Originally Posted by Charnham:
“seems to me that the BBC (or any TV channel) should be able to do a better job than that.”
Well, the stuff in Programme Information isn't meant for public consumption, it's there for there for magazines to get a broad idea of the schedules so they know what to put on the cover and the pictures for each day. There's no point making sure you get the proper times in because nobody's going to program their videos based on them.
I remember this thread getting very excited when Monday's 'stEnders was down at 7.30 one week last year and evryone wondered if it was clashing or Corrie was moving, and it was just a typo. See also the long threads both here and on Gallifrey Base about next week's Doctor Who being at 5.45, based on Over The Rainbow's slot of 6.30 being cut and pasted from last week.
NB It's not.
Originally Posted by sn_22:
“A YouTube video of the opening of the 2005 election coverage showed that the BBC started at 9.55pm. They announce the exit poll results (which were almost entirely accurate last time) right on 10pm so need to be on air. They might just squeeze 5 minutes by cutting out trails earlier in the evening - or they could chose to just run a half hour from 9pm and have more build-up.”
Yes, in both 2001 and 2005 the coverage has started at 9.55 and the news itself was incorporated within the election coverage at around 10.15. In 2001, they actually had a 55 minute programme at 9pm (a documentary about Donald 'Bluebird' Campbell) and in 2005 they had the normal schedule but it all budged up a bit.
Before that, in 1992 and 1997, the Nine O'Clock News would be cut to 25 minutes, then there'd be a comedy show at 9.25 - Porridge in 1992, Blackader in 1997 - and the election coverage at 9.55. In 1987, they did a fifteen minute Nine O'Clock News then The Two Ronnies at 9.15.
ITV normally began at 9.55 too but last year they started on the dot of ten o'clock.
As for the day after... the last two elections has seen the Beeb finish their coverage at 1pm, but this has been very early by the traditional standards as before that it would always go on until CBBC began (although in 1997 it was billed to run to 4.30 and it finished at about 3.45 as everything that was going to happen had happened, and CBBC came on early). The Guardian a few months back said that this year's coverage would be the longest ever as many councils have decided to count in the morning rather than overnight, but that's their short memories, it would probably go on to about 4pm regardless.
Last year ITV appallingly gave up at 10.30am, which was ridiculous. In 2001 they carried on throughout the day but stopped for This Morning and some other stuff, their final coverage was an hour between 2.30 and 3.30. Before that they'd run all day until CITV came on. In 1992, TVam did their own coverage but Channel Four, which was then showing The Channel Four Daily produced by ITN, were "officially" continuing ITV's coverage from 6am to 9.25 from the ITV studio with the ITV presenters. In 1983 there was an ITN/TVam co-production.
Obviously this year there's likely to be a hung parliament so for that we have to look back at February 1974. Then, the Beeb's coverage was, as usual, supposed to finish at 4pm but the kids shows were moved to BBC2 so they could carry on until the news at 5.45. Then they were already scheduled to be on again from six to seven, replacing Nationwide, then they came back again at 9.30, again for a show that was always scheduled.
No matter what the outcome is, don't expect ITV to give it any more than the bare minimum of coverage. The Beeb won't keep on broadcasting for ever, 1974 was a bit of a freak because there was absolutely no precedent and the country was in an awful state, David Butler said on the programme there was only two weeks of coal left. It said yesterday that the civil servants have set aside three weeks to sort it out if there a hung parliament, so don't expect continuous broadcasting. The election show will probably run until mid-afternoon then the usual news programmes will take it up.
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