Granada Reports

I agree, could do with a video of this! I'm more a NWT and Gordon Burns fan but Lucy Meacock's failure brings no pleasure. Can anyone here tell us more if no video is forthcoming? Everyone likes a good live cock up.

You will get that with any regional news. Just ask any long-suffering Border viewers in Scotland who have to put up with numerous items about Cumbria on what is meant to be their local news service, we're lucky if Southern Scotland gets a mention.

I saw the whole thing last night and I thought, considering the circumstances, Lucy did pretty well. Just after the first couple of stories, while Lucy was reading the script, the remaining astons, graphics and stings cued up for the rest of the bulletin cycled through very quickly onscreen. I assume that the playout facilities crashed and Lucy was left with no VTs or graphics. All she could do for about 2 minutes was read news from her hard copy. Once she ran out of items, there were a few pauses while she listened to the gallery but she then had a shuffle around and managed to talk a bit about the bad weather. Eventually the system recovered and she managed to throw to Fred for the weather forecast. Considering she was left with nothing for a good couple of minutes, I thought she was pretty good. There are many more presenters who would have completely crumbled in the same situation but Lucy kept her cool and remained collected.

Thanks for that, itsrobert - appreciate it.

It was a spectacular failure of the playout system, very messy. I think she could have dealt with it slightly better, but hard work considering she would have been sifting through scripts, listening to the gallery's instructions (and doubtless swearing and shouting!)....

Just one of those things. "That's all from the newsroom for tonight - thank goodness.."

Back in the 80s when Granada moved their news operation to Liverpool I thought the opposite, even though they were probably covering the region the same.

I suspect it's just a matter of perception.

You should be grateful that you're not in one of the 'mega-regions' like Tyne-Tees/Border or West/Westcountry, where up to half the programme is irrelevant as it's about another region entirely.

Just because they're in the same region doesn't mean that Mancunians are interested in Liverpudlian news or vice versa.

When I lived in Manchester, it took about five minutes longer to get to Leeds than Liverpool. I'd be far more likely to go east than west and probably slightly more interested in news from Leeds than Liverpool.

All the English television regions are pure artifice. They're not based on markets or communities. They're simply bits of land around television transmitters.

Indeed. The Granada region is surprisingly large and takes in a lot of people with little in common. For instance, what does a person living in South Cumbria or North Lanashire have in common with those living in North Wales or South Cheshire? Regional TV News is just designed to give viewers a taste of what's happening in the region. If you want really local news, you're better off listening to local radio stations.

For what it's worth, I think Granada Reports does a pretty good job of covering the region fairly. You have to expect a slight slant towards Manchester because it's the biggest of the main metropolitan areas in the region. However, there's usually some news from Merseyside, Lancashire and Cheshire in most programmes and they even feature news from North Wales or South Cumbria on some occasions. For instance, last night they covered the flooding which is mainly affecting Cumbria.

Not to mention the token reports from the Isle of Man

Nice tribute to Lucy Meacock tonight, she has been co-presenter on Granada Reports for 21 years and they shown all sorts of clips, from hairstyles to men.
Poor Lucy she had no idea, it was happening and had tears in her eyes, nice to see Alex Ferguson, Bob Greaves and Jamie Carragher paying tribute to her.

Lovely lady and she is a real pleasure to watch every evening, for me Lucy is the best regional presenter around, as well as staying loyal to the north west and Granada.

Lucy Meacock is brilliant and a good national presenter too when she has had the chance.

I have met her a few times and she is very nice and friendly.

Is she the longest running regional news presenter now or is Fred Dineage? She must be one of the longest.

Fred Dineage has been around since Southern Television days. Don't forget Central's Bob Warman either.