Newsnight

I suspect the Palace would only agree to do such an interview with a so-called heavyweight.

Somebody with a big enough profile but small enough ego to do a straightforward interview rather than trying to trip him up with something that will go viral to boost their own profile. Not that they would expect an easy ride but fair questions rather than gotchas.

That said, Nicholas Witchell must be disappointed he didn't get the interview.

Good scoop for Newsnight. Back to presentation and still not a fan of the sofas.

Is Newsnight considered a seperate entity of BBC News? I know it has its own correspondents.

I’m wondering if there’s a firewall between Newsnight and the general news division. I’m thinking of if it’s something similar to CBS News and 60 Minutes. 60 Minutes is across the street from CBS News HQ, isolating themselves from the news division, and has separate editing servers. When clips appear on other CBS News programs (CBS This Morning and Evening News) there’s a large watermark when clips are played.

Historically Newsnight was made by the BBC Current Affairs department, not the BBC News department, and was based at Lime Grove, not TV Centre. However in the late 80s the two divisions merged and were based at TV Centre. However Newsnight at TV Centre had its own, separate offices, and usually edited in dedicated edit suites (though they shared tape suites with Newsround in some cases, they also had their own Avid edits back in the early 00s) They, along with every other BBC News TV show at TVC moved to non-linear editing using the Quantel-based Jupiter platform - but they had their own standalone FCP or Avid edits still for long form I believe.

When the TV Newsroom was re-organised in the mid-00s - Newsnight, Andrew Marr and a couple of other shows were operated and managed a bit separately as 'TV Programmes' whilst the One/Six/Ten and News Channel were 'News'.

Since the move to NBH they are more integrated - sharing a studio with BBC World News - and using Quantel/Jupiter editing. However I'm sure they could edit standalone should they need to be securely separated, or they could chose to pay to edit out of house.



Not in the same way - but if you wanted to keep something secure and confidential, it would be possible to do so.

I think Newsnight really needed that interview tonight and they're deservedly getting plaudits for it - a master classs from Emily Maitlis in how to conduct an interview (and whatever the opposite is from Andrew).

Very much so. But on the World episode it wasn’t branded Newsnight and introduced by Samantha Simmonds and was surprised that it started with a Today Show clip.

Sorry! Really sorry! I just couldn’t resist it.......

"After six weeks we finally have a new number one knocking Salisbury Cathedral off the Top Spot... Here's... Pizza Express in Woking!" pic.twitter.com/enZJGbSJZK

— Hannah O'Hanrahahanrahan (@buntyhoven) November 16, 2019

1.6m viewers last night - lower than I expected but with no notice not a surprise. Suspect it will do very well on the iPlayer but is the sort of interview where a quick turnaround repeat would be justified - if they reshowed it tonight it would probably do just as well.

It's on the front cover of virtually every paper this morning, which will surely direct more people to it.

Interesting that what the media/Twitter bubble think people care about....actually they don't. I think a lot of people are just so fed up of doom and gloom that they've lost interest. I didn't watch it - and don't plan to - nor do I plan to watch the election leaders' debates that the media get so excited about. I really would prefer not to vote at all, but unfortunately my conscience won't let me do that. Instead, my decision of who to vote for has been reductive. I've ruled out every party and politician whose policies/personality I don't like and I've ended up with one I feel indifferent about. I've a feeling this scenario will be the norm for a great many people out there, too. Normal people are just fed up.

Sounds like a pretty good figure to me, especially when compared with what Casualty and X Factor got. When was the last time BBC2 got a 10% share on a Saturday night?

I think the interview was only announced on Friday, so a fairly last minute change to the schedule.

If it had been announced further in advance, it may have got better ratings.