Northern Ireland news thread

Tweaked set for BBC Newsline on air this evening...

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/457476_374406219297732_1092250813_o.jpg

And what BBC News is that studio in the style of?!

Go BBC Newsline with their non-conformism! It's still recognisable enough (in my eyes anyway) to be a BBC regional news set with the red/black colour scheme.

Not just a tweaked set, but significant changes presenter format changes following the departure of Noel Thompson.

Dual presentation of BBC Newsline is now a thing of the past, I'm afraid. Donna Traynor will present solo for three nights per week, with the remaining two nights covered by either Jim Fitzpatrick, Sarah Travers or - perhaps most surprisingly - Stephen Watson who, after a handful of previous newsreader appearances, takes a permanent place at the newsdesk as well as continuing to present the sport on a few other nights of the week.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/something-new-in-line-for-bbc-newsline-1-4203196

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/and-here-is-the-news-brought-to-you-by-a-bbc-sports-presenter-16202911.html

I had presumed Mark Carruthers would be returning to the programme, but seemingly not. So if Noel is moving to Good Morning Ulster, I wonder where Mark will fit into the re-shuffle . . .

Now I'm a big fan of Jim Fitzpatrick - he was excellent during his stint on the Politics Show and as a political correspondent, and he's been equally excellent covering Economics. But I'm not sure whether he'll adjust to covering the fluffier stuff on the main programme - especially without a co-presenter to bounce off.

I'll be sorry to see the programme go solo. I always enjoyed the Noel & Donna partnership - despite the often strained banter. The programme always seems so much more lethargic with only one presenter. But, alas, times are hard at Broadcasting House . . .

In terms of the studio tweaks - I wonder if the desk in the image linked above is the new main anchor desk. And if so, I wonder if we're finally saying goodbye to the 'window' view over Belfast which has been synonymous with the programme for - gosh - 13 years now.

Yes, I’m sad to see the programme go solo also. As you say the programme seems to drag a bit more when there is only a single anchor. With Donna still presenting three nights per week it makes you wonder why they need as many as three standby anchors. The inclusion of Stephen Watson is a bit odd, though if it stops his globetrotting then I’m all in favour of it. It’s seemed in the past year that they have used any old excuse to have him sent to some far flung sporting occasion.

When it was announced that Noel was leaving it definitely said that Mark would be basically replacing him. Wonder what changed? Of course Mark has a lot of other commitments, such as the Lyric Theatre, that may take up his time.

The arrival of Jim Fitzpatrick is interesting. Does this mean that his role as Economics Editor has been a bit of a failure? From a role that meant he was one of the most prominent faces on BBC NI he now rarely appears and when he does the stuff he reports on should really be covered by Kevin Magee. I’d say this means that Jim will probably step into Noel’s role as the face of election coverage on the BBC. And on a purely shallow level Jim is by far one of the better looking presenters at Broadcasting House!

The window remains!

Nice refresh of the studio . . . some nice new camera angles as well. Shame they don't seem to have updated the sofa area though.

Interesting desk. Would fit nicely beside a dancefloor in a night club.

The only other interesting change is the addition of headline straps and (I think) new transitions between the headlines/news in brief.

EDIT: sorry - on a second look, there are some slight changes to the sofa area. They've stuck a few smaller nightclub tables in there. In all seriousness - has any checked if Kelly's are missing any of their tables?

Have they kept the Pokémon ball in the headlines?

Unfortunately Col, yes. The headline strap extends out from the ball, IIRC. That's a strange one alright.

Regards the aston refresh it's nice to see the live bug and the location bug are the same size, much cleaner imo.

Promos now running for the Hearts & Minds replacement . . . its called 'The View', and debuts live this Thursday at 10.35pm on BBC One NI, presented by Mark Carruthers (who, incidentally, has also taken over presenting duties on Stormont Today).

Big Ian looked and sounded shocking on both news programmes tonight when commentating on the death of the Spences.

EDIT: UTV, please stop splitting your news bulletins into parts and putting adverts between the segments on your Player. I know it makes it easier to ignore Sharon O'Neill's reports, but if I have to put up with shouty ads for a car dealer in Randalstown umpteen times in the space of one programme, it's not going to make me watch your programmes more often.

Paul Clark *still* promoting what's coming next on UTV at the end of UTV Live Tonight. I command Queen Gilly of Studio 3 to take the scissors that cut her golden curls back into the haircut she had for a decade and tell him his own grey curlies are under threat if he persists in doing her job for no valid reason.

Indeed Col. I'm waiting for ITV to revive Carnal Knowledge and schedule it post-News at Ten.

And yes, Big Ian didn't look well at all.

One other snippet of news - it seems Tara Mills has joined the new 'roster' of co-presenters on BBC Newsline, alongside Donna Traynor, Sarah Travers, Jim Fitzpatrick and Stephen Watson. So they've now got enough to have a different presenter each weekday. Hooray for consistency.