Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is in hospital

If he does die at some point this week or month, I think channels (and radio stations) will need to be really careful not to go overboard, given the seriousness of the current national situation. News is depressing enough and life is disrupted enough for everyone right now and endless broadcasts of maudlin music across all stations would feel massively out of proportion to me, as would ceasing to cover all the other important stories.

The death of Prince Philip would not be a developing story. It would be a single announcement, followed a week or so later by a funeral. Once the announcement is made, there'd be little to say other than the same thing over and over, accompanied by a selection of increasingly minor public figures taking to the airwaves to say how tragic it all is, in that weird public showing-grief competition that tends to accompany occasions like this.

Personally, I've got a whole bunch of Irish presets on my internet radio ready to roll if he does snuff it...!

Remember they have been planning his death like the queen since the 1960s, networks will have days of coverage ready to go. There is a complex operation planned. He is entitled to a state funeral as prince consort, but COVID could make it more difficult

Should we expect to hear the emergency "This is BBC Television from London" announcement, along with a special generic BBC ident and the merger of BBC One and Two? Basically, this, but a modern day version...



Perhaps a remastered version of this ident will do the job? Of course, the BBC no longer uses the RGB motif in its presentation, which is a shame I feel.

At least we know that GMB have now got that special sombre version of the music especially commissioned for their Covid tribute and also used when Captain Sir Tom died a few weeks ago and the knowledge that GMB can tone down their usual 'in your face' style of presentation when needed

Some what I've heard previously from various people and also in the press, The Duke of Edinburgh has more or less already declined both a state/ceremonial and a military funeral so it would be a private funeral at St George's Chapel in Windsor. And that's before you factor COVID in and also things like the royals all being spread out across the country at various (plus Harry and Meghan over in the US) and also the COVID numbers cap on funeral which stands at 30

It would probably be this, if not the most sombre idents from BBC One, Two and Four if that's on air at that time of day, even though as we've saw in 2013 with the deaths of Nelson Mandela; in the social media age once these stories start leaking on Twitter, the channels will just try and get on air at the next possible point once they are ready. Or you'd have a QEQM 2002 situation where the BBC channels merge for a joint announcement but using their individual idents into the news bulletins and one channel crashes out of programming a bit too early and has to stall

The Queen Mum's death wasn't announced using the "family" ident, so I assume that's no longer the style.

It would be nice if the BBC could re-broadcast his Prince Philip: the War Years interview from 1995 (and which was again screened in 2006) where HRH recalled his personal memories of his active service during World War II.

I'm sure plans have the BBC playing every possible Prince Phillip tape, possibly more than once!

Meanwhile actual facts: BBC News truck continues to camp outside the hospital for news.

I hope TVF holds up when the inevitable happens. Oneness becomes Sadness.

I expect it’ll be a red BBC One slide with ‘News Report’ written on it.

It amazes me people think the policy was set in stone in 1997, I can’t imagine any policy at any organisation that hasn’t changed in 24 years

You've Been Framed! as ITVs emergency filler must be close