Is it really necessary for nearly all TV channels to have continuous coverage on the queen’s death?
I am sure most people are sad to lose her but the news reports are telling the same things over & over again, showing many photos (which are nice but not when you see them every hour) & even the newsreaders are struggling to find new things to say.
There will be elderly or even young people, who live alone and depend on the TV to keep them entertained in the evenings, so why remove their source of relaxation?
I appreciate that we are in a time of mourning and accept that they needed to use last night to advise all their viewers of the queen’s death, but once they have been advised, shouldn’t people be allowed to deal with it in their own way?
I don’t know how long this will continue, but I do think that many lonely people will need a break from mourning & are maybe unable to afford, or find, any other way to relax!
I know what you mean @Twink55. Officially the country will have 12 or so days of mourning until the day after the funeral. Am sure a lot of people are sad, and that’s natural. But this sense of “I fancy another bit of feeling morose, so i know what I’ll do and turn on TV to get my fix” needs to stop soon. Hopefully after today things will ease up a bit.
I don’t know what we are supposed to do for these 12 days of mourning? All strikes have been stopped, all sports fixtures have stopped, schools and workplaces have the option of staying open or closing for the Queens funeral. The TV will no doubt be concentrating on the Queens passing and King Charles being king, with every celeb passing on their thoughts, memories and condolences. Its sad and a shock, I know, but…12 days?
Looking at the TV Guide on my TV Screen now.
Only BBC1 and ITV1 have continuous coverage about the Queen’s death.
BBC2, ITV2 &3 and most of the other Freeview TV Channels have other programme schedules (although I read an article which advised there will not be any comedy programmes broadcast during the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II)
I think it’s reasonable to set aside time on BBC1 and ITV1 to cover these national events. I get the impression that they have cancelled the usual schedule to be able to report on events as they happen, such as when The King sets off from Balmoral and when he arrives in London.
I can understand folk wanting to pay tribute to the Queen and spend some time thinking about her - she has been such a constant figure in our lives for so long.
I can also understand why the Media would want to repeat the News every few hours in case people miss the earlier broadcasts and have some Special Programmes about it - but I think a lot of the repetition I see every time I switch on the TV is partly to fill in the time whilst waiting for the next thing to happen or the next bit of information from the Palace and report on it.
Personally, I find it a bit intrusive to be watching and filming the family’s every move during this time of their grief and mourning, especially yesterday when they were filming the family members as they were travelling to Balmoral.
@Boot That’s the nature of rolling news. If you ever watch 24 hour news channels, that’s by and large how they operate, through repetition coupled with nigh on instantaneous reporting of the latest development/snippet.
I agree about the intrusion though. Those photos of the dukes arriving at Balmoral in the cars were unnecessary and IMHO inappropriate.
I believe that once you die nobody can help you, but there must have been many people, still alive, who were alone with little to do last night. With so many suicides these days & constant reminders of people with mental health issues, I just felt that repetitive TV was offering no help.
I also feel that the queen’s family should have had a little more time to grieve in private & maybe smile about some of their memories, yet royal protocol meant that Charles had to return to London, so soon after his mother’s death.
These rules were created years ago and are out of date to younger people, so I hope that Charles has some ideas on how to make the royals more modern!
@PixieKnuckles
This is what I found on the topic of comedy just now - this seems like mostly opinion rather than authoritative facts, though.
“Is Comedy really banned?”
“Some, but not all. It’s not that comedy in general is banned, but that the BBC has eschewed the broadcast of any topical satire – so something like Have I Got News For You or Mock the Week would be withheld, but a sitcom could potentially still be broadcast.
It’s also likely that any planned premieres would be postponed, if only because they’re not necessarily great circumstances to make a splashy debut and get a lot of eyes on something.
That’s an editorial restriction that applies to the BBC only, though, and it’s not something the other channels – and certainly not streaming services like Netflix – are actually expected to hold to.
In those instances, it’ll come down to decisions by network executives and how nervous they may or may not feel, or how worried they are by the potential response. (So, The Crown Series 5 – planned for November – will likely be fine, but Channel 4’s upcoming Prince Andrew musical – also planned for November – is probably on thinner ice.”
Thanks Boot…yes I can see how some forms of comedy could be seen as disrespectful (and affect ratings), but I skim read it as all comedy was banned, and was quite perplexed by it.
Totally agree I’ve had to turn tv and radios off because I am fed up with the repeating , my sister who is housebound just text to say she’s turned everything off .
This doesn’t mean to say we are disinterested, but is it really necessary to repeat over and over . We will have 2 weeks of official mourning , let us mourn in our own quiet ways
Amazon has a Condolence message on its front page. Youtube carries a black ribbon. There are giant billboards going up around the country about it all.
We were sitting watching Bargain Hunt, when about 12.45 pm the programme was interrupted by Joanna Gosling about the Queen.We then had countless hours on the BBC, plus all the main channels, basically saying the same thing. I agree about the talking heads jakking away about the bleeding obvious. I’m a supporter of the Monarchy, and thought The Queen had done a marvellous job during her reign, but even my wife, and I had to turn off the telly to stop our heads from exploding!
