The BBC will broadcast Question Time without an audience and ask viewers to send in questions remotely, in addition to streaminling large parts of its output as part of an effort to keep a core news service on air during the coronavirus outbreak.
The extraordinary measures will mean many distinctive programmes such as the already-cancelled Victoria Derbyshire programme and BBC2’s Politics Live come off air with immediate effect, to be replaced with an expanded rolling news service.
Newsnight and Andrew Marr’s eponymous interview show will remain on air but they will be operating with reduced studio crew and sources suggested they could be targeted if there is an urgent need to reduce staffing levels even further.
The BBC’s director of news, Fran Unsworth, said the measures were necessary to ensure enough staff were available to support the main BBC news bulletins and divert resources towards the rolling news channel.
“Trusted, accurate information is vital in a public health emergency and the BBC has a key role to play,” she told staff in an email. “Like many organisations we are unable to have all our staff on site due to the coronavirus outbreak. We are therefore making some changes to what we do to streamline our output to ensure we can work with fewer people and protect the staff who are at work.”
As part of these measures Question Time will go ahead but be moved to primetime 8pm slot on Thursdays, with viewers asked to submit their questions remotely. Rather than force politicians to travel a different part of the country, from next week the Fiona Bruce-hosted show will stay in the same location.
Many radio stations are already broadcasting programmes presented from home, with Radio 4’s World At One being broadcast to the nation from the kitchen table of presenter Sarah Montague.
Like millions of others, working from home today. My kitchen table is now @BBCWorldatOne studio. #bbcworld pic.twitter.com/Ejs6cQYoRG
— Sarah Montague (@Sarah_Montague) March 17, 2020
However, many BBC television staff told the Guardian they were concerned about coming into the office. There is not the technical capacity to broadcast national television remotely, requiring many staff to head into the broadcaster’s headquarters.
In order to reduce the risk to staff, Unsworth recommending staying two metres apart in the office and using the stairs rather than lifts to avoid close proximity to other people. There will also be increased use of Skype to avoid the need for guests to come into the studio.
The World Service’s the World This Week will be suspended, with World Update to follow. Other programmes being cut include the Andrew Neil Show and Hard Talk. Podcasts including Americast, Beyond Today and The Next Episode will be suspended to concentrate efforts on a main daily Coronavirus podcast.
News summaries on Radio 2, 3, 4 and 5 Live will be combined into a single shared bulletin to reduce resources, while the BBC’s online team will focus attention on a reduced number of social media accounts with large numbers of followers.
Other broadcasters are also taking substantial steps to keep on air during the crisis, with Sky News requiring all staff and visitors entering their studios to pass a thermometer test conducted by a security guard before entering the building.
