[Stooky Bill]

I think it varies, depending on whether the production team are off at the same time as the talent.

I don't recall anybody from London going up to Manchester to cover for Mark and Lard on afternoons.

That was very much an outlier on Radio 1, these days where much more of the schedule is from outside London it's a bit different.

6 Music for example is in Salford for most of the day (breakfast is in London, not sure if Drivetime is now) so if a presenter is off the cover will be in Salford too, the production staff are all there and there's a studio there booked for the show. There might not be one in London.

The other difference is that there is more network presenting talent in Salford, in the Mark and Lard days it was just them up north. Now if Craig Charles for example is off, then Chris Hawkins covers as he is based there