Operation London Bridge: the death of the Queen

Sounds more like North Korea when King Jong-il died. I wonder if they'll be bawling their eyes out too.

Of course this is all entirely new terrorist for all networks bar the BBC as none of them have had to cover the death of a British Head of State - in 1952 all there was was the BBC and BBC Radio and even then TV was only on air for a couple of hours a day if that and even then if you had or knew somebody who had a TV to go and watch.

I always thought the "no comedy" thing on the BBC for mourning was a bit of a non starter. It may be reduced with lack of topical satire but comedy may not go altogether.

Of course these days you have six million channels, many news outlets 24hrs a day 7 days a week, you can get a bulletin on demand near enough. There can only be so many times you get told "The Queen's dead" after all, surely?

A lot of it really sounds as if it was written for a bygone era, really isn't typical of what Britain in the 2010s expects. All this mourning, putting normality on hold for days, endless playing of the national anthem, might have worked in the 50s, but the world's changed beyond recognition since then.

The "media terrorist".

I'm part of an aging population of which the Queen has played a long and exemplary part. People of my age (and do remember with the baby boom we're an increasing percentage of the population) would expect nothing less. I take your point of course, but the millennials haven't taken over yet!

My mum's nearly 67 (so was alive under George VI, even if she was only a toddler) and would feel pretty much the same as me, so it's not just an age thing.

I, for one, want all the pomp and what goes along with it. She's lasted well and deserves the huge send off etc.

Small errors aside, interesting Guardian piece, although the name Operation London Bridge had been in the public domain for years (the Mail from 2004 - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-312046/Queens-funeral-plans-stolen.html); it's just a topic that isn't often written about.

Tim Luckhurst on the Queen Mother from 2001 is worth a read, even now: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/aug/13/mondaymediasection.themonarchy

And I imagine most BBC News staff will still have access to obit scripts, for those who think the BBC's plans are all top secret.

All that said, I imagine Elizabeth II will be the only monarch to get such a formal broadcast media send-off on her passing - a recognition of her very long reign and impact on British life (and global recognition), plus the fact we're still in a time when linear broadcast media has a very strong position. In fact, non-Commonwealth countries may well find their broadcasting affected, particularly the US - it'll be a one-off moment. It may be very different for her successors, because the media landscape will be very different and (barring something unexpected happening at succession such as Charles stepping aside for his own son) they will not have had the time to get into the national, even global consciousness. But, for the media at least, Elizabeth II's passing will be a huge moment, whatever any of us personally think of the monarchy. Not least because the plans will no doubt be so firmly nailed into place that nobody could ever screw them up in the first hour or so.

The only thing that could change things is if Prince Philip - a figure who arguably doesn't hold the same public/global affection - dies first, and there's a huge backlash against whatever coverage takes place then. (Does he get Category A treatment?) But otherwise, not many countries have heads of state that die in office, and the coverage will reflect that highly unusual position we have as a nation.



Channel 5's announcement of Princess Diana's death wasn't far off that...

We only had the five terrestrial channels at home when Diana died - I expect that was generally the case? - but on the Sunday morning I was surprised that Channel Four were the only one of the five who weren't showing rolling news or obits. Channel Four pretty much showed their normal Sunday lineup - I remember seeing American comedies on there when I flicked between channels.

I'm sure there kept a normal service so kids and teenages had a service. Same with her funeral ch4 had kids programmes etc.

Remember though that her death won't be the only story, we'll have a new king with all that comes with that both ceremonial and logistical. There'll be quite a lot of extended news and 'news specials' in the week or so after


That's what makes it so different from the Diana or Queen Mum death coverage

Though I seem to remember that what they said was almost exactly the same as what I've seen written down in obit plans: 'it is with deepest regret....'. I think C5 possibly stuck to their plans more than anyone else, probably because they were only a few months old.

There's an audio clip on the Diana webpage linked a while back of Talk Radio announcing Diana's death and that uses the same type of wording, just less formally