The Royal Wedding Day

I recorded both channels (well, ITV's was on +1 as I was late setting it up) and watched on the BBC with the family, so couldn't channel hop. I managed a sneak peak at ITV later and could see the difference in their presentation straight away - I tuned in at the point when they emerged from the Abbey and they had the split screen with the confetti cannon going off @ Hyde Park, something that the BBC took a long while to show.

We were out in the afternoon, so I've yet to watch more of the ITV coverage, but I can see why they have excelled. I've not been a fan of either Huw Edwards or, in fact, David Dimbleby's commentaries on these occasions - it was always Tom Fleming for me. Eric Robson also did a fine job in year's gone by IMO.

The camera work and presentation in the Abbey was cracking. I think it was an advantage having a single provider. Having looked at the [archive BBC] footage of Charles & Diana's wedding, when BBC & ITV vied for the best shots, it could be a bit hit and miss (ie Archbishop's Tricorn obliterating Charles' face).

We still have a CRT sd tvl however the picture quality was good with very rich colours (on the beeb, anyway).

Although I tend to be a BBC loyalist, I've got a feeling that when I get round to watching the ITV coverage (sad, I know) that I'll be another who'll praise ITV.

Too true!

ITV Update just before 8:30 apparently too.

This is turning into a bit of a mess on the One Show waiting for the next bit to happen

I don't know why they didn't do something at 8pm really, but obviously Baboons are more important.

One man's mess is another man's party atmosphere. Maybe you can't hear people very well at times due to the noisy crowd and it appears a little shambolic but that is what parties are like. I've really enjoyed The One Show this evening. Maybe they could do some more OBs throughout the summer. At one point they said they would stay with the pictures of the cars arriving for as long as it took, but I can't see BBC One delaying EastEnders for it.

I've turned over to the BBC News channel to watch the guests arriving uninterrupted. Unfortunately they've got Louise Minchin on mindlessly vox popping outside Buckingham Palace.

Louise - "There are some kids down here. Bit late, isn't it?"

It's only 19:40!

Louise - "Hello there, why did you bring your kids here today?"
Parent - "They wanted to see the prince and princess."

Louise - "How's your day been?"
Man - "Amazing!"
Louise - "Has it? Why?"

Umm, cuz there was a royal wedding..?

Bit of a sound problem on BBC News just now with a woman coughing in the background.

It was one of my favourite songs until a certain company's customer service butchered it as their music on hold.

ITV's Evening News was very well done indeed.

Yes they are, but they don't necessarily make very good TV (You have to actually be there usually !)

To his credit Chris Evans managed to hold it together, just.

I did find Gyles Brandreth's ad-hoc commentary entertaining though. They can replace Fearne Cotton with him at the next state occasion !

Were you being facetious there or was that a genuinely stupid comment?

I think we can all see for ourselves that there's a very broad consensus that ITV did a better job with its coverage. I'm not going to dispute that judgement. However, while "better" is a relative term, it does not automatically mean that anything relative to it is "bad".

Even if you really, REALLY hated Huw Edwards' commentary (and lord knows, I was certainly tiring of it by quarter to 1), no balanced view could fairly call the BBC coverage "bad"; indeed, I think it's safe to say that the BBC's reputation for handling such events - domestically and internationally - remains in tact despite ITV's superior performance on the home front today, and even despite some unflattering press write-ups. The BBC's coverage was, at worst, predictable and unsurprising; it was emphatically "by the book" - but that's not close to being able to fairly judge it as "bad".

The BBC's was really playing to its strengths for its massive worldwide audience by playing it so safe - too safe, some might argue, but for such a high-stakes event, I'm not surprised that the BBC didn't move away from its conservative approach; ITV didn't really have much to lose in doing things a bit differently (rather than just offering up a carbon copy of the Beeb's coverage), and they clearly had a lot more fun with their broadcast, and quite rightly won a lot of fans as a result.

Let's face it; if ITV's coverage had turned into a bit of a car crash, there'd have been some amusing commentary pieces in the papers about silly presenter pairings or failure to judge the appropriate tone for the day or whatever; then everyone would have rolled their eyes at ITV for five seconds, and swiftly gone back to watching X-Factor's Got Talent On Ice. The fallout would have been minimal. If the BBC had tried to push the boundaries and failed, the fallout would have been enormous; national scandal declared across every paper, calls for the licence fee to be axed, calls for the director-general to resign for allowing our state broadcaster to bring shame upon our nation as the world watched, and all the other pious bullsh!t one could easily envisage being thrown at the BBC to see what sticks - people generally don't need much of a reason to start frothing at the mouth in disgust and indignation at some heinous crime that the BBC has committed, as Points Of View and Newswatch both prove.

I offer hearty congratulations to ITV for doing something interesting, and for not being lazy and just producing a clone of the Beeb's offering, but trying to do something a bit more fun and distinctive, and pulling it off. But I think we should all try to be a bit less incredulous that the BBC's coverage wasn't any more 'exciting' than it was - especially when it was actually a well produced programme for a global audience that ultimately erred too heavily on the side of caution.

ITV News Flash including the same graphics as used earlier.

Mary presented in front of the Palace with an update. Ending with a shot of the Palace as it opened. ITN Production caption cut short.

I believe BBC are now having an update during their scheduled programme, Sophie and Huw presenting.

Was just thinking as ITV didn't have Adverts for ~7.5 hours and IIRC there required to use x amount of minutes, but surely can't reschedule all that amount of ad's as there only aloud so many an hour etc, do Ofcom make an exception? Anyone know?