BBC News nostalgia, including BBC World

The midway sting and headline recap was one of the “revolutionary” components of the then Six. No other news programme did a headline recap at :15. It’s now become something of a standard on news programmes everywhere, especially rolling news channels.

I’d forgotten about that method of introducing some reports, with an insert against a blue background and the reporters name shown on screen, as opposed to the newsreader naming them. (In this case, “Linda Lewis reports”. Remember her? One of the main reporters of the time on BBC News).

For those of us who would like one relatively detailed newscast per day with a bit less of the gimmicky additions, this 1987 format of the Six would still work today. A midway recap and not a thunderclap in sight (or earshot) for the remainder of the 30mins.


Thanks for sharing that clip.

Yes, though that said, there is a bit in the One Day In The Life Of Television where a teenager reviews the Six and says what they don't like is how they tell you what they're going to tell you, then tell you some of it, then tell you what they've just told you, then tell you what they're going to tell you, then tell you that, then tell you what they've told you again. And so on.



And before that, a rare example of a BBC Choice programme on primetime BBC1, the making of Randall and Hopkirk Deceased - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/2000-04-15#at-21.45

This appeared on the brilliant VHiStory blog the other day, Channel Four's coverage of the Clive Ponting trial in 1985, as read by Kenneth Kendall and Robert Dougall.


Both Dougall and Kendall were regulars on C4 at the time, Dougall presenting the old people's programme Years Ahead and Kendall on Treasure Hunt, of course. Kenneth Kendall left the Beeb at Christmas 1981, not long after the revamp (which I don't think he had very good things to say about). Unfortunately on the morning of his last bulletin he slipped on some ice and broke his arm, so couldn't do it.

And wasn't the 1988 revamp of the 9 one of the first (if not the first) news programmes to do headlines (plural, note) > titles > main programme? Even the 1993 revamp didn't do that across the board, it was the 1999 one that made it the standard. And ITN still maintained a titles > headlines structure for the Evening News until about 2001, I think.



I remember being quite excited about being able to see this on analogue as we didn't have digital at the time, then a bit disappointed when it was clearly made for about 5p (as you can see from the clip), then when we finally did get digital the realisation most of BBC Choice was like that.

Also in the One Day In The Life Of Television book, they include Alastair Stewart talking about the revamped Nine, as it had started the previous night, and he said he didn't like it all, especially having the newsreader in vision right at the start - which of course is now pretty much standard on all bulletins, on the Beeb and ITV. I think the ITV teatime news starting with the titles before the headlines in the 1999-2001 era was because they wanted to get Trevor on screen as quickly as possible.

I had no clue Sopel presented the 6 before...

Indeed, I think the 99 had "depth" whereas the 2003 had "width" if that makes sense, I also always felt the frosting on the glass into the newsroom killed some of that depth too. The 2002 world set looks love with the natural depth of field lens blur, rather than frosting to fake it.

I had no idea the 1993 logo was stylised like this in 1992

Yes he was a frequent stand in in the second era of the double headed Six (2003-2007) but presented more in 2006-2007 (even though RT only had him originally listed as hosting 1 programme in 2007, which I know is wrong). Other regular stand ins in that era of 06-07 included Ben Brown, Jane Hill and Nicholas Owen.

Jon was also an occasional stand in in the latter part of the virtual era on the 6, weekend bulletins & Breakfast News.

I don’t remember that set/look at all! (Daytime Summaries). Nice though.

I had the opportunity of visiting the BBC national news studio in 2001 and it was very weird, as the studio when you are there seemed very small and somewhat claustrophobic. When you sit at the desk, where Huw Edwards would sit at for the 6pm news, staring at the camera you suddenly realised how small the whole set was, and the wide angle lenses on the camera made it look much bigger.

I was told back in 2001 by a production member that apparently they wished for the original 1999 set to have more red added to it, and make it appear more warmer, but the bosses preferred the original 1999 look. After two years or so, they got their way and had the red panels added to the wall and a new desk, which gave warmth but also made the window into the news centre smaller.

That look was only used for the 1992 general election period

Although for the Six it was ditched in 1993 and hasn't returned. Pre the virtual look, it was "coming up... but now the time is 6:16" followed by the headlines recap. From 1993 onwards it was "It's 6:16, and still to come..." followed by a teaser but no headlines recap.