BBC1 Closedown

I have never seen such a rushed closedown on BBC1! Straight out of the weather forecast we go to the clock (which has now regained its full colour), with just a brief sign-off by Martin King. The tone kicks in just ten seconds after fadeout. A bad night? Apparently not. An ex-BBC source has been in touch to explain the reason for the hurried activity; in 1981, the late shift officially ended at 12:15am and if things ran just one second over, the BBC would have had to pay everyone overtime. Don’t forget these were the days when the unions could pull a station off the air over such issues.