IT
Wow. Never seen that before and didn't even know that era even existed.
Be lovely to see more but, as you say, very little exists online of this time.
Always loved the flags but they don't work for me on the virtual era background.
Yeah it was an interim period between the October 1997 rebrand (where they adopted the updated flags motif) and the move from N1 to N9 some time in later 1998. A friend of mine worked on the last bulletin out of N1 (and incidentally the first bulletin in N1 back in 1993) and I think he said it was in about September/October 1998. Most people associate the later flags era with N9 probably because more clips survive online and also they did about 18 months in there before the April 2000 corporate rebrand.
In terms of the last branding in N1, I agree with you. I don't think it works very well with the virtual era design. It looked better on standard news bulletins as they replaced the background with a shot of the newsroom. It didn't look quite as claustrophobic as it seems The World Today did, though. The virtual era N1 worked best with the 1995 designs, in my opinion.
Just to follow up on this, here is a World News bulletin from May 1998, still broadcast from N1 at this point:
Whereas on The World Today they used a solid flags motif background, on World News they used a shot of the newsroom which looks infinitely better in my opinion. Of course, once they moved to N9 later in the year they actually got the real thing then.
By the way, the giveaway as to whether World was in N1 or N9 is the aspect ratio. If news output is full 4:3 as in that clip above, they were in N1. If it is 14:9 (small black bars at the top and bottom) they had moved to N9 which was widescreen capable. World Pres remained 4:3 though until the channel eventually went 16:9 many years later.
itsrobert
Founding member
The last few minutes of this clip are quite interesting. It shows The World Today from March 1998, after the 1997 rebrand and still in studio N1 before BBC World moved to N9 later in 1998. It's quite rare to see this particular part of the flags era as the clips online always seem to come from 1999. Unfortunately, no titles or stings are shown, but there are some assorted graphics and studio shots. The presenters are Donald MacCormick and (right at the end) Liz Pike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ETU4fUyyPY
It really highlights how claustrophobic N1 was onscreen. The move to N9 with a proper newsroom backdrop was such a step forward for BBC World.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ETU4fUyyPY
It really highlights how claustrophobic N1 was onscreen. The move to N9 with a proper newsroom backdrop was such a step forward for BBC World.
Wow. Never seen that before and didn't even know that era even existed.
Be lovely to see more but, as you say, very little exists online of this time.
Always loved the flags but they don't work for me on the virtual era background.
Yeah it was an interim period between the October 1997 rebrand (where they adopted the updated flags motif) and the move from N1 to N9 some time in later 1998. A friend of mine worked on the last bulletin out of N1 (and incidentally the first bulletin in N1 back in 1993) and I think he said it was in about September/October 1998. Most people associate the later flags era with N9 probably because more clips survive online and also they did about 18 months in there before the April 2000 corporate rebrand.
In terms of the last branding in N1, I agree with you. I don't think it works very well with the virtual era design. It looked better on standard news bulletins as they replaced the background with a shot of the newsroom. It didn't look quite as claustrophobic as it seems The World Today did, though. The virtual era N1 worked best with the 1995 designs, in my opinion.
Just to follow up on this, here is a World News bulletin from May 1998, still broadcast from N1 at this point:
Whereas on The World Today they used a solid flags motif background, on World News they used a shot of the newsroom which looks infinitely better in my opinion. Of course, once they moved to N9 later in the year they actually got the real thing then.
By the way, the giveaway as to whether World was in N1 or N9 is the aspect ratio. If news output is full 4:3 as in that clip above, they were in N1. If it is 14:9 (small black bars at the top and bottom) they had moved to N9 which was widescreen capable. World Pres remained 4:3 though until the channel eventually went 16:9 many years later.