Question about UK TV Weather presentation

I've always wondered why UK weather forecasts (or even regional forecasts) always stand on the left of the screen with the map on the right (BBC Two forecasts aside!)?

Is it because it generally looks better or is there some special reason?

Other than the BBC Two forecasts, have any other UK broadcasters swapped things around at any time in the past?

Until fairly recently South East Today used to do an awkward thing where they would start stood on the left as normal but have to walk across to the right as they preferred to put the map on the left for some reason! Didn't seem that they could move the position of the BBC Weather globe at the start of the titles (nor just the logo after the Met Office went), as otherwise they could have done it all from one side. Last time I watched they'd given up and were just doing it from the left, but not sure if that was as the forecast was being done by one of the London-based forecasters?

EDIT: Just checked tonight's programme on iPlayer and the BBC Weather logo is now on the opposite side (the left) for the start but the rest of the forecast is as normal, so the presenter has to dart across the screen for all of five seconds of the graphics being the opposite way round?!

TV-am started off with some now strange looking maps that were full-screen:

(from 7:45 video time)

They later scrapped this (and pretty much everything else really) and soon did the weather like this on a rotating cube which IIRC always on the right as we see it, but you can see the actual weather graphics are still the same:


By 1990, a more traditional approach (later in different colours):

I was waiting for the TV:AM weather presenter to be hit in the back by that rotating box!

I wonder how that was controlled, she steps forward pretty much on cue to get it to rotate. There's no clicker like you see on modern forecasts so presumably there may have been a button or a sensor she'd have to stand on to rotate the cube? Or maybe it was just manually controlled and the step forward was the cue to rotate it.

It was certainly different.

To go back to the original question I think just because of the shape of the UK it generally means you can have Ireland hidden behind your left shoulder as Ulkrika demonstrates well. That said, it's not unknown for the presenter to switch sides when describing weather coming from the west.

For regional forecasts it probably doesn't matter but the maps are generally off centre to the right, and it's nowadays how presenters are trained and what they are used to.

It could just be something as simple as the way the maps laid out and a more effective use of space. The UK on maps is a really tall country (on TV) with Northern Ireland to the left of it. If the presenter stood on the right there would be some empty area on screen.

Also it frequently happens over here as well.

A sensor in 1983?
There was obviously a bloke behind it moving it round!

Possibly also to do with the way that the prevaling weather here normally comes from the west? If the presenter stands on the left they can gesture this with a pushing motion rather than pulling across which looks more awkward?


One more obvious reason could be that if they stood on the right they'd cover up northern France and the Benelux (and now in 16:9 days, Denmark too) although they're not part of the UK, people do go there and of course the BBC has been available in The Netherlands for many years. Of course that means obscuring Ireland but only partially

Yes - if they stand on the left of frame they are only covering up the Atlantic, whereas if they stand on the right of frame they are likely to cover Benelux countries (where BBC One and Two have been legally available for a long time)

I believe Rusty Goffe presented the weather from the right.

I may be misremembering this but didn't the BBC Two forecast after Newsnight frame with the presenter on the right? There was certainly something unusual but I can't remember what.