What will happen on telly when the Queen dies?

They took a long while to do anything, carrying on with regularly scheduled programming until well into the morning.

Is that some sort of pitiful attempt at a joke or what, I'm not sure what angle you are taking there

Not hard to spot the joke there, but never mind. ITV1 being crap at most things etc etc.

But when have ITV not provided full and comprehensive coverage of events of national importance ? I seem to remember some praise from correspondents here regarding coverage of the death of the Queen Mother, September 11th, Gulf Conflict etc. They always break out of normal programming, often much quicker than the other channels, and stick with the story.

So, you are basing this on ?

With the Queen dying you also have the issue of the beginning of a new era, with the coronation of Charles at some point and Prince William becoming Prince of Wales.

I guess coverage depends on the circumstances.

If she dies peacefully like her mother, it'll be a couple of hours and very reflective.

If she dies in circumstances like Diana, it will be more news led trying to find out the details.

Here here. ITV News are far more on the ball these days and put out more news reports than BBC One for example. I remember when Diana died, Dermot Murnaghan was drafted in and was on air for no less than 15 hours, along with Nicholas Owen. Over on BBC One, they ran Nik Gowing and BBC World until the terrestrial newsroom was adequately manned to provide BBC One coverage.

There is no need for the usual analysis and needless argument which sends a thread off target. It was a joke at the naffness of ITV not how the channel covers such events.

At the end of the day the Queen isn't dead and personally I think its rather morbid to get excited about how TV stations will cover such an event.

Not really. When Diana was initally injured, BBC ONE and BBC TWO had news reports interrupting programmes around 1am with Martyn Lewis. When BBC ONE was due to close down that night, they didn't, and instead joined BBC World (which at that time of course was the BBC's only 24 hour TV news channel).

ITN on ITV didn't have a programme on air until around 5am I think.

Then at around 6.30am, after it had been confirmed Diana had died, the BBC World overnight team signed off, and all BBC TV channels took the programme from the national news studio, with Martyn Lewis again.

Also, if you want an example of the BBC having a fair share of news reports, check out BBC TWO on Thursday. It is basically a BBC News Special all daytime, from 10.30am - 4.30pm covering the closing statements at the Hutton Inquiry (with a gap around 12am for The Daily Politics covering Charles Kennedy's speach at the Lib Dem conference)

Then by your own admission, you've already sent the thread off topic. And you're telling the rest of us there is no need. Poor.

It'll probably only be a simulcast of BBC News 24. The specialness of BBC News Specials has long since deteriorated from when they used to run them at 12noon for the minorist of news stories. No doubt ITV News will double head on that day, but keep it to the ITV News Channel

Nevertheless, I think he still loves his mum, just like the rest of us, and is certainly not impatiently awaiting her death - even the aristocracy are human, believe it or not.

Yes, most Specials are just simulcasts, but the majority of the time will no doubt be taken up by live coverage, as the statements are televised.