Popping the question: which channel?

I'll declare an interest from the start on this one.  I've worked for ITV as a presentation scheduler for nearly six years, so have had a small hand in the on-air execution of many live national events - sporting and otherwise - since 2005.  Despite the effort we all put in there's always been a sense that when the event is simulcast on BBC One it's all a bit futile, as everyone will be watching the other side.  I can't really argue with that - as soon as you leave the womb it's pretty much drummed into your head that you turn to the BBC at time of national unity, and if you don't you're a bit strange.  And whilst I've had much more interest in ITV's coverage since I've started being involved in it (often recording it to have a look back at later), I've pretty much stuck to that. 

The crowds when we visited Buckingham Palace the night before the wedding

The initial announcements about the coverage didn't sound especially promising.  Apart from an initial furore over David Dimbleby not hosting on the BBC (which somewhat missed the point as he's done mainly funerals and also the Golden Jubilee coverage in the last 20 years) it was more or less business as usual.  Huw Edwards has been Dimbleby's heir apparent for some time now, a veteran of BBC Wales election nights and gradually taking over the coverage of previously Dimbledonian events such as the opening of Parliament.  Meanwhile ITV announced that Phillip Schofield - off of This Morning (makeovers, interviews with reality TV stars, phone-ins about losing weight etc) would host with Julie Etchingham from News at Ten.  It sounded very much like the old order would be preserved, with Huw doing the statesman routine whilst Phillip points at dresses and mentions Diana a lot.  In the event, something strange happened.

The temporary studio complex outside Buckingham Palace

The omens weren't good.  Some bright spark at BBC Breakfast thought that putting Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams - one of the best presenting duos on television - in different locations along the wedding route, and then making them present the programme as if they were still sitting next to each other, was a good idea.  This inevitably led to lots of awkward pauses, and a rather surreal newspaper review where each took turns to show their selection of papers from their part of SW1.  Kelvin MacKenzie turned up later on, charmless as ever, choosing the occasion to go on a rant about the media not being responsible for Diana's death.  In contrast Daybreak seemed a seamless operation, which is something of a rarity.

We had planned to watch the BBC coverage, switching over from time to time to see what was going on chez Schofield.  Within the first hour, it was becoming clear that the old order didn't seem to apply today.  The BBC seemed to have forgotten that today was meant to be a happy day, instead intoning on us what we could expect, when we could expect it and why we should all sit up and be interested in it.  Every so often, someone aged around 150 would be wheeled on to tell us why today was so important.  One of these duffers said "if you watch it on TV you'll forget it, that's why I'm here".  That's us told then.

When flicking over, there was quite a contrast.  Phillip Schofield and Julie Etchingham were having a ball, upbeat and humourous, talking to commentators who were asking the questions we were.  Schofield was in his element here, making gags about the police "not kettling" the public on the Mall as they were brought forward and talking of a woman being smuggled into the Goring Hotel ("we assume it was a lady, the disguise could have been good").  He also started talking us through the Facebook Royal Wedding drinking game as guests were arriving at Westminster Abbey ("you're probably on the floor by now") and pointed out a man with his underwear hanging out behind Granada's Lucy Meacock in Downing Street.  Later on, Julie's News at Ten co-host Mark Austin was assigned the "in the crowd" role, being given a Scout neckerchief to wear and offered vodka and Red Bull before getting completely stuck in the throngs as they moved forward, with Schofield joking they would stay with him continuously.  Austin ended up trending worldwide on Twitter thanks to his amusing inserts into proceedings.

Meanwhile back with Huw, things weren't getting any better.  Fearne Cotton had once again been assigned the "crowd" role, something she's been doing since Live 8 and still seems to ask questions either with straight yes or no answers or completely obvious responses that don't add anything.  It's a time honoured BBC format, having a "light-hearted" insert into proceedings (think of the various embarrassing attempts over the years on election night) but if there was one occasion where they could have changed the tone of the whole thing to match the obvious joy of the crowds outside, this was it.  And here lies the problem - having Cotton, Bowman, Baker et al on location is sod all use if every few minutes you go back to Huw Edwards, AKA Misery Bear, in his bubble of gloom outside the palace.

After a while, we found ourselves sticking with ITV1 more and more, and when switching back to the Beeb just in case we were missing a moment of national unity, immediately found out that we weren't.  Edwards still hasn't mastered the ancient Dimbledonian art of essentially talking to yourself for hours and hours without sounding like you're losing it.  Some basic errors ensured the BBC coverage remained stuffy and aloof, such as basing it in a sealed studio high above the crowds as opposed to ITV's ground level open studio.  Frequently Phil would turn around and interact with the hordes outside the palace, including memorably following the balcony kiss where he gave Julie a peck of her own after much encouragement!  Frequent use of split-screen by ITV was also a straightforward way which allowed you to feel you were seeing more. 

Even the basics seemed to elude our national broadcaster yesterday.  During the RAF fly-past they seemed more concerned about attempting to make contact with Jake Humphrey inside one of the planes (despite the link being barely watchable) than actually covering the damn thing.  Then there was a swift cut to an incredibly pointless news bulletin (who on earth would be tuning in for a roundup, most of which was about the wedding?) rather than carrying on with the coverage.  They let their main parliamentary broadcaster, the knowledgable Andrew Neil, slip through their fingers to appear on ITV instead.  Finally William and Kate's unexpected drive down the Mall - complete with L plates and "JU5T WED" numberplate - was supplemented with chat on the Beeb about how William was driving competently and that this was probably a security risk, rather than simply reflecting the joy of the crowds as ITV did.

Massive wodge of cables taped to railings outside Buckingham Palace - remind me of the YSTV days!

The unusual thing about an eight-hour broadcast, supplemented in today's world by Twitter, Facebook and internet forums, meant that there was time for many to notice this turn of events for themselves.  As early as 10am people were already commenting on the dullness of the Beeb and how ITV were judging the mood far better.  To my astonishment many who wouldn't normally give ITV the time of day actually started switching over.  By the time of the ceremony itself the received opinion was that ITV had already won the day.  So what went right?

Despite the worries about the suitability of Phillip Schofield, it's easy to forget that he's one of the best presenters of his generation, having honed his skills filling for time when bits of film snapped whilst in-vision in the BBC1 continuity announcer's booth.  The wedding coverage can probably be considered his career peak so far.  The snobbery about This Morning I referred to earlier is also misplaced.  The programme today is far removed from the Richard and Judy years - it's a remarkably slick, fairly journalistic operation that is a credit to daytime TV, and essentially importing the format to the wedding coverage worked a treat.  Coupled with the professional Julie Etchingham - also a graduate of Children's BBC interestingly - they made for a formidable team.  In contrast Huw seemed lonely, almost downbeat, with only the occasional ancient posho for company.

And yet, this isn't actually that unusual a turn of events.  ITV's coverage of the General Election and particularly the 2008 US elections was widely perceived to have punched above it's weight, the latter being a particularly dark night for David Dimbleby in Washington, being outshone by Alastair Stewart in Grays Inn Road.  And, before the HD goal fiasco ruined everything (which let's not forget was human error in an external company), the ITV coverage of the most recent football World Cup was much lauded as having a fresh presentational style, in contrast to Lineker and Hansen doing the same dull old thing on the BBC.

The ratings for these were massively in favour of the BBC and as they trickle out the wedding ratings seem much the same (4 to 1 according to early overnights).  That much shouldn't be too surprising for reasons I've already outlined.  But the modern revival of ITV will be much boosted if it can continue to win PR victories like this, with the aforementioned Twitter verdict and newspaper after newspaper after newspaper queuing up to come to much the same conclusion.  With rather unfortunate timing BBC One chose yesterday as the occasion to premiere their new "aren't we great" trailer, an increasingly rare sight in recent years.  The tagline "when it's worth watching, watch it with us", for one day at least, didn't apply.