Viewers of the BBC News channel could be forgiven for thinking they had enjoyed a little bit too much of the festive spirit on Christmas Day.
But no, that really was a bunch of BBC staff dancing around a Christmas tree as the camera swooped across the corporation’s newsroom in the channel’s familiar credits sequence.
Look closely and that wasn’t the only unusual thing, with a giant brown teddy bear sat at one of the desks watching on. Not only that, it didn’t appear to be doing any work. Still, if you’re working on Christmas Day then any opportunity to liven things up is to be seized upon.
Just so long as the opening story that newsreader Julian Worricker is about to read out isn’t a deadly serious one, obviously. He seemed amused by it, as presumably the rest of the nation not watching something else. Like Strictly Come Dancing.
One BBC insider who had the misfortune of working over the holiday period described it as a “bit of spontaneous harmless Christmas fun”. “I don’t think it was very long in the planning,” they said.
What about the response from the not always hugely humorous BBC on high? “Nothing’s been said to my knowledge, hopefully.” Ho-ho-hopefully.
The BBC had not responded to a request for comment at time of publication.
