BU
From memory the Queen mother's funeral was a different affair as it didn't happen until ten days after she died. BBC1 and ITV ran coverage of it but they were finished by about 2.30pm, I recall BBC1 showed an episode of Dad's Army between the funeral and CBBC. I vaguely remember they also showed part of the funeral on CBBC and I think CBeebies, but it wasn't for long, it could have possibly been for a minute's silence.
Yes both CBBC and CBeebies (then only a couple of months old) did the silence - but with a nice compilation of the QM meeting children which I thought was a really nice way to do it.
Haven't seen any mention of Princess Margaret's death 6 or 7 weeks earlier which was announced around 0830 on a Saturday morning, an interesting case study of a "lesser" royal. BBC2 were already in Weekend 24, but BBC1 crashed out of The Wild Thornberries into a balloon ident and the "we now join BBC News for an important announcement" script, followed by a long pause and still of the balloon, then simulcasting with BBC2. BBC2 then left around 0915 for The Saturday Show, which in turn transferred back to BBC1 around 1100 I think (the exact timings escape me but it definitely began on 2 and moved over to 1). I also recall News 24 using a still "BBC News" graphic on black instead of the countdown, and all the graphics changed to a rather news deep purple. The "live" logo was also dropped when crossing to OBs.
Over on the other side, not a sausage within GMTV which I think was entirely pre-recorded kids programming on Saturdays by this point. You wonder what the plan would have been if there was a major breaking story within their hours. There was a 1'00" ITN bulletin at 0925 surrounded by national ITV1 continuity, then straight into SMTV.
From memory the Queen mother's funeral was a different affair as it didn't happen until ten days after she died. BBC1 and ITV ran coverage of it but they were finished by about 2.30pm, I recall BBC1 showed an episode of Dad's Army between the funeral and CBBC. I vaguely remember they also showed part of the funeral on CBBC and I think CBeebies, but it wasn't for long, it could have possibly been for a minute's silence.
Yes both CBBC and CBeebies (then only a couple of months old) did the silence - but with a nice compilation of the QM meeting children which I thought was a really nice way to do it.
Haven't seen any mention of Princess Margaret's death 6 or 7 weeks earlier which was announced around 0830 on a Saturday morning, an interesting case study of a "lesser" royal. BBC2 were already in Weekend 24, but BBC1 crashed out of The Wild Thornberries into a balloon ident and the "we now join BBC News for an important announcement" script, followed by a long pause and still of the balloon, then simulcasting with BBC2. BBC2 then left around 0915 for The Saturday Show, which in turn transferred back to BBC1 around 1100 I think (the exact timings escape me but it definitely began on 2 and moved over to 1). I also recall News 24 using a still "BBC News" graphic on black instead of the countdown, and all the graphics changed to a rather news deep purple. The "live" logo was also dropped when crossing to OBs.
Over on the other side, not a sausage within GMTV which I think was entirely pre-recorded kids programming on Saturdays by this point. You wonder what the plan would have been if there was a major breaking story within their hours. There was a 1'00" ITN bulletin at 0925 surrounded by national ITV1 continuity, then straight into SMTV.
EU
Eurovictorious
On the subject of the Eurovision scenario, there's quite a chance several broadcasters would pull out of the feed given the nature and magnitude of the story. Australia certainly would, as well might Malta.
If the UK watched on a delay there would be no televote, even if results giving was in progress. The result is known by Jon Ola Sand and his team by the time they go round the juries: the resuits announcing is basically theatre.
I would imagine in any case there would be signposts to the world feed on YouTube, which they certainly did on air during the semis to promote "uninterrupted coverage" possibly due to a number of complaints surrounding the decision not to show the interval act in SF1.
If the UK watched on a delay there would be no televote, even if results giving was in progress. The result is known by Jon Ola Sand and his team by the time they go round the juries: the resuits announcing is basically theatre.
I would imagine in any case there would be signposts to the world feed on YouTube, which they certainly did on air during the semis to promote "uninterrupted coverage" possibly due to a number of complaints surrounding the decision not to show the interval act in SF1.
HC
And printing a 2 page rant written by Max 'Hitler' Hastings at whoever the BBC have as lead presenter for not wearing a tie 'in the correct shade of black'
To be fair though the Mail allegedly ran this story over a decade ago, when perhaps they did have journalists. I guess their funeral coverage will be full of style adverts telling you how you can get the same mourning outfit as Kate.
And printing a 2 page rant written by Max 'Hitler' Hastings at whoever the BBC have as lead presenter for not wearing a tie 'in the correct shade of black'
SW
I don't this is true, unfortunately. Doctors was at 12.30 in 2001 and later on they moved it to 2.10, after Neighbours, but I'm not even sure they moved it in 2001 anyway, I think it might have been a year or two later. That may well have been the plan regardless of 9/11. Actually I don't know why they would have moved it because of 9/11, really.
The whole of the Games were suspended for 24 hours - in Frank Bough's autobiography he talks about presenting coverage of the memorials for the people who had died, and then saying "The Games will continue and we'll report on them, but not tonight, tomorrow". There were actually two Comedy Playhouse pilots shown during that period, the second one never going to a series and everyone forgetting about it. Obviously, had this not happened they'd have shown it during the next series of Comedy Playhouse as planned.
I had most of that episode of Right to Reply on an old VHS for ages, it was quite interesting because they spoke to the likes of Martyn Lewis and Dermot Murnaghan about breaking the news. But the complaints about them not showing it were ridiculous, I remember someone saying they wanted a "Channel Four perspective" on it. What would that be, it was a funeral? How many ways are there to cover it? Unless you had a Republican complaining about it all the way through, what else can you do?
Nice enough it was for C4 to offer an alternative, I don't think it was that vital because certainly in that era there had been plenty of examples in living memory for most kids of days with no kids' shows on any channel at all. As recently as 1992, what with all the adult education and Open University and religion on Sunday mornings, there were no kids' shows on any channel for most of the year, apart from the Playbus repeat on BBC1 at 9am and some stuff very early on TVam and C4.
I remember in 2003 reading that they were a bit worried that the Gulf War would begin on Red Nose Day and cause chaos with the schedules that night, though happily they held off for a few days. Of course the Paris attacks happened during Children in Need the year before last and some people on Twitter suggested they should have abandoned it, but that was never going to happen, nor should it have.
Yes, I would agree with that, I think a lot of people are massively underestimating how big a deal this is going to be. It's going to be the biggest news story for generations, obviously it hasn't happened since 1952. It's almost certain many things are going to be cancelled. They're not just going to shuffle Doctors to BBC2 and get the coverage finished in time for 'stEnders. You can write off the first 48 hours or so entirely. Stuff's not going to happen. The day Diana died is clearly going to be the template.
BBC2 went on its own way at three o'clock for Sunday Grandstand, as you say. I looked this up a while back, the match had already started so they showed highlights and joined it in progress. There wasn't much else in Grandstand that day. The original line-up is here - http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/18e264d2ce284fc096256f2836e45fd1 - and they showed a brief edit of the waterskiing. But not the motorcycling, unsurprisingly.
Yes, that's right. The Saturday Show moved over to BBC1 at ten o'clock, at which point BBC2 started showing a repeat of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, which had taken place in the middle of the night. Rather oddly it looked like they just joined the repeat in progress because it certainly ended at the scheduled time. The other thing I remember about that day was Ray Stubbs and Mark Lawrenson both wearing suits on Football Focus, which looked very odd. Not much else got dropped that day, of course it was the day of the final of Pop Idol which was a bloody big deal. In Roger Mosey's book he says the papers complained the next day about the Beeb talking about Margaret's drinking and love life too much, right next to even more lurid discussion of her drinking and love life.
Indeed, not former ones, hence why the newsflash to announce the death of Jim Callaghan in 2005 was delayed for an hour because Lorraine Heggessey refused to run it before the first episode of Doctor Who, because it would spoil the build-up (although the build-up was buggered up anyway, I remember the trailers before it broke down and there was a load of dead air, maybe a sign of the confusion at the time.)
The other thing about Category 1 obituaries is that, aside from the older members of the Royal Family, the death of very important people is also a major news story as well. If Theresa May dies while she's in office, it's likely something has gone very wrong.
Always interesting how these major events can impact things you wouldn't otherwise think about. I've read a similar story about how scheduling changes after 9/11 led to an increase in viewing figures for BBC's daytime soap Doctors which was supposedly on the verge of being cancelled in its original timeslot. Don't know how true that story is though.
I don't this is true, unfortunately. Doctors was at 12.30 in 2001 and later on they moved it to 2.10, after Neighbours, but I'm not even sure they moved it in 2001 anyway, I think it might have been a year or two later. That may well have been the plan regardless of 9/11. Actually I don't know why they would have moved it because of 9/11, really.
Yes, it's a bit of television folklaw not just something made up on Wikipedia.
I wouldn't have thought it was in the night it happened, just filled a gap in the schedules where the sport was supposed to be afterwards (I assume some events were cancelled?)
Not sure it was a standby as such, but being a comedy playhouse it was a one-off so ideal to fill a hole
I wouldn't have thought it was in the night it happened, just filled a gap in the schedules where the sport was supposed to be afterwards (I assume some events were cancelled?)
Not sure it was a standby as such, but being a comedy playhouse it was a one-off so ideal to fill a hole
The whole of the Games were suspended for 24 hours - in Frank Bough's autobiography he talks about presenting coverage of the memorials for the people who had died, and then saying "The Games will continue and we'll report on them, but not tonight, tomorrow". There were actually two Comedy Playhouse pilots shown during that period, the second one never going to a series and everyone forgetting about it. Obviously, had this not happened they'd have shown it during the next series of Comedy Playhouse as planned.
I remember Right To Reply the week after that happened and they had so many complaints for showing children's programmes, instead of Channel 4 News coverage of the funeral. In my opinion Channel 4 did the right thing at the time as coverage of the funeral was saturated on every other channel, the really young were rightly given a choice.
I had most of that episode of Right to Reply on an old VHS for ages, it was quite interesting because they spoke to the likes of Martyn Lewis and Dermot Murnaghan about breaking the news. But the complaints about them not showing it were ridiculous, I remember someone saying they wanted a "Channel Four perspective" on it. What would that be, it was a funeral? How many ways are there to cover it? Unless you had a Republican complaining about it all the way through, what else can you do?
Nice enough it was for C4 to offer an alternative, I don't think it was that vital because certainly in that era there had been plenty of examples in living memory for most kids of days with no kids' shows on any channel at all. As recently as 1992, what with all the adult education and Open University and religion on Sunday mornings, there were no kids' shows on any channel for most of the year, apart from the Playbus repeat on BBC1 at 9am and some stuff very early on TVam and C4.
Eurovision fell very much within the expected time for Prince George to be born and there were lots of crossed fingers hoping it won't happen then and murmurings about it being moved to BBC Two. And I recall there was another night when there was potential for major news (Another Royal baby? One of the numerous times Nelson Mandela was apparently on his way out only for him to keep going for many months? Can't remember) and the schedules were chock-full of live programmes across the board. There were plans for everything to essentally shuffle up one channel with whatever was on the red button getting the boot - big sighs of relief all round when that didn't happen.
I remember in 2003 reading that they were a bit worried that the Gulf War would begin on Red Nose Day and cause chaos with the schedules that night, though happily they held off for a few days. Of course the Paris attacks happened during Children in Need the year before last and some people on Twitter suggested they should have abandoned it, but that was never going to happen, nor should it have.
When 'it' happens, the BBC will have regardless of what's on to go to immediate news on ALL it's outlets. There'll be no putting events to the Red Button or online. They'll be interrupted and shown later if at all. Services as with Diana, would resume over the coming days. Any live event taking part in the UK, Football, Proms or Other Music large enough for live broadcast would probably be stopped, in play, once the news broke anyway, as would similar events in the coming 24-48 hrs.
Yes, I would agree with that, I think a lot of people are massively underestimating how big a deal this is going to be. It's going to be the biggest news story for generations, obviously it hasn't happened since 1952. It's almost certain many things are going to be cancelled. They're not just going to shuffle Doctors to BBC2 and get the coverage finished in time for 'stEnders. You can write off the first 48 hours or so entirely. Stuff's not going to happen. The day Diana died is clearly going to be the template.
Back to the Diana Sunday. I do recall BBC 2 splitting away from BBC 1 to show Cricket at about 14:00hrs. I can't remember whether the start of the match had been delayed, or whether the start of the Beeb's coverage was ?
BBC2 went on its own way at three o'clock for Sunday Grandstand, as you say. I looked this up a while back, the match had already started so they showed highlights and joined it in progress. There wasn't much else in Grandstand that day. The original line-up is here - http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/18e264d2ce284fc096256f2836e45fd1 - and they showed a brief edit of the waterskiing. But not the motorcycling, unsurprisingly.
Haven't seen any mention of Princess Margaret's death 6 or 7 weeks earlier which was announced around 0830 on a Saturday morning, an interesting case study of a "lesser" royal. BBC2 were already in Weekend 24, but BBC1 crashed out of The Wild Thornberries into a balloon ident and the "we now join BBC News for an important announcement" script, followed by a long pause and still of the balloon, then simulcasting with BBC2. BBC2 then left around 0915 for The Saturday Show, which in turn transferred back to BBC1 around 1100 I think (the exact timings escape me but it definitely began on 2 and moved over to 1).
Yes, that's right. The Saturday Show moved over to BBC1 at ten o'clock, at which point BBC2 started showing a repeat of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, which had taken place in the middle of the night. Rather oddly it looked like they just joined the repeat in progress because it certainly ended at the scheduled time. The other thing I remember about that day was Ray Stubbs and Mark Lawrenson both wearing suits on Football Focus, which looked very odd. Not much else got dropped that day, of course it was the day of the final of Pop Idol which was a bloody big deal. In Roger Mosey's book he says the papers complained the next day about the Beeb talking about Margaret's drinking and love life too much, right next to even more lurid discussion of her drinking and love life.
Who classes at a Grade 1 anyway? Obviously the queen does I'm guessing other senior royals like Charles and William too, probably the serving prime minister (but I imagine not former ones?), who else?
Indeed, not former ones, hence why the newsflash to announce the death of Jim Callaghan in 2005 was delayed for an hour because Lorraine Heggessey refused to run it before the first episode of Doctor Who, because it would spoil the build-up (although the build-up was buggered up anyway, I remember the trailers before it broke down and there was a load of dead air, maybe a sign of the confusion at the time.)
The other thing about Category 1 obituaries is that, aside from the older members of the Royal Family, the death of very important people is also a major news story as well. If Theresa May dies while she's in office, it's likely something has gone very wrong.
:-(
A former member
Always interesting how these major events can impact things you wouldn't otherwise think about. I've read a similar story about how scheduling changes after 9/11 led to an increase in viewing figures for BBC's daytime soap Doctors which was supposedly on the verge of being cancelled in its original timeslot. Don't know how true that story is though.
I don't this is true, unfortunately. Doctors was at 12.30 in 2001 and later on they moved it to 2.10, after Neighbours, but I'm not even sure they moved it in 2001 anyway, I think it might have been a year or two later. That may well have been the plan regardless of 9/11. Actually I don't know why they would have moved it because of 9/11, really..
Lets look at the schedules
September 10th and 17th. and again at the end of October.
1.45 Neighbours
2.10 DM
2.55 Birds of a feather repeat.
By Jan 2002 Doctors was no where to be seen, and at Shoestring started and at 2.55 Though the keyhole replace Birds. ( not Scotland Im sure there still had Gaelic kids programmes)
Doctors reappear around March 2002 at 2.10. By which time Gaelic kids programmes had moved to 08.30 to become part of the Cbeebies brand. This allowed the 12.30 slot to be freeed up
VM
Did a quick search and remembered that I first read it on TV Whirl:
https://www.tvwhirl.co.uk/programmes/soaps-british/
Quote:
Doctors is the BBC's homegrown daytime soap. It was launched in 2000, in a lunchtime slot, and originally only ran in blocks. Because of declining popularity, the BBC were initially considering axing it at the end of 2001 when the tragic events of September 11th struck. The lunchtime slot was required for extended news bulletins, so Doctors was moved to a late afternoon slot instead. Against expectations, viewing figures in the new slot increased significantly, so much so the BBC abandoned the plans to drop it, and promoted it to a full year-round soap which has run ever since! These titles date from 2001. Clip/info courtesy of James Hadfield!
https://www.tvwhirl.co.uk/programmes/soaps-british/
:-(
A former member
Minor MISTAKE, Im very sorry.
To just to say but there was no extra bulletins. and Doctors stayed at 12.30 throughout September and October 2001. But in November 2001 it was moved, to 2.10 but the 12.30 slot was given to wipeout.
To just to say but there was no extra bulletins. and Doctors stayed at 12.30 throughout September and October 2001. But in November 2001 it was moved, to 2.10 but the 12.30 slot was given to wipeout.
DV
One element people have neglected is the effect on the Parliaments of the UK. Effectively they'll all be suspended, legislation put on hold, and await the formal announcement of the succession following the Succession Council's meeting(s), it's not automatic as many seem to think. there's protocols to go through and the formal declaration of the new Sovereign won't be until the next day, or the second one after (if the death occurred late evening or overnight), at 11a.m., we'll then have the swearing in of members and appointment of ministers to go through too. These aspects will take up significant airtime in the first 48 - 96 hours. It's worthwhile looking at the Feb 1952 Hansard record for guidance as to how things will proceed in this respect. All this will be proceeding during an acute period of mourning here and overseas which will need covering too. Broadcasting business as 'normal' could take at least a week to resume, if then.
BC
The exact list varies from broadcaster to broadcaster but is usually just the senior royals. In most cases the differences are just with exactly who they consider to be 'senior'. As Steve mentioned, if something happened to a to a sitting prime minister or US president that would be treated as 'breaking news'. Depending on the circumstances you might still see similar things such as mutilple channels joining up and many hours of coverage, but it wouldn't be that particular formal procedure, a lot more would depend on the particular circumstances and be decided upon as it happens.
Blake Connolly
Founding member
Who classes at a Grade 1 anyway? Obviously the queen does I'm guessing other senior royals like Charles and William too, probably the serving prime minister (but I imagine not former ones?), who else?
The exact list varies from broadcaster to broadcaster but is usually just the senior royals. In most cases the differences are just with exactly who they consider to be 'senior'. As Steve mentioned, if something happened to a to a sitting prime minister or US president that would be treated as 'breaking news'. Depending on the circumstances you might still see similar things such as mutilple channels joining up and many hours of coverage, but it wouldn't be that particular formal procedure, a lot more would depend on the particular circumstances and be decided upon as it happens.
:-(
A former member
We do have bench mark it would seem, A sitting mp was murdered in broad day light and there was no breaking news for Jo cox. It would have to even higher, would a Cabinet minister get breaking news ?
GE
Ah yes, the one that made me glad I'd had a read of Student Broadcast Network's obit procedures, as my first show on our uni radio station was that morning. (I decided it would probably be best to not come out of the news with The Strokes.)
thegeek
Founding member
Haven't seen any mention of Princess Margaret's death 6 or 7 weeks earlier which was announced around 0830 on a Saturday morning, an interesting case study of a "lesser" royal.
Ah yes, the one that made me glad I'd had a read of Student Broadcast Network's obit procedures, as my first show on our uni radio station was that morning. (I decided it would probably be best to not come out of the news with The Strokes.)