BBC One Continuity

The man doing the continuity on BBC One this evening is making every link sound like it is going to end with "....who died today", "...that some viewers might find upsetting" or "...and found a penny".

Can someone go and chear him up?

It's the master himself, Dean Lydiate. And who has died today?

I don't think that Dean is the Master of BBC1 Continuity - that honour must surely go to Duncan Newmarch who since joining the team has been a breath of fresh air.

Dean has a more traditional approach, though. And a genuine passion for continuity.

I've found Dean one of the best announcers with interesting announcements and a suitable tone. However, I was a bit disappointed with him last night before Casualty, where he was incredibly sombre and not really creative (Now on BBC One, the new series of Casualty - explains the whole plot)

He basically just repeated the programme description that was used in the listings. Very odd.

Well at this point I'm going to perhaps upset the insiders and suggest Marketing are beginning to intrude on what the announcers are allowed to say these days - hence the furore over the lack of on-air explanation when a recent Inspector Lynley episode was changed at the last minute.

Dean is a great announcer - always professional in my opinion. Some of the other regular/freelance ones are very random. Sometimes good and sometimes very poor. He always seems to maintain a constant style. That said, I did not hear last night's announcements.

There is one woman who sounds so common - you truly wonder why she was employed. I cannot imagine her sounding good on any channel.

In fairness that wasn't Dean's fault - my understanding is that intro was specifically requested by the Casualty production team. All the nations had to use the same words too.