DO you remember “The Chair”?
One evening last month, in what was the broadcast news equivalent of a Stephen King horror movie, viewers tuning in for Scotland Tonight were met with the sight of an empty studio and an equally unoccupied chair. Into what troubled waters had this Marie Celeste sailed?
It was a bone-chilling sight – well, it was if you were the producer on duty. The flippant among us grabbed the popcorn and watched on as frantic efforts were made to resume normal service. They say the presenter’s ghost still walks the ramparts of STV HQ at night, sobbing.
Viewers do love a television blooper, and you can bet John MacKay’s favourite tie that The Chair is heading for the next episode of It’ll Be Alright On the Night.
So well done STV for putting that awful experience to one side and launching new studio sets for STV News in Glasgow and Aberdeen.
The revamp comes at a time when STV in general is repositioning itself for a groovy new future, complete with a radio station aimed at the 35-54 market. Consider the makeover of STV News, including the flagship News at Six, still Scotland’s most watched news show, as the equivalent of mum getting Botox and dad having his nose hairs trimmed.
Not that those splashing the cash would describe it as such. The press release speaks of “dynamic video walls” to “enhance storytelling and allow greater flexibility for presenters to move around the space”.
Why are television news producers obsessed with moving presenters around? We’ve all known since Angela Rippon high-kicked her way out of a desk on Morecambe and Wise that presenters had legs.
More space means reporters can now join the presenters on set to “casually” chat through stories. Normally scruffy correspondents will have to up their shoe game now feet are likely to be in shot. So no more Garfield slippers for Colin Mackay.
Why change a winning formula, you might ask? The reason is largely technical. You might sit down with your tea at 6pm to watch the news, but others are catching up on their phones and iPads when it suits. The new set should look better on Instagram, TikTok and other digital platforms.
Plus, the Scottish Parliament elections take place next year, and STV will be competing with the tech bros at Sky and the BBC for the whizziest graphics.
And finally, as they say, it’s nice to have a refresh now and again.
Everything was all right on the night. With their new clothes and haircuts, the lads and lassies looked like weans on their first day at school. No one was bold enough to do the walking-talking thing yet, though Raman the sports guy did some nifty pivots between anchor Kelly-Ann Woodland and the camera.
Overall, it was lighter, brighter, and sharper with best of all a big new map for Sean the weatherman. Just a pity the news didn’t match the sunnier outlook, with the usual mayhem and bams on the menu.
In the words of young Mr Grace, you’ve all done very well. Spoilsports.