Archives for June 2010

So happy birthday Television Centre.

Fifty years since the day the BBC first opened the doors on one of the world's first purpose built television production studios on 29 June 1960, its curved exterior façade has become familiar to millions and played host to some of the BBC's most loved shows and star performers.

Panorama heralded the building of Television Centre in a film broadcast in June 1956 and spoke in excited terms about how this building was to represent the future of television and in time help introduce multi-channel television, live satellite broadcasts and colour broadcasting to the UK.

Richard Dimbleby explains further in this clip from the 1956 programme.

But even Panorama could not begin to predict the impact this building - or the content produced within its labyrinthine walls - would have.

TVC - or Telly Centre as it is affectionately known by its employees - is now such an icon that hundreds of people take the Television Centre 'experience' tour everyday.

It is even being honoured with its own night of celebration later this week at the BFI.

There has been the odd low along the way too.

The lowest point probably being the terrorist explosion of 2001.

That bomb was said to have been left in a taxi outside TVC by an Irish republican splinter group in revenge for a Panorama investigation into who was responsible for the 1998 Omagh bombing in which 29 people and two unborn babies lost their lives.

The car-bomb exploded as it was being dismantled. Fortunately no-one was hurt in the incident.

Almost 10 years on, the building is still going strong, producing content as varied as Strictly Come Dancing and Newsnight, but now facing an uncertain future with many claiming it no longer fit for purpose in the digital age.

With that future now in question as the BBC prepares to move much of its production to central London - and part of the building now Grade II listed - TVC prepares to celebrate its 50th birthday, safe in the knowledge that it has played a huge part in the cultural growth of the UK throughout those 50 years.

Just ahead of the release of the final report from the inquiry into the climate change email scandal - now known of course as 'Climategate' - Panorama enters the polarised world of climate science in our latest film, What's up with the Weather?

As global warming scepticism grows, Panorama goes back to basics and asks what we really know about our climate and how it will affect us.

As producer Mike Rudin puts it, "to some, it's a massive conspiracy to con the public. To others, it's the greatest threat to the future of our world."

Panorama reporter Tom Heap speaks to some of the world's leading scientists on both sides of the argument, to find out what they can agree on and uncovers some surprising results.

We'd like you to enter the debate and give us your comment on tonight's programme. Use this forum to share your thoughts.

Tonight's Panorama film investigates the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

President Barack Obama has labelled the spill America's environmental 9/11.

The failure of the blowout preventer - a critical piece of safety equipment - on the Deepwater Horizon rig on 20 April means that up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day are gushing into the sea, wreaking havoc with the region's delicate ecosystem.

Hilary Andersson interviewed one worker on the Deepwater Horizon who told her he identified a leak on a component of the blowout preventer weeks before the explosion. The explosion killed 11 workers and injured many more. That worker is now suing both BP and the rig's owners, Transocean, for negligence.

Panorama spoke to other survivors of the explosion whose lives have been impacted by the oil slick spreading along the coastline and some of the people trying to stem the
environmental damage.

We also address the questions being raised in Washington around BP's responsibility.

Panorama would like to invite you to have your say on the programme and join in the wider debate about oil exploration - its benefits and its pitfalls. You can do so by posting your comments here and joining our conversation.

So there is another football story in town after all.

The news that Manchester United's owners - the Glazer family - are £1.1bn in debt - managed to push World Cup build-up off the back - and front - pages around the world.

The revelation that the Glazer family's business interests are £400m further in debt than previously understood, to be aired on Panorama tonight, has garnered huge global attention.

Manutd.com proclaims United as the world's most popular football team - sustained success on the field and clever marketing off it has seen to that.

The coverage of this latest twist did little to suggest that position is under threat.

Stories in Australia, the United States, Canada and the centre of the football world right now, South Africa however, spread an unhappy picture of United's finances to an eager global audience.

The club maintains that its owners' debts will not impact on Sir Alex Ferguson's team. United's recent collection of trophies appears to bear this out.

The fans certainly hope so. Unofficial fan forums like Redcafe and M-U-F-C however, show that many fans, not just those with red running through their veins, remain to be convinced that this level of debt can be sustained.

Of course, it's no surprise fans with green and gold running through their veins continue to be unhappy. Must, the independent United supporters association and founders of the campaign demanding the Glazer family relinquish control of the club, provided the initial research into the Glazer family's finances. Further details are on Must activist Andy Green's blog.

For their part United have not officially commented on Panorama's story. But in the US a statement released by a spokesperson for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Glazers' American Football League team, said that the 'Bucs' are 'financially well-positioned'. The reaction was decidedly mixed.

Feel free to use this blog to let us know your thoughts arising from tonight's Panorama - remember it is on BBC One at 2235BST.