BBC East opt out tonight (17th)

I have to say that tonight's Look East at 18:30 knocked spots off the Points West Concorde special.

Stewart linked things together perfectly, with just the right tone throughout. His comments at the close of the programme, over the picture of Holly and Jessica and the tiny copyright notice, were exactly right for the situation.

Well done the Norwich team for today. A very difficult subject, very well handled.

I agree that Look East yesterday was exceptionally good and well handled with the right degree of sensitivity, even if there were a few recurrent sound problems from the OB. But you have to remember that regional news teams don't often have to handle such large scale OBs - so they should be applauded for attamepting it and pulling it off so well.

The Points West Concorde special was dealing with a completely different subject matter though and so perhaps it's not fair to compare the two - I thought the West's programme was pretty good, but as it was dealing with a much more light-hearted and certainly nostaligic subject matter, it wouldn't have been watched in the same way by the viewer.

My point really, was that the BBC English Regions are absolutely right to do this kind of thing - and should do it more often. With ITV scaling down their regional commitments, it's a prime opportunity for the BBC to be distinctive and offer the Licence Fee payer something unique. Being more regional would IMO, certainly fulfill Public Service commitments too...