 hours, the programme will run for that duration.