Anglia/East of England News Discussion

Luton Airport Premier Inn gets London.

[Reporting live for TV Forum from Luton Airport Premier Inn, I'm dosxuk ]

Irrespective of if they're doing a full programme or not they don't do a headline from Norwich anymore - the start of the programme is done fully from Cambridge and viewers there don't see Norwich until they opt back into the East edition.

Having a look at both programmes on iPlayer tonight, and it's a bit strange they did two full programmes. There's nothing dominating the news on either side that called for a full programme, instead it just seemed like both programmes covered their side of the East better than they normally would have done due to the pan-regional element (with a few reporters I'd never heard of popping up). Both shared at least two reporters, and began with a report on a visit from Corbyn and Tim Farron to the region today, using the same report. Cambridge then had Look East's political correspondent in the studio, whilst the East had an interview with Jeremy Corbyn to play, before speaking to the same political correspondent live in the Cambridge newsroom for an item on the local elections later. Both sides also featured a report on the search for Corrie McKeague, and a live link to a reporter, with the Norwich programme showing the report and live link later on.

From there on, things were fairly independent, although there was a decent slot on the local elections in the middle of the programme (different for each side) - I would have said that this was the reason or the full programme, but both sides had extra content besides this when getting into the half of the programme that would normally be pan-regional.I wouldn't think they would have gone to the effort to do this if the local election coverage was the reason for a full opt? On a geeky pres note, the Norwich opt also did the entire thing standing up, minus went the presenter sat down to avoid looking odd when going to the weather!

Dare I say pilots for a full west opt?

I doubt it.

I'm sure that when they've dabbled with periods of full split in the past, it also coincided with elections (and/or other major local government-related news, such as sweeping cuts). Makes sense really, to ensure decent detailed coverage for the many constituencies/areas/councils that there must be in such a vast pan-region. That, and the occasional ad-hoc/one-off full split for other kinds of major news story in either/both sub-region(s).

I doubt that the inclination or budget exists for a routinely fully split main 6:30pm programme. And certainly not for any bulletins outside of weekday evenings.

Full East/West split again tonight.

And even a Split on the 90sec update!

I thought the 90 second update was always split.

The East edition of Look East has had one a (presumably) temporary set update, as they seem to like to do every so often. Gone is the desk and in instead a red sofa, a resprayed Sunday Politics coffee table (in silver rather than bronze), and a big print-out of the BBC GE logo on the floor. It looks okay, if not a bit strange in the space as the sofa and coffee table is closer to one side of the set than the other.

Minus the election logo it would be nice if they retained it until any full new set in future. It certainly looks better.

Does it? Rammed into a corner with a rustic industrial coffee table?

Spotted this tweet yesterday...

Morning! Back from a short break & trying out new @BBCLookEast studio set! #LoveIt! Join me in 5 mins for the next bulletin. Enjoy your day! pic.twitter.com/VXNifqgWpi

— Vanessa Baffoe (@VanessaBaffoe) May 10, 2017

...Quickly glancing at the TV this morning they appeared to be using this set for the breakfast bulletins. I'm assuming this is the left hand side of their normal/existing set

At least they're trying to make some changes, the set still needs a full update though, and the rear-projection screens could do with upgrading as they look very poor and washed out these days.

It is the left-hand side of the studio it is instead of the desk.