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BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - Printable Version

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RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - AaronLancs - 05-05-2023

(05-05-2023, 03:57 PM)Newsroom Wrote:  
(05-05-2023, 03:41 PM)AaronLancs Wrote:  Talking of all these studios in TVC I have a question. Fast forward to around 2000-ish. How many minutes did it take to get between the main news studios of the time: N2, N8, N9 & TC7?

N9 and N8 were on the same floor (kind of), different buildings joined by a long corridor. It would take no more than 2 mins to get from one to the other. 

N6 was on the same floor as the newsroom in the news centre (new building back then). 

TC7 was a decent walk from the news centre as it was in the original building. 5/6 mins walk I'd say.

Thanks, pardon my brain fog, N6 not N2.

RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - DTV - 05-05-2023

(05-05-2023, 03:57 PM)Newsroom Wrote:  @DTV - would you know where the Gulf War coverage originated from? The same set also featured in the release of Terry Waite.
Judging by the blue desk, cyc and shoulder-height light blue wall in front of the cyc, I'd assume it was the Six O'Clock News set in N1. By 1991, I think only that and the One O'Clock News sets would have been the only ones in the main studios (unlike in the mid-1980s where you had a few extra bits for weekend/Two hanging around).

(05-05-2023, 03:57 PM)Newsroom Wrote:  N6 was on the same floor as the newsroom in the news centre (new building back then).
The actual N6 studio was really in Stage 5 (as was N9), rather than the News Centre (Stage 6). But it could only have taken a few minutes to get from N6 to N8 as one of the News channel presenters had to do it every night just before 21:30.

(05-05-2023, 04:18 PM)JMT1985 Wrote:  still I never understood why they chose one of the main studios, and not comply create their own current affairs studio in the spur block, which would ensure it was right next to the newsroom.
There are a few reasons I can think of: the need to be next to the newsroom is less pressing with current affairs programming; Current Affairs teams still liked a bit of independence from News; but, primarily, it would just have been such a clearly inferior option. The main news studios were relatively small, not very flexible and had no storage space (partially due to N2 taking over the inter-studio lobby and props store in 1984). Had Current Affairs taken over one of them, it would have meant they would have had to share one smaller set across all programmes. They could have created a new studio, but space was rare (look at how tiny WSTV's studio was) and not suitable for the kind of operations that Current Affairs were used to.

On the other hand, taking over TC2 in early 1988, after several months of technical upgrades, gave them a proper studio, with full-size gallery, storage space and newly-created apparatus and graphics areas. It's also important to note that, at the time, the move to TVC was only an interim measure - News and Current Affairs were originally supposed to move to a new News Centre in the White City complex during the mid-90s. This plan ultimately fell through and was replaced with the smaller News Centre at TVC, which, of course, didn't include a single proper television studio.

RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - JMT1985 - 05-05-2023

I am amazed that current affairs remained at Lime Grove for so long, until 1988. That building was falling to pieces come 1988. Even when Breakfast Time launched there in 1983, the staff complained how awful Lime Grove was, especially the smell from the canteen of stale cabbage and Irish stew inside the building.

TC2 was a nice handy studio for current affairs to use, but I wonder why they moved to TC7 as both studios were largely the same in size, I think TC7 was slightly larger, but not by much if at all.

RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - Newsroom - 05-05-2023

On the occasions I was in the (news centre) Stage 6, I recall N6 being through a set of doors at the back of the newsroom and it was there, a mere hop, skip and a jump. Trying to work out how it was in stage 5. Very confusing.

RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - Newsroom - 05-05-2023

All this tripping down memory lane has had me googling.

A brilliant account of how the Six titles and music were created and indeed what came next.

https://www.ravensbourne.ac.uk/bbc-motion-graphics-archive/bbc-six-oclock-news-1984 

RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - DTV - 05-05-2023

(05-05-2023, 05:09 PM)JMT1985 Wrote:  TC2 was a nice handy studio for current affairs to use, but I wonder why they moved to TC7 as both studios were largely the same in size, I think TC7 was slightly larger, but not by much if at all.
I believe it was because they required a technical upgrade to the studio after nearly a decade in TC2 and, because a second studio would have to be brought up to news standards for use as a temporary studio anyway, it was decided it was simpler and less disruptive to just upgrade the second studio and move across.

(05-05-2023, 05:09 PM)Newsroom Wrote:  On the occasions I was in the (news centre) Stage 6, I recall N6 being through a set of doors at the back of the newsroom and it was there, a mere hop, skip and a jump. Trying to work out how it was in stage 5. Very confusing.
N6's gallery was in Stage 6, but the studio itself was fairly slap-bang in the middle of Stage 5 (as close to Stage 4 as 6). Even on the shortest route, there were four sets of doors between N6 and the main newsroom floor. I don't know what it was before, but I assume it was conference rooms or something that allowed an easy conversion.

RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - steve - 05-05-2023

Current affairs also of course had more outside guests and the main block studios were much more set up for that.

I worked on Newsnight one evening and remember thinking, while doing the walk from their offices in Stage 6 to TC7, that if I got separated from the team I could be lost for days.

RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - JMT1985 - 05-05-2023

(05-05-2023, 10:20 PM)steve Wrote:  Current affairs also of course had more outside guests and the main block studios were much more set up for that.

I worked on Newsnight one evening and remember thinking, while doing the walk from their offices in Stage 6 to TC7, that if I got separated from the team I could be lost for days.

I know how you felt, I visited Television Centre many times in the 2000s, and I remember getting lost in the corridors. I was visiting the news centre in Stage 6 and then was going to see a TV show being recorded in TC6 and I remember getting frustrated trying to work my way there in time for the show's recording.

RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - harshy - 06-05-2023

Silly question but does a lot of tvc still exist or has it been converted to flats, next time im in London I would like to visit it even if it’s just the outside :-)

RE: BBC News Pres: Nostalgia - mark - 06-05-2023

(06-05-2023, 11:31 AM)harshy Wrote:  Silly question but does a lot of tvc still exist or has it been converted to flats, next time im in London I would like to visit it even if it’s just the outside :-)
A lot of it has been converted into flats/hotel/restaurants etc, but it still looks like TVC, so it's worth a visit. You can wander into the middle of the doughnut and see the Helios sculpture, which members of the public couldn't do in the BBC days.