Ministerial broadcasts

I feel old, in my head Diana's death was only a few years ago and everyone remembers it don't they?


The Queens broadcast that week was really because of their perceived lack of compassion and sympathy from the family in the aftermath, not helped by the fact that The Queen had been up in Balmoral and barely seen all week when there was mass mourning in London. Then there was the nonsense about there being no flag at half mast. A lot of that was just protocol and the way the royal family operate, but it was seen as a snub towards Diana

The press built it up a lot as a distraction from what was reported at the time to be the main cause... the press!

The events of that week from the Royal family's point of view is the subject of the 2006 film The Queen. Well worth a watch


Interesting to watch the broadcast now as the emotion of that week has long faded, but I remember it feeling a bit like the valve on a pressure cooker going off. It took all the pressure and anger away and prepared the public for what was to happen the next day. That opening phrase about speaking to us 'as a grandmother' immediately set the tone and brought her on side.

What us also interesting is to see how formal it looks, the tone in which she speaks and the way she comes across on camera. It would be very different now, the last 2 decades have seen a big change in terms of protocol and formality, all to do with that week

It also started the era (which we're still in) of collective mourning, and people displaying grief and trauma
over someone they had never actually met, it was a very odd and surreal week. Goodness knows what the effect would have been if social media had existed back then.

"SHARE if u luved Princess Di ❤"

I'm not sure that's true - I can think of several examples prior to that, The first that comes to mind is the death of John Lennon.

Wasn't that Newsround special the first time we saw the new NR titles and music?

Just as well because the previous cartoon titles would have been inappropriate.

[quote:0214532324="Whataday" pid="1151139"][quote:0214532324="Markymark" pid="1151094"]It also started the era (which we're still in) of collective mourning, and people displaying grief and trauma over someone they had never actually met[/quote:0214532324]

I'm not sure that's true - I can think of several examples prior to that, The first that comes to mind is the death of John Lennon.[/quote:0214532324]

Elvis before that, and arguably Michael Jackson.

I was very sad when Margaret Thatcher died.

I remember both Elvis and Lennon's deaths very well. Both were huge shocks, but the country didn't
go into the same inwardly looking and soul searching mood that we had with Diana.

No, they launched Monday 1st September.
I was thinking that rocky Children’s BBC ident wasn’t a great choice, but thinking back to what they had in those days it was probably one of the less jokey ones they had available.

Linking to presentation, I may sound old to some, but there is something warming and comforting about the symbol BBC One symbol linking into the grand BBC News opening - I love them both. The symbol was so simple, not build up and hold, just always ready for an introduction into anything from news to comedy. The BBC News intro was grand and wonderfully orchestrated. Those were the days.

I was thinking watching those that you can't really imagine even the balloon being used in a situation like that. It genuinely makes me wonder what they would have done if it had happened two months later. Run the balloon idents but silent? As you can see BBC2 using 'Silk' muted into the funeral.

I couldn't agree more. TV presentation these days pales in comparison. I do feel lucky to have grown up at a time when TV presentation - particularly news - was truly at its height. Coming home from school, eating my tea and then watching as the Six O'Clock News theme thundered out of the TV will stay with me forever! I can even remember the first time I saw the BBC News 24 flags motif- I went for tea to a friend's house who had cable (we had Sky) and I caught my first glimpse of it. I was literally mesmerised. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.


The other vivid memory was the first time I saw BBC World's red and cream presentation. I had arrived on holiday in Rome in the year 2000 and discovered it when I switched on the hotel TV. Once again, I was absolutely captivated and I didn't give a stuff about being in Rome, I just wanted to watch BBC World! It was that discovery that led me to finding the TV Home website and eventually TV Forum the following year. I couldn't get enough of it at the time. Sadly, I can't imagine being so inspired by anything on TV ever again.

Am I imagining this, or didn't they have a sombre BBC ident during the Balloons era? I could have sworn it was a version of the BBC blocks on a navy blue background (similar to, if not the same as, the old BBC DVD ident)? I swear I've seen that somewhere. Or maybe I'm tired and have invented it in my own head.