Two Programmes with the same name? 

11 August 2008 tbs.pm/932

Yesterday saw the start of two new programmes on the BBC – the wonderful Britain From Above at 9pm on BBC One, which was followed by its companion show, Britain From Above at 10pm on BBC Two.

No that’s not a typo – both programmes had exactly the same name, which must surely be a first in companion programme name titling and ends up being rather confusing all round to boot. You can imagine the continuity announcements now.

“On BBC One now, Britain from Above, whilst on BBC Two in sixty minutes, it’s Britain from Above”.

“And Andrew Marr will be back with more Britain from Above next week at the same time, but on BBC Two now you can see Britain from Above with Andrew Marr.”

“Don’t forget, we’ve got Britain from Above in 30 minutes here on BBC Two. No, not that Britain from Above. The other one. The little one. The one where Andrew Marr talks about London’s history, rather than the GPS trail of bin wagons. No, we don’t think the naming of two different programmes with the same name makes much sense either but I’m sure it seemed a good idea at the time. After all, we regularly show Coast as 10 minute blocks, and Coast as a whole hour long programme don’t we?”