BBC News: Nostalgia

[chris]

Was the plan to always move News 24 into what would become N8? Or did that come post-launch?

[Tom]

Whilst we are on the subject on early News 24, on this day in 2000 for the first time BBC News 24 was simulcast on BBC One to cover a breaking news story (Air France Concorde Crash)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRWUl7VPz7Q

Also, I remember reading somewhere that there was an extended news report from the main BBC News Studio earlier that day with Michael Buerk, but there does not appear to be any footage of that online.

[Andrew]

I wonder if dropping the separate name and look of BBC News 24 and just having generic ‘BBC News’ was the right decision or not all those years ago or whether in reality it made no difference at all

Also you can never not see the Six at the end of the clip and notice how even on such a big News day how it was all done just so straight forward. The headlines would no doubt be 2 minutes long with lots of dramatics, questions and opinions on such a day now,

[BBCMeridian]

I wonder if dropping the separate name and look of BBC News 24 and just having generic ‘BBC News’ was the right decision or not all those years ago or whether in reality it made no difference at all

Also you can never not see the Six at the end of the clip and notice how even on such a big News day how it was all done just so straight forward. The headlines would no doubt be 2 minutes long with lots of dramatics, questions and opinions on such a day now,

Yeah, I mean everything was so simple until the rebrand in 2003 when the first story was read out within the first minute of the bulletin, nowadays it takes 2 to 3 minutes for the first story to be read out.

[Steve in Pudsey]

The other thing that stands out is Huw's posture at the start of the bulletin - "doing the Huw" was obviously a later development

[Kojak]

The other thing that stands out is Huw's posture at the start of the bulletin - "doing the Huw" was obviously a later development

I think some of that is to do with the camera shots that were used then versus now - in 2000 they opened with a static over the shoulder MCU, whereas now they have quite a lengthy zoom in to Huw - plus he sits in the middle of the desk now, rather than to one side (indeed, if you look at the wide shot at 12:53 above, you can see he wouldn't really have any room to 'do the Huw').

[DTV]

Ergo, N6 likely debuted during the first week of November 1998.

Thinking about this again, it does still seem rather odd that they went ahead and partially rebuilt the N2 set in N6 with just six months before the rebrand, which we know was already being planned by at least summer 1998. In fact, given the tendency of relaunches to get delayed, I wouldn't be surprised if there was originally less time left for the virtual era when they moved. It's not like BBC Resources were desperate to get their hands on the old news studios - TC11 wasn't in use until 2002! Just an odd decision.

[Roger Darthwell]

25 years ago today Alan Towers dramatically resigned on air from the BBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es7K3LnVtW4

[Steve in Pudsey]

It's not like BBC Resources were desperate to get their hands on the old news studios - TC11 wasn't in use until 2002! Just an odd decision.

In the Birt era, was there a pressure to hand back N2 and stop paying for it?

[Spencer]

25 years ago today Alan Towers dramatically resigned on air from the BBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es7K3LnVtW4

I’ve always thought it was a shame he did that. Why would you want to end your career on such a sour note? Hardly a classy way to bow out.

[DTV]

It's not like BBC Resources were desperate to get their hands on the old news studios - TC11 wasn't in use until 2002! Just an odd decision.

In the Birt era, was there a pressure to hand back N2 and stop paying for it?

I don't think the studio became property of BBC Resources until after News vacated the studio. Like with N6, N8 and N9, I imagine the studios were property of BBC News at the time and so they wouldn't have been 'renting' them from another part of the BBC (unlike with TC7).

[Kojak]

25 years ago today Alan Towers dramatically resigned on air from the BBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es7K3LnVtW4

I’ve always thought it was a shame he did that. Why would you want to end your career on such a sour note? Hardly a classy way to bow out.

That was, I believe, copied from an episode of Drop the Dead Donkey, where the veteran newscaster Henry Davenport makes a very similar speech (albeit on stage at an awards ceremony, rather than whilst on-air).

[KK!]

While I entirely understand their removal, especially as updated playout technologies / trail effort made them redundant, I must admit I miss the days of long countdowns (and relatedly, breakfillers on BBC World without so many regional advertising opts).

[harshy]

Ooh the breakfiller were wonderful between 1997-2003 before they retired that Mac it really felt like bbc world back then it was so good and at arms length so felt like a guilty privilege to receive it in the UK.

[Mateus Honrado]

BBC News on BBC1 from December 28, 1996.
https://youtu.be/4zpEveb_PP0