A few scripts short of a full bulletin

Philip Hayton presented the One O'Clock News on BBC One for the first time one day in the run up to Christmas 1986. In the gallery, not everything was going to plan. In particular, the director was a few scripts short of a full bulletin.







I remember witnessing minor pandemonium while visiting the back of the gallery at the end of a programme covering the Assembly coming back after one of its short breaks. Autocues weren't quite in the right place, and the final summary VT started to play half way through. I was mesmerised at the authoritative and yet calm voices that echoed around the darkened gallery and into the ear of the presenters a few miles away in the basement of Stormont. And I was amazed at how quickly the adrenaline drained away from the production staff as the programme ended and they shuffled their papers and got up to head for the door. The controlled madness and mayhem evaporated the moment the credits finished and the programme handed over to the presentation suite to introduce the next show.