Clean BBC One handover to BBC News Channel still the exception

Possibly the untidiest junction on UK TV – and it’s on BBC One: the nightly handover to the BBC News Channel.

More often than not, BBC One simply crashes into the BBC News Channel.

BBC One might just have shown its own Weather for the Week Ahead – but rather than playing some additional trails to pad out, they usually have no issue crashing into the middle of a weather forecast on the BBC News Channel only a minute or so later.

The late-night junction is generally treated with very little care by the schedulers and playout staff.

Joining on the hour or half hour are the two most viable options. Having short filler programmes available – of varying lengths – would help. Compilation versions of Click or The Travel Show perhaps?

In recent months, there have been some signs of improvement, such as last night, when network BBC One used 1 minute 22 seconds of the BBC News Channel countdown sequence to hit the start of the 2am news programme cleanly.

BBC One Scotland handed across to the BBC News Channel later in the night, as it had its own programmes earlier in the evening. BBC One Wales was taking network continuity at this time.

BBC One Northern Ireland was still about, though they experienced a technical glitch when joining the countdown. They also inserted a sting prior to joining network BBC One for the countdown.

Acknowledgements