Question Time

Urrm

#bbcqt pic.twitter.com/ZATyf5XvUE

— Keir Shiels (@keirshiels) December 13, 2018

Having a touch of the Schafernakers there.

Dimbledun

'From me, a happy Christmas and not goodbye, but goodnight'
David Dimbleby receives a standing ovation from the panel and audience as he says goodbye to BBC Question Time after 25 years. #bbcqt #dimblebye pic.twitter.com/3ldAPY6STR

— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) December 13, 2018

My own tweets related to David going:

Was lucky enough to be in the audience for Question Time when it came to Cambridge in October 2013. I remember speaking to DD before filming (as i'd been chosen to ask a question). Lovely guy who had a great way of jeering up the audience before filming cracking jokes.

A little story. For those who've not been in the audience for Question Time, before filming they ask a couple of members of the public from the audience to sit in the panelist chairs to test the microphones, camera angles and have some fun. I was lucky enough to get picked from the audience and got to sit in Dimbleby's chair with some other audience members alongside me as the panelists. I chaired a 5-6 minute discussion and got the audience to ask a few questions. Dimbleby came out and sat in my audience place (on the front row) and posed as me asking my question! Was quite a surreal experience.

Anne Perkins *does* know that Sue Lawley presented a few editions, and that Peter Sissons was the only full-time presenter in-between Robin Day and Dimbleby... doesn't she?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/14/david-dimbleby-question-time-departure-bbc-ramp-format

Sue Lawley wasn't a full time presenter though was she, so in fairness, Fiona Bruce is indeed the first full time female host. 'When Day was finally persuaded to retire after a decade in the chair, there came, after a rocky few years , David Dimbleby' The highlighted section should read Peter Sissons!

Well, whatever about Sue, it *definitely* shouldn't be forgotten that Peter was the only full-time presenter during those "rocky few years" - four, to be precise.

And here's a full edition from that era, complete with strident orchestral version of the theme tune:

That set makes it look like they are sitting round a dining table from Downton Abbey

There were several innovations during that era, most notably the audacious attempt to stage a live broadcast from Wembley Stadium in 1994

OK the style is a bit dated for 2019, but compare this to the pantomime bun fight that Dimbelby has just left. Here you have a smaller, but well informed panel that can properly articulate their viewpoints and no shouting over each other. Even the audience is sat listening without pantomime noises and the audience input is mostly polite and well mannered and not ignorant fools being allowed to heckle and rant. And this is an episode a few weeks after Black Wednesday!

Not much has changed really, still debating the EU!