A group of students from UWL’s London School of Film, Media and Design were given a rare behind-the-scenes insight into one of Britain’s most watched news programmes, the BBC News at Six recently.
Hosted by Chris Cook, Creative Director at BBC News, the visit offered students exclusive, access-all-areas entry to the newsroom, studio, and production gallery. From sitting in the news presenter’s chair to observing live editorial decisions in action, the experience provided a comprehensive look at the scale and precision behind a flagship national broadcast.
During their time in the studio, students met presenter Sophie Raworth, who spoke candidly about her career and reflected that she had been working in television since before any of them were born. The group then remained in the studio to watch her rehearse the programme’s opening moments before transmission – a rare opportunity to witness the calm preparation that precedes a live national broadcast.
As the programme went live, students moved to the control room (gallery), where they observed the director, production team and programme editor making real-time editorial adjustments to the bulletin. The visit concluded with an invitation to attend the post-broadcast debrief, where editor Jess Benton shared a light-hearted reflection on the pressures of that evening’s challenging edition of the “Six” and thanked the students for joining the team.
Chris Cook said:
“It’s always a pleasure to welcome such enthusiastic and keen students to BBC News to see how the machine operates. Answering their incisive questions and seeing them revel in the moments before the BBC News at Six went live is something that I and the whole team love to see.”
Georgina Kerford, a second-year Media and Communications student, said:
“It was an amazing experience – intense, thrilling, and genuinely exhilarating. Seeing the scale of the operation and the teamwork behind it all opened my eyes to a whole new field of career opportunities and showed me the power of collaboration within the media industry.”
Head of Film, Media and English at UWL, Dr John Hillman, said:
“Visits like this are made possible because all our staff bring significant industry experience and their professional networks to our courses. At the London School of Film, Media and Design, we combine those connections with personalised support for every student, ensuring our graduates leave not only creatively ambitious but confident, capable and fully prepared for professional life.”
