Good Morning Britain - the launch

Wow! That's harsh. Maybe viewers could watch the BBC's coverage paid for by the license fee which had all the warmth of an ice cube. Good Morning Britain wasn't trying to compete with the might of the Beeb it was offering an alternative which mainly focused on real people but still hit all the big announcements and pressers of the morning. The roof top in Edinburgh was shared by all of the commercial broadcasters (apart from Sky) whilst the BBC ponsed around their massive Scottish HQ. I think it was a bold move for a commercial broadcaster to offer an alternative breakfast service which didn't take a commercial break for 2 and a half hours and only after the result was confirmed. As for the wide shot it was an establisher to where Ben and Susanna were, its common in television production to use a wide shot at the top of a programme Noggin, maybe you would have preferred some unmanned robotic cameras prancing around to make you feel more at home The beeb are the best at elections and big event coverage like that without a doubt but ITV and Good Morning Britain offered something a little different.

Amen, except for the bold text, the BBC are terrible for election coverage pres-wise, ITV have their VR working overtime, Sky has Kay, and to an extent Martin, doing marathon stints at presenting and use their big screen with really interesting infographics. The Beeb is just meh when it comes to elections, nothing draws you in. Big events, I'd say Philip Schofield and Julie Etchingham are a bigger draw for most people, with Kay coming a very close second and Simon McCoy coming third, IMO. The Beeb have the resources to draw in everyone with, again IMO, very little extra effort.

So you would rather roll out your portable studio and stick it on a green at your key location and all you get is shots of people's backsides, instead of a building further away that gives a nicer view, but may not be as nicely furnished? Ha.

I did find it funny that the very chipped paint of the handrail on that rooftop/balcony matched GMB and 5's colour scheme to an extent.

Eh? Philip Schofield is an light entertainment presenter, and Kay is hated by a large number of people. If she appears, I turn sky off - I can't stand her, her presenting style, or the "chummy" act that appears on these types of events.

No - wasn't dissing the location (though it wasn't great in the dark) - just the jib move at the top that undermined the opening sequence by revealing how makeshift it all was. If you'd come out to a much looser frontal wide and pushed in it would have looked neater.

Yep - in hindsight it was. Still surprised that the usually slick GMB did it though. That one shot totally undermined their presentation for me, and it was avoidable.



Well looking at the audience figures that is exactly what the viewers did do isn't it?


The BBC used their HQ effectively. What is wrong with that? They didn't have a studio available so used the atrium - in shades reminiscent of ITN General Elections of years gone by. Don't think ITN would be accused of 'ponsing around' if they'd done that at Grays Inn Road or at STV...



Believe me I know what establishers are... I also know that sometimes you have to compromise and not use them if they don't work. Something I wish the BBC would learn on their network bulletins. It's something ITV News usually excel at on their location presentation - which is why I was surprised.

As for robotic cameras - they have no real place in proper TV... (Though Furios operated by a skilled op can, and do)


I wans't dissing the GMB coverage per se - just the opening wide shot...

What was so bad about the wide shot I wonder. I didn't think it offensive at all.

I think GMB was pretty good on referendum morning. Lots of energy moving between Lorraine in Edinburgh and all the ITV News correspondents that had live links, interviews etc.

Nice tweaks to the graphics and blue theming throughout and the count displays, the nicest on screen graphics of all the Referendum news shows. Susannah Reid clearly shone with the news focus and despite some technical hiccups it mostly flowed really nice. Felt like a rolling news channel that morning and who cares if it was just a modest little set up on the roof - by the time the sun rose it look pretty nice out there and it was nice to have watched it develop from darkness to deep mist to the cold light of day. I loved the 9am ToTH, it was kind of exciting just to have a 9am opener!

Great, well-edited and emotive closing video montage with the extended music theme in the background, as well. I'm glad it got over 700,000 viewers and peaked at around a million, as reported in the press. It deserved a good figure IMO, obviously it would never beat the full-throttle BBC affair but I don't think it tried to.

Don't know why GMB and ITV News (which was also brilliant on referendum day; Julie Etchingham is wonderful) get so much stick to be honest.

These things are always a matter of personal preference and taste.

I think it just diminished the sense of being 'on location' which should be all about your backdrop. It just made everything look a bit of a lash up, and very small. It just didn't look as slick and as polished as GMB usually are (or try to be).

Struck me as something you might try in rehearsal and then go : "Hmm... maybe not".

In the studio, GMB is undoubtedly a very slick and polished operation, I was just slightly surprised that for such a big story it was in a relatively 'low rent' location. (Was kind of expecting a bubble studio) Was also surprised how poor the sound was.

When it comes to the ratings - what did GMB inherit from the STV special at 0600? Did they start with more audience than normal? That may have given them a bit of an additional boost.

I believe STV got something pitiful (100,000) so whatever way you slice it, Good Morning Britain did a good job.

And why did it need to be OTT? They were simply the presenters on the roof, waiting for the sun to rise and organising handovers to people where all the action was - at counting centres, etc. It was understated and as I said before, enjoyable to just ... watch the sun rise.

100,000 at 0530-0600 on ITV Network? Wow - that's incredibly low considering the final results were still coming in.

Takes believin'.


STV figures:

02:00 - Scotland Decides: 60k (15.9%)
Peak: 111k (21.0%) at 06:45
07:00 - Scotland This Morning - How the Nation Voted: 82k (12.5%)
Peak: 134k (19.3%) at 08:45
10:00 - This Morning: 53k (10.2%)

Why do you say *not* running an opening jib swoop is OTT?