A lot of the gameshows aren't produced at TV Centre, even the last series of Jet Set moved to BBC Scotland. As for the main draw studio that's in the Arqiva studios at Gerrard's Cross.
I've never heard of Gerrard's Cross before. Just had to Google for it. Could've been anywhere in the whole UK for all I knew. Just found out it's in south Buckinghamshire, just outside Greater London. Bit of a "nowhere" place for TV studios (I'd always assumed that being located in Cities (or maybe Major Towns) was as-good-as mandatory for telly).
And I've never heard of Arqiva either. But it's probably never heard of me, so that's okay then...
Arqiva is a relatively new name for a company made up of a lot of others brought under the same umbrella.
AIUI Arqiva includes the NTL transmission bits (not the cable TV bits that went into Virgin Media) - some of which were formerly part of the IBA. The studios at Gerards Cross are on the site of SSVC (Services Sound and Vision Corp - which provide facilities for, I believe, BFBS - the forces TV and radio operation) and were previously rebranded as Inmedia?
The BBC just do the draws very badly - even when it's just a 5-10 minute show including just the draw they still make it excruciatingly painful to watch.
Though given that the shows are made by an independent production company, in independent facilities, for Camelot, it is difficult to see where the BBC actually have a role these days, other than broadcasting the thing.
(And I know the answer is that a BBC exec or two will commission and Exec produce the show...)
That's right Noggin. The BBC only broadcast the draws, the production of them are done by Initial (Endemol) and monitored by Camelot, who I think even have their own exec producer to watch over Endemol's production.
The Saturday night programme still has one major flaw that's still not been sorted out. As the quiz shows themselves are now recorded months in advance of transmission (Who Dares Wins was recorded at the start of September) when there is a rollover, you still don't have the host mentioning it at the top of the show. It's left to Deadly Alancote to bawl it over the introduction, when then gets missed over the over enthusiastic audience clappin'an'cheerin'.
What should happen is two intros could be recorded. One with a normal 'our show plus those important lotto draws' and one with 'our show plus it's a rollover in tonights lotto main draw' etc. With modern editing, it should'nt take that long to re-edit the first link on a Thursday when the results of Wednesdays draws are known and if you have a rollover situation..
By the way the winning numbers this week are:-
3, 9 , -5, 29.3, 51 & 98 & 3/4
It's yet another area then where live TV has come to a close.
OK, granted they weren't all 100% live, but up until a couple of years ago they were all recorded on the day of broadcast, with most having the final part play out live.
And it's time they bought back Winning Lines - actually the only Lottery quiz show which is any good really.
Arqiva is a relatively new name for a company made up of a lot of others brought under the same umbrella.
AIUI Arqiva includes the NTL transmission bits (not the cable TV bits that went into Virgin Media) - some of which were formerly part of the IBA. The studios at Gerards Cross are on the site of SSVC (Services Sound and Vision Corp - which provide facilities for, I believe, BFBS - the forces TV and radio operation) and were previously rebranded as Inmedia?
Arqiva also now own the OB company 'Scanners'. Their major contracts include football for Sky, and BBC Question Time. Don't forget that Arqiva's parent company is Macquarie, owners of Red Bee.
I noticed Jenny Falconer tonight pressed the Big Red Button to start the draw...and then said to the drawmaster "Will you please start the draw!". What's the point of that? Is this because of this cockup a few weeks ago - i.e. she wanted to make it clear that it wasn't actually her starting the selection of the balls, but the drawmaster? In which case, why press the Red Button in the 1st place?
Why don't they just acknowledge the fact that the Drawmaster starts the selection process. I never understood the point of having a "celebrity" pressing the non-functioning button in the first place.
Why don't they just acknowledge the fact that the Drawmaster starts the selection process. I never understood the point of having a "celebrity" pressing the non-functioning button in the first place.
That's what she did - she pressed the button "to start the draw" - and then asked the drawmaster to start the draw for her please!
That's what she did - she pressed the button "to start the draw" - and then asked the drawmaster to start the draw for her please!
But I'm still missing the purpose served by Jenny Falconer and the large plastic button. Surely Alan "The Balls" Dedicoat could just do it by asking the DM to start.
Sounds like (without, admittedly, having seen it - and please, someone correct me) BBC panic mode.
The same BBC panic mode that bans them from doing the most innocuous competition several months after one mistake in one department.
God bless, it's the BBC, and I love the way they treat this sort of thing. Any error and it becomes a national scandal (see Hutton beforehand, where you could argue the margin of error was at least 50/50 government/BBC - and sod the whitewash Hutton report, the man should be ashamed of himself). But any slight problem, mistake, or any variation of that, and there's utter panic. Calm down dear, the intelligent audience knows how the draw was made in the first place.
...we all know that BIG RED BUTTON is only there for effect - it actually serves no purpose whatsoever!
Do you think they will actually use that BIG RED BUTTON again, now that it has been proved that it doesn't actually do anything?
Probably. This isn't the first time something like this has happened.
I can't remember the guest but for some reason I am thinking it may have been Meetloaf, he pressed the button said "Good luck" and then pressed the button again.
I remember it being explained either on next weeks show or maybe Points of View or something that the guest had pressed the button twice, which is why the first ball appeared to come out before he pressed the button. This was when the guest had a real button.
BBC in new faking scandal?
Seriously, though, were people still convinced that the 'red button' started the draws?
I don't understand why they can't just make the National Lottery a trailer-like production, lasting two minutes at the most. Unfortunately, I can't be bothered sitting through 50 minutes of Dale Winton before they finally draw the numbers!
Unfortunately, this is the state that TV's in at the moment.
A few years ago, admittedly the programme was live, but you could get away with far more jiggery-pokery and TV magic, and this made things certainly more entertaining. If there was a big red button, the viewers thought that it started the machine, and none probably complained (apart from a disgruntled Mrs Oversham in Wessex or wherever). This is just like many other TV programmes - there were few phone-ins (really, answers-on-a-postcards!) and viewers generally accepted that there was a certain amount of trickery involved in making a production special.
Then it all changed. The Hutton Enquiry began a series of changes that meant that people started to demand transparency to their television. They wanted to know exactly how scores were calculated on gameshows, they wanted to know exactly which buttons did which. This, combined with a new feeling akin to that of 24-hour news, meant that people lost interest in the veil of trickery that fell before television, they just wanted the hard facts. And when they didn't get the hard facts, they complain.
And when they complain, they do so in bandwagon-inducing numbers. This is the culture we live in. A 'complaint' culture. What do you do if the news covers a story you don't like? You write in to the BBC complaining. What do you do if you don't get through to a quiz show or a gameshow's vote line? You complain to Ofcom (after reading about others having done so in the news) and tell them that it's just more trickery. What do you do if you hear a bad word at 2059 on a Friday night? By God, you complain.
It's sickening that the media has to now pander to these people, fuelled by rags like the
Daily Maul
and
The Scum
. These people are destroying the heart of television. A few years ago, viewers didn't need to trust television - because they got what they wanted; entertainment. The need to entertain, I feel, has been surpassed by the need to be transparent, and the need to build up "viewer trust". Even though those viewers seem only to be in the minority.
Some things are inexcusable - the Blue Peter cat name; the competition line problem solution; and some others that have happened. But these are mistakes. It doesn't make things any better or any worse for the broadcaster if page 4 of the daily newspaper screams that there's been another 'scandal' in television, and that this represents the 'end of the TV-viewer relationship'. Lest we forget; this is the same industry that produced the image-faking Piers Morgan - perhaps the slimy c*nt is finally taking pleasure in watching the broadcast media crumble as the newspapers come out on top, championing this mysterious cause of the people. The press have very short memories - I daresay most of their slates are 'clean' by any means.
So, let them push the big red button on the Lottery. It might not start the machine, but if the BBC decides to take it away, then I can picture a horrible scene in a years' time, of a drawmaster and a woman with a clipboard in a bare room, with no set, only a bingo machine because the big machine was nasty and viewers didn't like looking at it.
