It's so hard to believe it's been twenty years since the death of Diana. I was 23 at the time. I'm now 43.
Before I go on, I'm an out and out Royalist. They have many faults but I'd rather have a Queen Elizabeth or a King Charles or King Williams than a President Blair, Brown, Thatcher, Major, Cameron or May.
The death of Diana was shocking. I remember my girlfriend of the time waking me up to tell me that she had died. I said that was awful. Poor Princes Wills and Harry. Losing their Mum at such a young age. Terrible. Truly horrible for them.
It wasn't that which got me up at five in the morning. My lass of the time didn't know I was a pres freak but when she said that BBC 1 was simulcasting something called BBC World, I was up like a shot.
Then, from memory, all the BBC TV channels merged and were broadcast around the world. On the hour, the BBC corporate logo appeared on screen with the announcement that "This is BBC Television from London. Normal programming has been suspended." The screen would fade to black, then Martin Lewis appeared with the news, another fade to black and then the national anthem.
It wasn't obvious straight away but our country changed in the next few days. We emoted like I've never seen, schedules were broken into more than the Gulf War Episode 1, and there was a real feeling that we could become a Republic on certain days.
I wanted to start this thread for two reasons.
First, for those of us old enough to remember, to reflect on the presentation and scheduling at the time. Also, to try to find video of the day to look back upon.
Second, for younger members of the forum, so they can see how the country and the media change when a significant member of our Royal Family dies.
Yes, this is a presentation thread about someone's death. No disrespect is intended. However, in my 43 years on the planet, this was bigger than any other media or news event before or since.
One of the things that does need to be updated to that page is the recent unearthing of ITV'S Newsflash which happened at about 1:30 in the morning with Tim Willcox
I was only 7 at the time. I didn't really understand or comprehend the news at the time, but I did know who Diana was and I understood that something bad had happened.
Mainly because my parents wouldn't stop watching the TV all day. And in those days if ever I got to see the Nine O' Clock news, it meant I was way over my bedtime and I really shouldn't still be up. So when I was seeing the studio all day that day, I knew from that it was pretty serious news as it was coming from the 'grown-up studio'.
Nowadays in the multi-channel world, it's easy to just change the channel and watch what you like no matter what in the world might be happening. But in 1997 when most households only had access to five channels, all broadcasting rolling news, it was pretty hard to escape what was happening hour-by-hour and day-by-day which is probably what intensified people's emotions and the public's reaction to the news, something we'll never experience the likes of again.
The schedule changes made on BBC One and ITV on Sunday 31st August 1997 were as follows:
BBC ONE
6.30am, BBC News - Martyn Lewis presented live news coverage of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales through the morning, with Peter Sissons taking over around lunchtime. All normal Sunday morning and afternoon programming was cancelled.
6.00pm - Six O'Clock News with Peter Sissons.
6.30pm - A special service for Diana was broadcast from St Paul's Cathedral, however the BBC had to leave the service and present a special bulletin covering the return to London of the coffin. They left the service around 7.00pm.
8.00pm - Diana, Princess of Wales - David Dimbleby hosted a special tribute programme to Diana, which included special guests who talked about their meetings and interactions with the princess, including live via satellite from Los Angeles, Billy Connolly and his wife Pamela. Included BBC News Update with Peter Sissons.
10.30pm - Diary of a Princess followed by BBC News at 11.00pm
11.40pm - Reflection, the leaders of the main faiths in the country gave their reflections on the death of the princess, this was followed by a full repeat of the service from St Paul's Cathedral earlier in the day. BBC One handed over to BBC World at 12.20am.
BBC TWO
6.30am until 3.00pm was a live simulcast with BBC One
3.00pm - Sunday Grandstand aired, with a more subdued atmosphere for the Sunday sport show
6.45pm - Countryfile, this would have aired on BBC One at lunchtime was moved to BBC Two
7.10pm - The Restless Year
8.00pm - Full Circle with Michael Palin, which would have aired on BBC One but was transferred to BBC Two instead.
8.50pm - Stephen Hawkings Universe
9.40pm - The Natural World
10.30pm - Everyman
11.20pm-2.00am - Film, Ring of Brightwater
ITV
6.00am - GMTV Special, hosted by Fiona Philips. GMTV ditched their usual mix of cartoons and fluff for a news special.
9.25am - ITN News Special, with Dermot Murnaghan and Nicholas Owen anchoring ITN's live coverage.
1.10pm - ITV allowed some local programming, allowing the regions to give their reactions to the death of Diana.
2.30pm - ITN News - Live rolling news coverage from ITN with Dermot and Nicholas.
6.00pm - Local News Programmes
6.15pm - ITN News - Dermot and Nicholas returned for more news, including live coverage of the coffin returning to RAF Northolt
7.30pm - Coronation Street - ITV resumed their normal schedule including the first episode of a new series of HeartBeat at 8.00pm.
9.00pm - Diana - Trevor McDonald anchored a special news bulletin from the News at Ten studio, however instead of the usual television screens behind him with the Big Ben clock face on it, there was black curtains draped over the set which made it look like a funeral parlour.
10.00pm - ITN News followed at 10.15pm by Sharpe, the historical drama starring Sean Bean.
The ITV schedules resumed their normal overnight schedules.
CHANNEL FOUR
6.00am until 11.40am, The Art of Landscape was aired replacing the usual Sunday morning kids cartoons. There was regular Channel 4 News updates through the morning.
11.40am - The Waltons.
12.40pm - Film, Summertime
2.30pm - Sad Cat, followed at 2.45pm by Football Italia.
5.00pm - Channel 4 News followed by Travelogue Treks
5.25pm - Film, Four for Texas
7.30pm - Channel 4 News Special hosted by Jon Snow
8.30pm - Annie Goes to Adland
9.00pm - The Jewel in the Crown, followed at 10.00pm with Film, The Hudsucker Proxy.
A Diana tribute aired at 12.05am, followed by Channel 4's usual overnight programmes.
I HOPE THIS GIVES AN IDEA OF THE SCHEDULES ON THAT DAY. INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE TV ROOM, MANY THANKS TO THEM.
:-(
A former member
Quote:
6.00am - GMTV Special, hosted by Fiona Philips. GMTV ditched their usual mix of cartoons and fluff for a news special.
That not 100% correct, from 6am - 8am it wasn't fluff it was signed programme and Sunday programme which was full of political stuff. Disney club would have started at 8am.
Nowadays in the multi-channel world, it's easy to just change the channel and watch what you like no matter what in the world might be happening. But in 1997 when most households only had access to five channels, all broadcasting rolling news, it was pretty hard to escape what was happening hour-by-hour and day-by-day which is probably what intensified people's emotions and the public's reaction to the news, something we'll never experience the likes of again.
Even back then a number of Channel were putting up message telling views something MAJOR had happen return to BBC news, one or even Sky news.
this youtube video say Channel 4 news special was at 19.20
I remember flicking throught the channels that night, while I was mostly watching music videos MTV, getting to CNN International and seeing the Breaking News of Diana being badly injured in a serious car crash in Paris. I stayed up all night swapping between both CNN and Sky News for the ongoing coverage until sometime after 5 or 6am when my dad came downstairs for a brew (before heading out to work as a mini-cab driver) and I informed him off the awful news that Diana had been killed in a terrible accident in Paris.
I remember the BBC World simulcast on BBC1 which I was glued to until around 3am. Went to sleep, woke up at around 6.30am, put the radio on which had light classical music which was strange, then put the tv on which played the national anthem and Martyn Lewis announcing the death of Diana.
Other memories of that Sunday broadcasting wise was Radio 1 playing an ambient mix of music which felt so right, but also bang on target for their demographic and being glued to Sky News all day, which in those days was only really a choice between Sky and CNN for rolling news. CNBC may have taken MSNBC, but I don't remember.
Here's a clip of Radio 1 from the morning which includes the ambient music, Mark Goodier linking into and out of Newsbeat including the full bulletin.
I do question if I'm remembering correctly, but I'm sure that when I flicked onto Channel Four mid-morning they were showing some American comedy, as inappropriate as that seems.
I notice we don't have a Channel Five revised schedule above. I'm sure they too suspended normal programming.
The episodes of Coronation Street and Heartbeat in the evening played out without sponsorship stings, though adverts of course played as normal. At what point did commercial breaks resume on the commercial channels that day?
The 1pm handover to the regions is interesting. I wonder if that would still happen today if/when a significant royal passes away?
Last edited by Si-Co on 24 August 2017 4:53am - 2 times in total
They did, but only very briefly. At first they showed cartoons as usual. Then they switched to a static logo with sombre music. Then they finally broke the news. But they were back on schedule before lunch!
I do question if I'm remembering correctly, but I'm sure that when I flicked onto Channel Four mid-morning they were showing some American comedy, as inappropriate as that seems.
I'm also dubious about that C4 schedule. I switched the TV on in the morning which was on C4 and expected Happy Days to be on. It had been replaced with a different American comedy (can't remember which, but presumably one with a less inappropriate name). I only found out about the news when I put Teletext on to see why the schedule was wrong.