[WillPS]

News bulletin at 1:00 with Rajini Vaidyanathan on BBC News

I don’t understand why the news bulletins in an election programme don’t solely focus on other news.

Notwithstanding a major news event, I don't really understand why they're needed at all in this day and age.

[AndrewP]

It seems to me that the BBC Radio coverage is running a lot smoother than the TV coverage.

There's been a lot of banter amongst the contributors, and Nick Robinson's long history in politics has meant he has been able to bring unparalleled insight into the discussion - not mentioning the many good-natured quips he's been able to make.

Aside from the immovable feast of the Shipping Forecast on R4, the whole programme so far has felt fast-paced and engaging.

They've also been reading out some audience comments; apparently on the video feed on the website you can see into the green room, someone said the people in there looked straight out of The Thick of It!

[London Lite]

Apparently R4 did fade out for the Shipping Forecast at 0048 with the Election programme continuing on 5 Live.

[Transmission]

I've not always been a fan of how BBC News have been using graphics recently, but I think the half-screen results graphics that have been used quite often tonight have been very good, especially when used to put up relevant data during discussions. It's a simple thing and the graphics themselves are quite simple but tell the story well, I like Sky's coverage but I've only seen their version of these used a few times on the video wall (though of course the main part of their coverage will be in daytime, so there might be more bells and whistles then).

On the other hand, when the BBC's coverage descends into two MPs shouting over each other, graphics aren't everything...

[Brekkie]

Notwithstanding a major news event, I don't really understand why they're needed at all in this day and age.

I guess it's giving the main team a few minutes break. And of course they should round up the main election stories of the night.

[Stooky Bill]

London's results won't be announced until Saturday. I remember the one for Mayor wasn't announced until late on Saturday night.

The first few were done on Friday and the result of the London Mayor always came just too late for the local news programmes. BBC London spent their whole half hour talking about it and anticipating it.... but couldn't actually show the announcement

[Brekkie]

It may pass for local elections but really don't think Studio B looks that great in election mode.

[mcrdev]

Notwithstanding a major news event, I don't really understand why they're needed at all in this day and age.

On a long, otherwise unstructured, live programme, having those regular breaks are extremely useful for loo breaks, swapping people around (both in the studio and behind the scenes), having a quick chat with presenters, fixing any minor issues and a whole host of other little things which you would otherwise either struggle to do or not be able to do at all. They're also a good excuse to cut away from a guest who won't shut up or move on - "I'm sorry Mr Smith, we're going to have to leave you there as we need to go to the news".

[WillPS]

On a long, otherwise unstructured, live programme, having those regular breaks are extremely useful for loo breaks, swapping people around (both in the studio and behind the scenes), having a quick chat with presenters, fixing any minor issues and a whole host of other little things which you would otherwise either struggle to do or not be able to do at all. They're also a good excuse to cut away from a guest who won't shut up or move on - "I'm sorry Mr Smith, we're going to have to leave you there as we need to go to the news".

Could the same not be achieved with weather, TOTH junctions and/or an OB or small studio set up to do Paxman style interviews?

[Brekkie]

It's an election programme - people expect a round up of election news, not the weather!