BBC Points West's Revamp

Sorry about the game, Draig. Caught the top, then went off to Westcountry Live!

Watched parts of PW itself, the set didn't do much for me, for OR against. I think my only comment is on a technical note.

They need to improve the clarity of the weather maps on that AWFUL screen behind Richard. The weather at around 18:25 on the Six is all blurred because of the camera shooting second-hand back projection, or whatever it is. We now appear to have exactly the same problem for the regional weather on PW.

All the stuff shown on that screen seemed to be dreadful quality, but, with the exception of the weather it was just "back-up" information, so didn't matter as much.

Coverage of the new look including videos of the intro and signoff is already available at The TV Room

Fair dues to the TV Room for the quick caps.

Love the new music, nice titles with scenic shots and like the studio, except for the chairs!

Looks quite good.

But I reckon that the BBC should either:

1)Force all the regions to use a corporate look or
2)Force then to stop using anything to do with the corporate look.

The current sortof-corporate look looks a mess IMHO.

It's a shame TV Room chopped off the rogue closing shot that nearly took Susan's nose off...!

But at least those of us who were battling 6 o'clock traffic are getting to see what the new look's like - thanks Mike!

I quite like the new title music, but agree that the bed they used at the end will sound a little inappropriate for many news items.

Nice to know the Liquid News set is not going to waste!

Err - that isn't the Liquid News set.

It is the 7 O'Clock News (formerly The News Show) set. The Liquid News set WAS skipped - though the plasmas are all back in service on the new BBC Three News set.

A very dynamic new look - the BBC Three influence certainly isn't limited to the set, so it might take a bit of getting used to!

The titles are good, and remind me a bit of the fantastic pre-corporate Spotlight ones. Although it's a shame this is the best shot of Swindon they could manage...!

http://www.thetvroom.com/area-b/images-bbc-west/images-2004/titles-1c.jpg

The set is very impressive, and looks great in this wide shot...

http://www.thetvroom.com/area-b/images-bbc-west/images-2004/main-2.jpg

And I'm very pleased to see that they're still using this nice shot of Bristol as a backdrop...

http://www.thetvroom.com/area-b/images-bbc-west/images-2004/main-9.jpg

I particularly like what they've done with the Astons - a 'flipside' of the national ones, which I think all the regions should adopt...

http://www.thetvroom.com/area-b/images-bbc-west/images-2004/aston-2.jpg

I think the jaunty camera angles are probably the most risky part of the relaunch, so it'll be interesting to see if they'll last. But all in all, I think they've done a great job. BBC West have never been afraid to be a bit different in the past - their early 90s set looked like it was borrowed from Dr Who! Fair play to 'em.

(All pics from The TV Room)

London Tonight's current set springs to mind

Ghastly. Finally the BBC have gone mad, putting so called "style" ahead of functionality.

What a sterile, dark, studio, complete with Dr Evil style 70's seating. Don't even get me started on that desk.

No place for the doily in that set-up, they've chucked out all the chintz.

I'm sorry, I don't get how this set is not "functional". You've got a large projection screen for stand up bits & pieces, a wall of plasma screens for images to be displayed representing each story, a desk in front of said screens, and a soft set sofa with a rear projection screen that can display graphics or a backdrop. Do you have some other definition of functional, because as far as I can see that's more functional then the National news studio and Breakfast studio put together.