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Ok, that confirms what I had heard (about it being painted), thanks!
I saw the Politics Show today (Sunday 12th) on BBC West (the Points West area) and see that they had a local weather slot presented by Ian Fergusson towards the end of the programme, which was a surprise to me. Two questions from this arise,
(1) Are other BBC regions also including local weather in the Politics Show?? and
(2) Ian Fergusson was without a tie, like David Garmston, the guy who presents the Politics Show in this region. Does anyone know if the BBC now has a rule that weathermen are to 'dress down' at weekends? I've noticed that they often have no ties (sometimes unshaven also, like Thomas Schafernaker a lot lately!!) on BBC News Channel at weekends (Ian Fergusson seems to have switched to this style at weekends too, which makes me think it's a rule being enforced by BBC powers in the local weather studios too??)
Thanks for thoughts. BBC Dumbing down for the masses (or weathermen not bothered to wear ties??lol)
(1) yes, regional weather during the Politics Show started when Country File moved to the evenings (although the Country File weather was national rather than regional).
(2) I don't know for sure that there's any sort of policy, but Politics Show is supposed to be 'accessible' and therefore informal, unlike the very worthy and rather stuffy regional political coverage it replaced many years ago. That used to be on BBC Two and was watched by very small audiences ISTR. Ian Fergusson not wearing a tie for this forecast probably fits in better with the style of the programme. AFAIK, breakfast weather presenters don't wear ties either - when Ian does breakfast is he tie-less?
Hello Deejay, thanks for explaining about the Politics Show. I hadn't considered about the Countryfile change, so that makes sense.
I only see Breakfast on Mon-Fri (do they even have regional segments on weekend mornings?). Ian was wearing a tie this morning (and a 3 piece suit, have not seen that before on weather, maybe he will get brave and ask Michael Fish for his old jumpers and jackets!!) and as far as I know, he always does on weekdays, so does Richard Angwin, the other weatherman on Points West. Maybe they are told they must do this, as a rule for just Points West itself? Sometimes I think the BBC is far too stuffy in terms of image, maybe could learn a thing or two from GMTV although I confess to preferring BBC Breakfast in any case!
Did anyone else see that they started Points West this evening with presenters standing up? Much more modern, I thought. They could do the Breakfast news slots like this too, it would look good.
BBC Points West - best regional news programme or what?
Yes, it's painted and ISTR they had a good three weeks or so presenting from the newsroom while the floor was relaid and painted and the set was moved and relit. In that set's first incarnation the floor was gloss black (some Forumers may remember it was a radically different set to the Lambie-Nairn design all BBC news studios had at the time). The studio floor was the original Studio floor from the 60s and the gloss paint did nothing at all for it; it became very spongey and was pitted within weeks making camera tracks rather difficult. IMO the set still looks extremely good.
Ok, that confirms what I had heard (about it being painted), thanks!
I saw the Politics Show today (Sunday 12th) on BBC West (the Points West area) and see that they had a local weather slot presented by Ian Fergusson towards the end of the programme, which was a surprise to me. Two questions from this arise,
(1) Are other BBC regions also including local weather in the Politics Show?? and
(2) Ian Fergusson was without a tie, like David Garmston, the guy who presents the Politics Show in this region. Does anyone know if the BBC now has a rule that weathermen are to 'dress down' at weekends? I've noticed that they often have no ties (sometimes unshaven also, like Thomas Schafernaker a lot lately!!) on BBC News Channel at weekends (Ian Fergusson seems to have switched to this style at weekends too, which makes me think it's a rule being enforced by BBC powers in the local weather studios too??)
Thanks for thoughts. BBC Dumbing down for the masses (or weathermen not bothered to wear ties??lol)
(1) yes, regional weather during the Politics Show started when Country File moved to the evenings (although the Country File weather was national rather than regional).
(2) I don't know for sure that there's any sort of policy, but Politics Show is supposed to be 'accessible' and therefore informal, unlike the very worthy and rather stuffy regional political coverage it replaced many years ago. That used to be on BBC Two and was watched by very small audiences ISTR. Ian Fergusson not wearing a tie for this forecast probably fits in better with the style of the programme. AFAIK, breakfast weather presenters don't wear ties either - when Ian does breakfast is he tie-less?
Hello Deejay, thanks for explaining about the Politics Show. I hadn't considered about the Countryfile change, so that makes sense.
I only see Breakfast on Mon-Fri (do they even have regional segments on weekend mornings?). Ian was wearing a tie this morning (and a 3 piece suit, have not seen that before on weather, maybe he will get brave and ask Michael Fish for his old jumpers and jackets!!) and as far as I know, he always does on weekdays, so does Richard Angwin, the other weatherman on Points West. Maybe they are told they must do this, as a rule for just Points West itself? Sometimes I think the BBC is far too stuffy in terms of image, maybe could learn a thing or two from GMTV although I confess to preferring BBC Breakfast in any case!
Did anyone else see that they started Points West this evening with presenters standing up? Much more modern, I thought. They could do the Breakfast news slots like this too, it would look good.