Articles by Kirk Northrop
Strictly Spineless
Published 23 November 2008
“Therefore the BBC has decided to offer refunds to any callers, who wish to claim one, who voted for John Sergeant and Kristina Rihanoff following the show transmitted on 15…
I’m fed up of the news.
Published 30 October 2008
Over the last couple of years I have steadily watched the quality of the BBC’s news offerings decline with worrying speed. Gone are the days when the winner of last…
Who’s the golden girl now?
Published 10 December 2007
For all those of us wondering (with only passing interest, I might add) who was to take over from Natasha Kaplinsky as the golden girl of BBC News – apparently…
Ker-plunk
Published 5 October 2007
So, Natasha Kaplinsky is off to Five News. Kirsty Young has left Five News, and is busy taking over all the “serious female” jobs at the BBC. I’m only hoping…
Today’s new scandal
Published 23 July 2007
Survival show faces ‘fake’ claim “Here’s one I made earlier!” Actually, no you didn’t, some little runner did. I thought all this, along with the “Gordon Ramsay can’t fish” and…
And if you missed tonight’s show…
Published 19 July 2005
Tough. No more repeats, promises Grade OK, it’s not quite as clear cut as that. Michael Grade has promised to remove all repeats from BBC One and Two by 2016….
Er… Bye Bye Broadcast
Published 27 June 2005
BBC Broadcast sold off for £166m (BBC News) To be honest, I hadn’t even realised this was happening – a lot different to the sell off of BBC Technology that…
Strike Stupidity
Published 24 May 2005
When the BBC strikes were announced, BECTU said they wanted “blank screens and dead air”. And they were sure they were going to get it. And so yesterday around 10,000…
Colour blind weather
Published 16 May 2005
The Changes in BBC Weather Graphics I’m red-green colour blind. Therefore, changes in brown and green are not the easiest things for me to see, particularly in detail on a…
Oh good, some disruption
Published 12 May 2005
Unions announce BBC strike dates (Note, this is a BBC Link) So, a strike then. While I could take the practical and human issue of the job cuts and what…
Electioneering
Published 5 May 2005
So. It’s election night, and it’s time to see what’s happening on the TV. Firstly, the BBC. Their studio is lovely. Much nicer than ITV’s rather dull, blue effort. Except…
Taking Stock
Published 5 April 2005
Have you ever noticed that BBC News Online often have some odd photos to illustrate their stories? No? Well besides myself, several others have, and now there’s even a blog…
Governors Gone
Published 2 March 2005
BBC governors axed, license fee to stay (Media Guardian) BBC governors set to be scrapped (Note: BBC) Bore yourself silly with the whole thing (DCMS) Well, the governors are to…
Global impact
Published 15 February 2005
Heggessey defends BBC One record “Among Ms Heggessey’s more controversial moves while at BBC One was her decision to” change the channel idents from the balloon globe to the current…
Heggessey off
Published 14 February 2005
BBC One chief Heggessey to leave If we still had the balloon, we could send her floating off in it.
Paaa, Paaa, Pa Paaaaa
Published 16 January 2005
Channel 4’s New Idents I was always a fan of Channel 4’s last set of idents. In fact, I have always been fond of Channel 4’s idents, even the “Coffee…
Seasonal Greetings
Published 25 December 2004
A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from myself and everyone else at Transdiffusion. To get you in the spirit, Captain Brownlegg has invited you to his Christmas…
Hi ho, hi ho, it’s oop north we go…
Published 7 December 2004
The happy, jolly, positive side from the BBC The truth from the Guardian Well, we all knew it was going to happen, and today it was announced that a chunk…
You can not be serious!
Published 4 December 2004
John McEnroe’s TV talk show axed “McEnroe launched in July with TV bosses hoping his outspoken attitude and opinions would be a draw for viewers.” Hmm. Personally I’m not that…
It’s Hideous!
Published 24 November 2004
R.I.P. Changing Rooms Finally – the show which spawned a thousand clones, and enticed broadcasters to fill endless hours showing viewers how to wreck their living room, has ended. As…
Ofcom’s unintentional teeth
Published 23 November 2004
TV auction channel shuts up shop With Ofcom – and the ITC before it – often accused of having no teeth, it came as some of a surprise when they…
Up goes the licence fee
Published 18 November 2004
TV licence to increase to £126.50 Well, up goes the licence fee, to help provide, “a strong and distinctive schedule of high quality programmes” according to Tessa Jowell. Considering the…
“…and now we’re so desparate, we’ll give anything a go.”
Published 5 August 2004
ITV’s Block flops in ratings “Obviously, it was not what we would have hoped for the launch episode, but there are certainly not any alarm bells ringing at the moment….
Bias
Published 14 July 2004
A week in the life of BBC One After praising the BBC for it’s impartiality in an article I have just written, I do think this article reads a little…
Big Brother is Public Service Broadcasting
Published 28 May 2004
I haven’t been able to find any actual press release or web story yet on it, but BBC Radio Five Live are reporting that Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for…
As dull as watching paint dry
Published 28 May 2004
Watching Paint Dry Well, UKTV Style seem to have some up with the perfect antidote for Big Brother crazyness (which starts tonight) – Watching Paint Dry. Yep. Someone paints a…
Mark Thompson gets DG
Published 21 May 2004
Channel 4 boss lands BBC top job Well, is this a good or bad thing? Channel 4 seems to be a lot more entertainment oriented than it used to be,…
ITV property show crashes out of peak time
Published 13 May 2004
Now isn’t that always a brilliant headline to see?
Keating to get BBC 2 job
Published 13 May 2004
Keating set to take BBC2 job Well, it has looked likely all along, but Roly Keating is set to take the BBC2 job when Jane Root leaves for Discovery. I’m…
BBCi Online.co.uk
Published 7 May 2004
BBC Online, no wait, BBCi, sorry, bbc.co.uk Good old BBC. Just a couple of years after the all encompassing BBCi branding was introduced to cover Interactive TV and the Website,…
Lazy BBC
Published 29 April 2004
The BBC are very, very lazy. On News 24 today they are covering a news story involving a crackdown on youth drinking. As is the norm with the news, they…
Happy 40th Birthday BBC2!
Published 20 April 2004
40 years of quality broadcasting The launch night that never was Well, it’s the 40th Birthday of BBC2 today, and what better way for BBCi to advertise it with a…
Rooted out, and chucked out
Published 26 March 2004
Rooted Out Chucked Out Well the reign of Jane Root, controller of BBC2, seems to soon be over, at least if the above article is to be believed. Apparently she…
Culling the shots
Published 12 February 2004
ITV Nottingham to close? We always knew ITV would start cutting costs. We also knew that after Crossroads ended, Nottingham would have a vastly reduced workload. ITV have put two…
Who dares wins
Published 5 February 2004
News 24 does the Job Well, it seems that the News 24 rebrand has done some good – for two out of the last four weeks it has had greater…
A Bad Day for the Beeb
Published 29 January 2004
Well, I was very sorry, and to a certain extent shocked about the news Greg Dyke had resigned. He has done so much for the BBC, and UK broadcasting in…
More on Hutton
Published 28 January 2004
Well, it is interesting to hear the final report from Lord Hutton. I doubt I will ever plough through all 300-odd pages of it, but, I have been disappointed. To…