The Sunday Times - UK (2022-06-05)

The Sunday Times June 5, 2022 2GN 7

BBC rises above the blunders of 2012 ... and ordinary people are the stars

The tourists thrust a camera

at her, wanting photos with

the man who spent time with

the Queen, and, clearly

amused, she played along.

The main misstep was in

Thursday evening’s coverage

of the beacon-lighting, which

distinctly lacked beacons

being lit. From her pergola

Young told viewers of the

hundreds of beacons around

the country, yet then spent

most of the time chatting to a

giggling Lulu, Gloria

Hunniford and the fashion

designer Julien Macdonald.

Viewers might have

preferred a little longer

witnessing the glory of

Hadrian’s Wall, or the beauty

of Normanton Church at

Rutland Water lit in purple

and white, or the joy of

residents of Unst in the

Shetland Islands dressed as

Vikings to light their fire.

Overall, Davie will

probably feel that the BBC

has delivered so far, although

there is still the opportunity

for everything to veer off

course with today’s jubilee

pageant. There has been

extra pressure: the BBC has

had to keep not only its critics

happy, but also the most

discerning viewer of all: the

Queen, who watched Friday’s

service from Windsor.

and Dame Maureen Lipman

were rolled out, but the

difficulty for all guests was

that it is a guessing game. It is

hard to share any great

insight into a woman we all

think we know, but on whom

we project so much. A

common line was that they

had met the Queen once or

twice but couldn’t really

remember what was said.

It was the non-celebrities

who provided the best

anecdotes. On Sky News,

Richard Griffin, a former

royal protection officer,

revealed that the Queen once

met two American hikers

who didn’t recognise her, and

when they asked if she had

ever met the monarch, she

said no, but that Griffin had.

derogatory term “Micks” to

refer to the Irish Guards by

one of their former officers,

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton,

who had also been principal

private secretary to the Duke

and Duchess of Cambridge

and Prince Harry. Edwards

chipped in to add that the

officers call themselves this.

Inevitably, a conspiracy

theory emerged on Twitter

about the BBC’s coverage,

after Dimbleby did not

comment on Boris Johnson

being booed at the

thanksgiving service on

Friday. The truth was that the

jeers could not be heard

inside St Paul’s, but other BBC

presenters could hear, and

reported them.

Young, 53, combined

gravitas, wisdom and

warmth, illustrating why she

has been so missed since she

left Radio 4’s Desert Island

Discs in 2018 because of

health problems. Some of her

guests have, however,

struggled. You could easily

imagine the ideas meeting in

W1A about who should pop

on to the velvet sofa: who

better to speak about the

country’s greatest national

treasure than the other

national treasures?

Sir Michael Palin,

Dame Penelope Keith

It is hard

to share

great

insight

about five minutes into its

coverage of Trooping the

Colour — the BBC seemed in

danger of running out of

superlatives. It was all “truly

historic”, “remarkable”,

“unique”, “momentous”,

“magnificent” and

“spectacular”. Edwards in his

excitement gushed that the

Cambridge children were

“perfecting the art of waving

and smiling at the same time”.

Some viewers were

angered by the use of the

one of his predecessors, Mark

Thompson, who was

questioned by MPs about

errors during the Diamond

Jubilee.

This is about more than

simply avoiding the mistakes

of a decade ago, though: it

has also been a chance to

repair relations between two

national institutions.

The jubilee represents a

public rapprochement

between the BBC and the

royal family, a year after the

Duke of Cambridge made his

anger at the broadcaster clear

over the deceitful behaviour

of the former Panorama

presenter Martin Bashir that

led Diana, Princess of Wales

to give him her explosive

interview, and the way the

BBC covered up his

misdemeanours for 25 years.

That relations have

improved was clear from the

Queen’s granting the BBC

access to personal footage of

her family for last Sunday’s

BBC1 documentary

Elizabeth: the Unseen

Queen, but the heightened

deference that has

aggrieved a smattering

of republicans

perhaps reflects

bridges still being

rebuilt.

At times — including

sick bag decorated with the

Queen’s face — was

particularly condemned, but

the coverage was also

criticised for its lightweight

tone and inaccurate

commentary.

Last week Charlotte

Moore, the BBC’s chief

content officer, vowed that

presenters would be well

briefed this time; Huw

Edwards even knew the

names of the shire horses that

carried the drummers during

Trooping the Colour (Ed and

Harry), which was watched

by an average of 5.3 million

viewers.

Ever fretting about how the

BBC is perceived, Tim Davie,

the director-general, will have

been keen to avoid the fate of

It is a national ritual: every
big royal event, from
weddings to the Diamond
Jubilee and the Duke of
Edinburgh’s funeral, is
followed by a packed postbag
of complaints to the BBC.
So far, though, the
murmurs of discontent about
the Platinum Jubilee — at least
from monarchists — have
been faint.
The BBC has tried hard to
keep the critics quiet:
bringing back the beloved
Kirsty Young to anchor the
coverage from a plush
pergola in St James’s Park;
putting a Dimbleby (David) in
St Paul’s for the service of
thanksgiving; having its hero
of Kyiv, Clive Myrie, fronting a
documentary about the
Crown Jewels.
BBC bosses were
determined to get it right.
Looming large in their minds
was the bungled coverage of
the Diamond Jubilee in 2012,
which attracted almost 4,
complaints for programming
that was deemed too informal
and occasionally even
disrespectful. A segment by
the presenter Fearne Cotton
about royal memorabilia —
in which she discussed a

Rosamund Urwin
Media Editor

It was all

truly

historic,

unique

Kirsty Young

anchored the

BBC’s coverage of

the celebrations

Horse Guards Road

Green Park

St James’s Park

Westminster Bridge

HM Treasury

BUCKINGHAM

PALACE

Houses of

Parliament

Portcullis

House

River Thames

Parliament

Square

Westminster

THE MALL

ST JAMES’S PARK

GREEN PARK

No public

access on

Horse Guards

Parade

North grandstand

Queen Victoria

Memorial

Ticket

holders

entry

ACT I: FOR QUEEN
AND COUNTRY
The bells of Westminster Abbey
will ring as they did on
Coronation Day in 1953,
followed by a military parade
thanking the Queen for her role
as head of the armed forces

ACT II: THE TIME
OF OUR LIVES
A nostalgia-filled celebration of
seven decades of music, culture
and fashion with a cast of 2,
members of the public, the oldest
aged 99. Some 150 celebrities
will include Sir Cliff Richard,
Kadeena Cox, the Paralympian,
and Alan Titchmarsh

ACT III: LET’S
CELEBRATE
A spectacular tribute to the
Queen in 12 chapters will
feature a Bollywood take on her
wedding day in 1947 and an
Afro-Caribbean carnival-style
interpretation of her coronation
in which the Queen’s purple and
white robe will be represented
by 80 dancers, plus a 21ft
dragon puppet

ACT IV: HAPPY
AND GLORIOUS
A musical finale led by
Ed Sheeran will close the show
around the Queen Victoria
Memorial in front of
Buckingham Palace. The
national anthem will be sung,
with the royal family likely to
be looking on from the balcony

THE PLATINUM

JUBILEE PAGEANT

2.30pm – 5pm,
To d ay

On TV

Live coverage begins on BBC

One and BBC iPlayer at 1pm

Ticket holders only

Public viewing areas

Ticketed seating areas

Green Park ticket-only

access/Buckingham Gate

ticket holders access only

Media only areas

Parade route

Public viewing screen

First aid

Food and drink

Toilet

Accessible toilet

Drinking water

Unticketed access

Step-free unticketed

access

KEY

Westminster

Abbey

South grandstand

Ticket

holders

entry

BIRDCAGE WALK

WHITEHALL

Admiralty

Arch

FINISH

START

The celebrations conclude

today with street parties and

picnics across Britain,

including a jubilee lunch for

5,000 people who will sit

down at 500 tables along the

Morecambe Bay seafront.

While tens of thousands

will head to London for the

pageant, millions are set to

celebrate closer to home

with their neighbours.

More than 70,000 Big

Jubilee Lunches have been

planned across the

weekend, some with big

screens showing the

pageant, which runs from

2.30pm to 5pm. The Eden

Project, in Cornwall, came up

with the idea for nationwide

lunches, and will offer free

entry at its site to visitors

who can eat their picnics

accompanied by a brass

band and circus performers.

Meanwhile, in

Morecambe, a huge line of

tables on the picturesque

promenade will attempt to

beat the 1.5-mile world

record for the longest street

party set in Coombe Martin,

TAKE YOUR

PICK FROM

A FEAST

OF EVENTS

n, St James’s Park

her

e

on

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Admiralty d ty

ArchAAAAArcccchhh

Devon, during the Golden

Jubilee. Red, white and blue

smoke cannons will fire

across the bay.

Not to be upstaged,

Windsor Castle will make its

own record attempt, turning

the Long Walk into the “Long

Table”: 488 tables set with

enough places to enable

around 3,000 local people to

dine. The Earl and Countess

of Wessex will join them.

The Prince of Wales and

the Duchess of Cornwall,

who is a patron of the Big

Lunch project, will enjoy a

meal at the Oval cricket

ground, where they will see a

felt art creation depicting

food from the Platinum

Pudding to scotch eggs.

Over at Wembley stadium,

1,000 local residents will

share a jubilee meal on the

pitch with Sir Geoff Hurst

and former England player

Karen Carney. Sports fans

can also glimpse the Queen’s

baton relay, which is taking

place ahead of the

Commonwealth Games in

Birmingham this summer. It

will visit London’s Royal

Docks at 2.30pm, where it

will be met by a performance

from the English National

Ballet’s youth company.

Some of the UK’s most

impressive historic

properties will host picnics,

including Brodie Castle in

Forres and Lincoln Castle,

while Longleat House in

Wiltshire will welcome

visitors with royal heralds.

For those who want a side

of nostalgia with their

sausage rolls, there are

plenty of 1950s-themed

events, including a picnic in

Clarence park, Bury, and a

garden party in Findhorn in

Moray, Scotland. And the

Rotary Club of Bodmin will

drive a vehicle from each of

the 70 years of the Queen’s

reign on a 70-mile route

through Cornwall.

The pageant will be shown

live on open-air screens in

Princes Street Gardens,

Edinburgh, Bute Park,

Cardiff, and St James’s Park,

London, as well as in pubs

across the country.

vevever r

rTThames

PETER LOPEMAN / ALAMY LIVE NEWS; NICK DIMBLEBY

The pageant will

include puppet

corgis, and a

cavalcade of

classic Jaguars

transporting

celebrities such

as Dame Joan

Collins, right.

Dame Laura

Kenny, pictured

in graphic, top,

will ride a bike