The BBC has swung from one extreme to another, closing Pebble Mill to save money and centralise, only to move output to Salford a few years later.
It must have been amazing in TV Centre in its heyday, with so many different types of prgrammes going on at the same time. Light entertainment, comedy, drama, news, TOTP, sport, and all vertically integrated.
With drama either being produced on location (thanks to the modern compact cameras) or in purpose built drama studios like in Cardiff (one of the reasons Doctor Who looks so much better now), and so many shows instigated and run from elsewhere, I guess TV centre must have lost much of its life. Commissioning a new programme from Endemol or Hattrick isn't quite the same as someone from one floor proposing something to someone on another floor of the same building...
Since the move north to beautiful downtown Salford, I have noticed that all the young gals who read the news and weather seem to have adopted a flat vowel version of BBC English: coop for cup and laff for laugh, Blackwall Toonel etc etc, or should I 'say' 'n all that stoof.
Since the move north to beautiful downtown Salford, I have noticed that all the young gals who read the news and weather seem to have adopted a flat vowel version of BBC English: coop for cup and laff for laugh, Blackwall Toonel etc etc, or should I 'say' 'n all that stoof.
This has been a bugbear of mine, too. Apart from the regular presenting couples, every single accent you hear on BBC Breakfast now is a Manc one. If they need to get some vox pops about, say, the decline of the high street, you can guarantee it'll be in Manchester city centre. It's like you've stumbled upon a Northern regional news variation by mistake.
Since the move north to beautiful downtown Salford, I have noticed that all the young gals who read the news and weather seem to have adopted a flat vowel version of BBC English: coop for cup and laff for laugh, Blackwall Toonel etc etc, or should I 'say' 'n all that stoof.
Reminds me of the late royal brown nose Sir Alistair Burnet would always say plarstick instead of plastic and one night anounced that Ford had increased the prices of some of their cars includeing the granada ghia ten (X).
Since the move north to beautiful downtown Salford, I have noticed that all the young gals who read the news and weather seem to have adopted a flat vowel version of BBC English: coop for cup and laff for laugh, Blackwall Toonel etc etc, or should I 'say' 'n all that stoof.
This has been a bugbear of mine, too. Apart from the regular presenting couples, every single accent you hear on BBC Breakfast now is a Manc one. If they need to get some vox pops about, say, the decline of the high street, you can guarantee it'll be in Manchester city centre. It's like you've stumbled upon a Northern regional news variation by mistake.
While I can slightly (only slightly, mind you) understand the chippy northerners chagrin at the London-centric nature of broadcasting previously, at least in London if you stop someone for a vox pop you are just as likely to get a Cornish accent as a gawd-blimey-geezer cockney. Add to that that 10% of the population live here (London - not Algarve) and that increasingly they are conducting interviews with people via a little box in London, because that's where Hollywood celebs come to. It won't be long before the good folk of Yorkshire or Tyneside are moaning about it all being about Manchester, just as they did when it was centred in the capital...
A programme on BBC4 just now talking about the 50 year history of it and our old director,Lord Michael Grade, is wearing his red Charlton socks!
Good man.
sat opposite him on the train on the way back from old trafford 4-1cup defeat in the first class only place i could get a seat . got moved on when the guard came round. was quite surprised when he never had a first class ticket either.
Since the move north to beautiful downtown Salford, I have noticed that all the young gals who read the news and weather seem to have adopted a flat vowel version of BBC English: coop for cup and laff for laugh, Blackwall Toonel etc etc, or should I 'say' 'n all that stoof.
This has been a bugbear of mine, too. Apart from the regular presenting couples, every single accent you hear on BBC Breakfast now is a Manc one. If they need to get some vox pops about, say, the decline of the high street, you can guarantee it'll be in Manchester city centre. It's like you've stumbled upon a Northern regional news variation by mistake.
While I can slightly (only slightly, mind you) understand the chippy northerners chagrin at the London-centric nature of broadcasting previously, at least in London if you stop someone for a vox pop you are just as likely to get a Cornish accent as a gawd-blimey-geezer cockney. Add to that that 10% of the population live here (London - not Algarve) and that increasingly they are conducting interviews with people via a little box in London, because that's where Hollywood celebs come to. It won't be long before the good folk of Yorkshire or Tyneside are moaning about it all being about Manchester, just as they did when it was centred in the capital...
Yes, there can be a London bias, but London is extremely cosmopolitan, and attracts people from all over the world, never mind the country. When you go through the big name broadcasters, they are representative from all corners of the country and beyond, whereas the danger of MediaCity UK is that is becomes very Greater Manchester centric.
Yes London- centric was the charge levelled against the bbc, I also found it strange that BBC sport moved to Salford the year of the London Olympics, but that was far too logical a criticism for any reason to dare and speak out about why Salford?. With new HQ's at Scotland and Drama moving to Wales it has little logic. Salford keys was a barren site, the transport infastructure was created to facilitate this. You could have argued for Liverpool, at least it has a creative heritage?, and just as northern, or Leeds. Have there been any locals that have benefitted from the move to Salford, very few except for low paid jobs, in security, and catering, and most of those are subcontractors. Surely it is the content of the programmes, what do you get on breakfast pre recorded interviews of actors, and bands flogging there latest release. Yes it is pleasant to work in modern offices, but a computer screen looks just the same in an old building as it does in a modern one, and most people spend there day's 'gawping' into them? So as I walked past Bush house today, empty, the TV centre largely empty, and the world wide site empty, where exactly is the saving?. By the way the new Broadcasting house blew it's budget by millions, and the justification to put this into programme making?. Really what programmes exactly are those?
went to see the Danny Baker show there once - it was recorded on a Thursday night and I went straight from the City in my work clothes.
The show relayed on BBC on the Saturday night - watching it on TV, as Danny Baker came down the stairs through the audience I noticed everyone was dressed in jeans & t-shirts except one dick-head who looked like he'd chosen to go out on a casual Saturday night dressed in a suit & tie.
Not too far Rob - I live (when I'm in France) near St.Claud and pass south of Confolens on the N141 twice a week as I play golf at St.Junien. Whereabouts are you?
Uzerche mate, there's a golf coarse at Lanouaille that looks quite nice, you see a couple of the greens from the road and the club house is a big gothic chateau. It just off D704
And the guy who was behind the BBC move to Salford, Peter Salmon, is not even moving to Salford himself! He lives in bloody Richmond.
Married to Sarah Lancashire, actress think the guy has more than one house, typical of higher management, 'do as I say, not as I do'........ He was part of the 'charm offensive', as the guy is very likeable, I only met him a few times, but very charming, and laid back, but then I was taking his photograph so hardly giving the guy a hard time was I?.
BTW, there are still going to be a couple of TV studios in the new complex.
After they have been refurbed yes?...... and bbc studios is another 'outsource' is it not? I was wondering how they were going to put on shows in studio 1 like CIN and the dancing stuff? Oh well I am sure they will cope.
Not sure if Studio one is staying, Ken. The impression I got when I was there in November is that a couple of the other studios are going to be retained as independents after refurbishment.
Gutted about them closing. I'm currently based in Ealing so it's just 10 mins on the tube to white city and would've been a great potential employer. No way in hell i'm moving out of London for them.
Apologies for not getting the love-in here, but isn't this the place where a certain culture existed that encouraged, allowed, tolerated or ignored - depending on your views - the systematic abuse and rape of children?
And only now we learn it was, apparently, semi common knowledge amongst those that worked there.
Excuse me for not mourning the passing of this symbol of failings in the very core of our society.
No it's not Offy. That's like saying everyone who ever went through the army bullied people into suicide. And even if it were, it's a building, unless you really do think walls have ears?
Come on Off_it that is a bit over the top? I have hardly been the biggest supporter of the bbc, when I was there, or when I left. The Saville saga is a stain on the bbc that will takes years to restore, and perhaps it should not? His vile betrayal of his position is appauling, no one is defending that? There is a lot wrong with the bbc, there has always been a lot wrong with the bbc, but like the NHS I am proud of most of the things it does, the common foot soldier's who deliver a world class communication company. Yes sky do some good sports coverage, and there news format has been covered by the bbc on TV, but let's not kid ourselves more crap channels does not make better viewing.
A flagship building which symbolised the organisation. The corrupt organisation that the taxpayer paid for.
I've always been a supporter of the BBC, and conceptually I still am. But the whole Saville saga has "shone a powerful light" on the organisation and, frankly, it stinks.
I genuinely felt quite sad when I first heard about the plans/move. But now, given all that has come out about the place? Sod it. Knock it down. Move on.
Comments
It must have been amazing in TV Centre in its heyday, with so many different types of prgrammes going on at the same time. Light entertainment, comedy, drama, news, TOTP, sport, and all vertically integrated.
With drama either being produced on location (thanks to the modern compact cameras) or in purpose built drama studios like in Cardiff (one of the reasons Doctor Who looks so much better now), and so many shows instigated and run from elsewhere, I guess TV centre must have lost much of its life. Commissioning a new programme from Endemol or Hattrick isn't quite the same as someone from one floor proposing something to someone on another floor of the same building...
Salford keys was a barren site, the transport infastructure was created to facilitate this. You could have argued for Liverpool, at least it has a creative heritage?, and just as northern, or Leeds. Have there been any locals that have benefitted from the move to Salford, very few except for low paid jobs, in security, and catering, and most of those are subcontractors. Surely it is the content of the programmes, what do you get on breakfast pre recorded interviews of actors, and bands flogging there latest release. Yes it is pleasant to work in modern offices, but a computer screen looks just the same in an old building as it does in a modern one, and most people spend there day's 'gawping' into them?
So as I walked past Bush house today, empty, the TV centre largely empty, and the world wide site empty, where exactly is the saving?. By the way the new Broadcasting house blew it's budget by millions, and the justification to put this into programme making?. Really what programmes exactly are those?
The show relayed on BBC on the Saturday night - watching it on TV, as Danny Baker came down the stairs through the audience I noticed everyone was dressed in jeans & t-shirts except one dick-head who looked like he'd chosen to go out on a casual Saturday night dressed in a suit & tie.
typical of higher management, 'do as I say, not as I do'........
He was part of the 'charm offensive', as the guy is very likeable, I only met him a few times, but very charming, and laid back, but then I was taking his photograph so hardly giving the guy a hard time was I?.
I was wondering how they were going to put on shows in studio 1 like CIN and the dancing stuff?
Oh well I am sure they will cope.
And only now we learn it was, apparently, semi common knowledge amongst those that worked there.
Excuse me for not mourning the passing of this symbol of failings in the very core of our society.
I have hardly been the biggest supporter of the bbc, when I was there, or when I left.
The Saville saga is a stain on the bbc that will takes years to restore, and perhaps it should not?
His vile betrayal of his position is appauling, no one is defending that?
There is a lot wrong with the bbc, there has always been a lot wrong with the bbc, but like the NHS I am proud of most of the things it does, the common foot soldier's who deliver a world class communication company. Yes sky do some good sports coverage, and there news format has been covered by the bbc on TV, but let's not kid ourselves more crap channels does not make better viewing.
A flagship building which symbolised the organisation. The corrupt organisation that the taxpayer paid for.
I've always been a supporter of the BBC, and conceptually I still am. But the whole Saville saga has "shone a powerful light" on the organisation and, frankly, it stinks.
I genuinely felt quite sad when I first heard about the plans/move. But now, given all that has come out about the place? Sod it. Knock it down. Move on.