Launch BBC News: Studio B

[Newsroom]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but the UK have never seen anything like E in action.

I visited ITN when they broadcasted from the newsroom floor on all three fits. I also went to the BBC when they first introduced the newsroom set in the 80’s for summaries, 9 and weekend.

I also worked at Sky in the 90’s and hand on heart - nothing comes close to what the BBC did with Studio E. Sky news had a small window into the newsroom, nothing like the openness of studio E.

I just can’t fathom how anyone could be unimpressed with Studio E - either when it launched or now.

ITN's newsroom looked excellent when they first used it back around 1992, I always liked the look, especially when News at Ten was placed there from 1992 to 1994, with the zoom shot moving in over the newsroom towards the News at Ten set - before they chose to move it to the basement studio in 1994. 

BBC News in their original newsroom from 1986 was interesting. They specially built a daytime news summary set into the newsroom, which in 1988 was re-jigged and extended to make the 9pm/weekend news set.  However the one thing I always noticed was how good it looked on screen, and how crappy it actually looked when you visited it.

Do you remember when they moved into GIR from Wells St and they appeared to have plonked the old Channel 4 Daily news desk in the newsroom as the Gulf War had started. I won't post videos here as they can surely be found in the ITN Nostalgia thread. No barriers, no curtain, just a desk plonked outside of what would become the Newsroom studio.

[Spencer]

I think that was often the case with TV studio sets. I went to a few shows at YTV in the 90s, and was amazed how tatty sets such as Countdown looked. I guess nowadays HD is much less forgiving, and so they can't get away with quite as much.

Back in the 80s, the NewsNight set had what looked like two traces of a coffee spill on it, just behind the presenter. It was like that until the set was refreshed.

Marvellous! I guess things aren't always better these days though. Didn't the Breakfast sofa have a hole in it for ages, until they replaced it with an identical one?

[Newsroom]

Goodness! Huw is being greedy with using Studio B!

6 on a Friday and probably 10.

;-)

[TVFan]

I was more surprised he was in on a Friday.

I guess he was off one day this week so he’s making up for it.

[Rolling News]

I was more surprised he was in on a Friday.

I guess he was off one day this week so he’s making up for it.

I think he's done the Ten every night this week. When was the last time he did the Ten every night in one week?

[DTV]

BBC News in their original newsroom from 1986 was interesting. They specially built a daytime news summary set into the newsroom, which in 1988 was re-jigged and extended to make the 9pm/weekend news set.  However the one thing I always noticed was how good it looked on screen, and how crappy it actually looked when you visited it.

I think that was often the case with TV studio sets. I went to a few shows at YTV in the 90s, and was amazed how tatty sets such as Countdown looked. I guess nowadays HD is much less forgiving, and so they can't get away with quite as much.

You'd be surprised at how scruffy even modern sets can be in person. I was in the original Studio B set about eight years ago (so it had been on air for less than two years) and even then the white rostrum and catwalk were covered in quite a few blackened markings from shoes and chairs etc. Yet you never caught it on screen - even in HD. In hindsight it makes me wonder just how knackered TC7 and N8 looked in person towards the end - there was quite a bit of tape visible on the latter's desk by 2013 and I would imagine that 9-year-old glass desktop was quite scratched.

But I suppose that is one of the wonders of television sets - they always look quite different in person. The other things that struck me about the old B set were that it felt a lot 'shorter' in real life and the two separate circles of the set seemed a lot more encompassing than on TV.

[Worzel]

Lots of feedback on BBC Newswatch this evening about the new studio B. 

[Spencer]

I think that was often the case with TV studio sets. I went to a few shows at YTV in the 90s, and was amazed how tatty sets such as Countdown looked. I guess nowadays HD is much less forgiving, and so they can't get away with quite as much.

You'd be surprised at how scruffy even modern sets can be in person. I was in the original Studio B set about eight years ago (so it had been on air for less than two years) and even then the white rostrum and catwalk were covered in quite a few blackened markings from shoes and chairs etc. Yet you never caught it on screen - even in HD. In hindsight it makes me wonder just how knackered TC7 and N8 looked in person towards the end - there was quite a bit of tape visible on the latter's desk by 2013 and I would imagine that 9-year-old glass desktop was quite scratched.

But I suppose that is one of the wonders of television sets - they always look quite different in person. The other things that struck me about the old B set were that it felt a lot 'shorter' in real life and the two separate circles of the set seemed a lot more encompassing than on TV.

The last time I was in a TV studio was for Tipping Point about a year ago, and I was actually quite surprised how neat, smart and ‘just like on the telly’ it was. Although I guess it doesn’t quite compare to a news set almost constantly in use for many years.

[JK1985]

The one news studio I was surprised at was the ITV News set from 2004, nicknamed "Theatre of News". On screen, they did a great job at trying to make it look as real as possible, even to having the reflection of the curved news wall being on the news desk.

However when I got to visit the studio in the spring of 2005, my eyes were sore at how glaring bright the curved green screen of their news wall was. Very bright.

Also, when I was there, you forget that the dept aspect of a virtual set is very good, as when I walked into Studio 2 at ITN, it was tiny, looked very cramped. I was told that wide angle lenses on the camera, along with the virtual tech made the studio look larger.

[XIII]

You'd be surprised at how scruffy even modern sets can be in person. I was in the original Studio B set about eight years ago (so it had been on air for less than two years) and even then the white rostrum and catwalk were covered in quite a few blackened markings from shoes and chairs etc. Yet you never caught it on screen - even in HD. In hindsight it makes me wonder just how knackered TC7 and N8 looked in person towards the end - there was quite a bit of tape visible on the latter's desk by 2013 and I would imagine that 9-year-old glass desktop was quite scratched.

But I suppose that is one of the wonders of television sets - they always look quite different in person. The other things that struck me about the old B set were that it felt a lot 'shorter' in real life and the two separate circles of the set seemed a lot more encompassing than on TV.

The last time I was in a TV studio was for Tipping Point about a year ago, and I was actually quite surprised how neat, smart and ‘just like on the telly’ it was. Although I guess it doesn’t quite compare to a news set almost constantly in use for many years.

Totally off-topic but has your episode aired yet?

[Moz]

Would this look better for the second tower screen...?

If Newsnight can do it, why can’t the Six & Ten…

[AxG]

Noticed on the Six today, a double helping of Look North Leeds.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Which region was missing?

[RhysJR]

Noticed on the Six today, a double helping of Look North Leeds.

They really would make good Spot the Difference pictures 

[TVFan]

Does anyone else find the ending of the Six and Ten cheesy? I appreciate they’re going for the personal touch and feel to the programme, but it would be so much better if they had a cleaner close such as “Up next is the news where you are, but it’s good night from us”.

That way Huw or any other presenter for that matter doesn’t have to walk over to the other side of the studio.