Sue Lawley: "We have rather been invaded"

I've made a 4 min film for BBC Stories, about that time lesbian activists invaded the BBC News at Six to protest against Section 28...

https://www.facebook.com/BBCStories/videos/10156160835820659/

Sue Lawley carried on reading the headlines as one woman chained herself to a camera. Nicholas Witchell did his best to subdue them- the next day the front page of the Daily Mirror read "BEEB MAN SITS ON LESBIAN”.

I'd love to know if anyone on here was working at TVC that day, or if you remember seeing the protest on the news?

That was fascinating.

I vividly remember watching this at the time, it didn't half give me the willies. When we heard the voices we first assumed it was someone outside the house, before Sue mentioned it. I was absolutely terrified at the whole idea of people being able to break in to a TV studio and causing chaos, and I actually actively avoided watching the Six O'Clock News for some time afterwards in case it happened again. It was only about eighteen months since it went off air due to a fire in the studio (not that you saw it on air, and it was only a small electrical fire that set off the alarms, but I was a stupid kid so assumed it was a massive inferno that was melting the desks and everything) so I got it into my head the Six O'Clock News was cursed.

As it says on the TV Studio History website, the most amazing thing is that the protestors managed to find the news studio in the first place.

There was a daytime programme a few years ago where the protestor featured in that video met Nicolas Witchell to 'reminisce' about the incident. He was very apologetic

I remember the whole thing happening LIVE. At the time, I thought 'kudos to Sue for carrying on', whilst wondering why they didn't pull it off air and go to a breakdown slide with CA.

I'll always remember Lawley signing-off saying "that's it for tonight. Peter Sissons and Michael Buerk will be here at nine. Nick and I - just us - will be back at six tomorrow. Good Evening".

The invasion featured on the BBC Nine O'clock News and ITN News at Ten the same evening, making it into the bongs on both programmes.

I think it happened too quickly for that.

As she says in that video they went in as soon as the on air lights went on, and on the talkback recording the first mention of the invaders by the gallery is during the titles. They were too busy dealing with the situation and doing the opening of the programme to communicate with NC1 about what's happening.

They did it the best way which is to get into the first package and then hope they're gone by the end of that, which they had. If they were still in the studio then they'd almost certainly have been taken off air

The irony of that incident was that although you didn't see any of the protesters in vision, no slogans on clothing, no banners or placards, just some very muffled shouting - it could be argued that they gained more publicity than if they actually appeared on screen.

Nowadays, any protesters that somehow get into Studio E facing getting run over by anyone of the remote cameras that wizz around on their tracks..

What ever happened to those kids who said they were there for a radio interview who went into Studio E? Was it a prank or true tresspassers.

Is there a difference?

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Wasn't Peter Sissons still presenting Channel 4 News at the time?

Philip Hayton presented the Nine alongside Michael Buerk that evening according to Genome.

</pedant>

Prank made to look like they were trespassing when in reality they were allowed or someone was watching them.

Yes, Sissons left ITN in 1989. Initially he presented Question Time and the Six O'Clock News before moving to the Nine O'Clock News in about 1994. There's no way he presented the Nine in 1988!

On a related note, by my reckoning it will be 30 years in 2019 since Jon Snow took over the helm at Channel 4 News (post-Sissons). I wonder if they will mark the occasion?

It was an actual trespass, they weren't meant to be there or in the building. They stormed the studios and found the news studio.