[DTV]

I still can’t get my head around how badly this was handled. Presumably Mandela was a Cat 1 which justified immediate interruption but the way it happened was just bizarre.

I wonder if the much more elegant way of interrupting programmes and going straight to news bypassing pres (as with DofE and when Buck Palace put out statement re QEII health) was partly a result of this shambles.

If they’d just run as normal for that 11 minutes into Huw at 10 it would have been immeasurably better.

Especially odd considering that when Thatcher (who must have been in the same category) died a few months earlier, that was confirmed about 10 minutes before the News at One, but sensibly BBC One waited for that to start rather than interrupt. Of course, when Callaghan died, BBC One waited about an hour to even air a short newsflash because they didn't want to deaden the lead-in to the first episode of new Doctor Who, outright refusing News' protests about protocol for former PMs. 

Clearly, (non-royal) obit procedure is not entirely rigid, with final decision making resting with whoever is on duty at BBC One.