Breaking The News BBC Recording, Drygate, Glasgow. Thursday 17th April, 2025

Another visit to Drygate for the recording of Breaking The News, the last in the current series.

We arrived earlier than last time at 11.30 am, way earlier than we needed to, ending up sixth in the queue on a wet and dismal Glasgow morning. At least we were under cover while we waited.  

At noon, the production team let us in, issuing us numbered stickers that dictated the sequence in which the audience was allowed into the recording.  

This time we noticed, thanks to this blackboard, that the coffee wasn't actually free. Whoops! We snagged a cushioned booth and ate our lunch, watching sports on the big screens and reading on our Kindle apps. With no telephone reception and only weak WiFi internet, we had no contact with the outside world for a whole hour, so I couldn't look up who the fourth, unadvertised panellist was going to be. It turned out to be Welshman Robin Morgan.

The show was slicker than last time, with fewer tangents and digressions that were unusable for broadcast. It was still incredibly funny. Raymond and Felicity tussled even though they were on the same team. Des held it all together marvellously, not needing as many pickups this time. Best joke: "Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos, insisted on taking a photograph of the six beautiful ladies on his Blue Origin spaceflight upon their safe return to earth... as proof of delivery." 

Or that's how I remembered it.

The actual joke went: "When the crew landed, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos took a photograph of them partly to commemorate the occasion, but mainly as proof of delivery." 

On the way back to the station, this mural caught my eye. Does anyone else think this mural resembles comedian Bill Maher? I have no idea who it is supposed to be.

.

Ticket Price: Free