Thanks for all the replies so far - wow, it's turned into an interesting nostalgic discussion!
For some obscure reason, the very much extinct programme "Europe Direct" popped into my mind today. It used to air at various times on both BBC News 24 and BBC World.
I was wondering if anyone can remember much about its production history? I know that it launched with News 24 in 1997 and initially was presented from the soft set in N9
Not quite - it actually launched on BBC World a little BEFORE News 24 launched, but just by a little bit. It was produced from the as-yet-unlaunched News 24 soft area ISTR before the channel launched in Nov 1997.
Brian Hanrahan was the launch presenter.
It came from the sofa area in N9, with Europe Direct branded cushions. It was a sofa-based discussion show with guest journalists from the European press (mainly) as pundits. It was a bit like a European version of Dateline London, discussing European issues with European journalists.
When News 24 moved into N8 in 1998 (windswept conservatory era), it came from the sofa area there. I can't remember if it was still a studio show when the sofa area was replaced by a second desk area in the first Lambie Nairn beige/red iteration.
Thanks noggin. I wonder - if you too can't remember what happened to it during the first Lambie-Nairn beige/red era - if it became an on location edit at this point? I certainly don't recall it being presented from the studio during 2001-ish - although, admittedly I can't remember anything at all about it. The article citing the cutbacks in September 1999 might have something to do with it. As I recall, News 24 updated its look in October 1999. That would tie in quite nicely with this theory.
Didn’t Charles Wheeler also present it, before Shirin Wheeler took over the programme?
Any relation?
Charles Wheeler was Shirin Wheeler's father. Shirin hosted the Record: Europe. IIRC it had two title sequences during its time on air: the first with 2 acrobats doing a ribbon dance, as weird as that sounds, and the second with a glass star refracting light. Both sequences had a blue background.
According to LinkedIn, Shirin is now Head of the Video & Social Media Unit at the European Investment Bank (EIB).
I remember the acrobat ribbon dance titles as belonging to a programme called "Euro Brief" which was presented by David Jessel as I recall. It was definitely about the European Parliament and may have been the forerunner to The Record Europe? I don't know about BBC World, but I recall that Euro Brief occupied a Sunday afternoon slot on BBC News 24 in about 2001.
It’s all coming back now........
Good times, actually. I’d forgotten that Brian Hanrahan was a regular news presenter on BBC World back in the day. In fact, didn’t he also appear around 1999 at the turn to the David Lowe era as well?
And I do recall Dan Corbett being the regular weather guy too.
In unrelated news, this thread and subject matter just reminded me that its 21 years ago today since Maxine Mawhinney and Nik Gowing brought us the unfolding events from BBC World (as it was) on the night of Princess Diana’s accident.
BBC World was an incredibly good outlet back in the day.....
Yes, I do recall Brian Hanrahan presenting the main news occasionally. He certainly did from the 2000-2004 set, anyway, on numerous occasions. Also, in around 2003 he occasionally hosted "BBC Four News" and its successor "The World".