BBC podcast
Brexitcast
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Opening titles
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Presented by
| Laura Kuenssberg
Katya Adler
Adam Fleming
Chris Mason
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Country of origin
| United Kingdom
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Original language
| English
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Executive producer
| Rob Burley
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Editor
| Dino Sofos
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Release
| 12 September 2019
(
2019-09-12
)
(television) ?
30 January 2020
(
2020-01-30
)
(television)
12 November 2020 (one-off edition)
24 June 2021 (one-off edition)
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Brexitcast
is a British political talk show and television programme produced by
BBC Radio 5 Live
and
BBC News
. It was launched on 5 June 2017 following the success of
Electioncast
, a podcast that had covered that year's
general election
. Originally aired on radio, it was announced on 3 June 2019 that
Brexitcast
had been commissioned as a television programme for
BBC One
. It was the first BBC podcast to be commissioned for television.
The first televised edition of
Brexitcast
aired on BBC One and the
BBC News channel
on 12 September 2019, and was later briefly accompanied by the daily
Electioncast
which returned as a daily podcast for the duration of the
2019 general election
. On 5 January 2020 it was announced that
Brexitcast
would be renamed
Newscast
after the
United Kingdom's exit from the European Union
on 31 January. The final regular edition of
Brexitcast
was released on 30 January 2020. An edition was later aired in November 2020. The first edition of
Newscast
aired on 6 February.
Online, episodes of
Brexitcast
had amassed cumulative 8 million downloads by 1 September 2019 and over 18 million by January 2020, and its first edition on BBC One attracted over a million viewers. It has received mixed reviews from critics, with a reviewer for the
New Statesman
praising it for its impartiality, and
The Guardian
for its presenters' adeptness at explaining the subject matter. However, some have been more critical, particularly of the television version, which a reviewer for
The Glasgow Herald
described as dull.
Overview
[
edit
]
Recorded on a weekly basis, the show takes a look at issues relating to
Brexit
, the term for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, explaining the subject to listeners in an informative but light-hearted fashion. The series styles itself as providing its audience with "geeky Brexit gossip". The podcast is presented by BBC political editor
Laura Kuenssberg
, Europe editor
Katya Adler
, Europe correspondent
Adam Fleming
, and political correspondent
Chris Mason
.
[1]
[2]
In addition to the weekly recordings, the team have also recorded special editions of the podcast to tie-in with specific events, and on topics requested by viewers who seek further information on a specific subject. Kuenssberg has said of these editions, "Because of the way that you can use social media now?...they know when we are taping and so we can say, 'What do you want to know?' Other times, people will request an episode and we'll be, like, 'Oh God, have we got time to do it?'".
[3]
The televised edition is recorded on the day of broadcast, before being transmitted later that evening. It is aired on the
BBC News Channel
at 9.30pm, before being repeated on
BBC One
at 11.35pm.
[4]
The programme is edited and broadcast within two hours of the end of its recording.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
Electioncast
[
edit
]
Prior to
Brexitcast
, a similar podcast titled
Electioncast
was launched in 2017 to cover that year's general election. It returned again at the start of the campaign for the
2019 United Kingdom general election
. Presented by the
Brexitcast
team,
Electioncast
aired on the
BBC News Channel
at 21:30 as well as in the same podcast feed as
Brexitcast
every weekday for the duration of the election, except for Thursdays when
Brexitcast
aired as normal.
[5]
Podcast
[
edit
]
Brexitcast
was launched in June 2017 as a podcast, replacing
Electioncast
which had started on 8 May 2017 to cover the
2017 general election
.
[6]
It is available to download from the
BBC Sounds
app and also aired on
BBC Radio 5 Live
.
[7]
The first episode of
Brexitcast
was released on 19 June 2017 after the conclusion of the election.
[8]
On 5 December 2018 the
Brexitcast
team of presenters appeared on BBC One's
The One Show
to answer Brexit-related questions from the audience ahead of a
planned vote
in the
House of Commons
.
[9]
In May 2019,
Brexitcast
was the recipient of the Listeners' Choice Award at the
British Podcast Awards
.
[7]
[10]
Television series
[
edit
]
On 13 June 2019, the BBC announced that it would be produced as a television programme for
BBC One
, launching in September.
Brexitcast
airs in a late-night Thursday slot after
Question Time
, and replaced
This Week
, which ended after sixteen years on air following presenter
Andrew Neil
's decision to leave the series.
[11]
[10]
It was also confirmed that
Brexitcast
would continue to be available as a downloadable podcast, with extra editions recorded to coincide with significant events.
[12]
Brexitcast
is the first BBC podcast to be commissioned as a television programme, and follows other podcasts such as
The Ricky Gervais Show
and
My Dad Wrote a Porno
in making the transition to screen.
[10]
The first televised edition of
Brexitcast
was aired on 12 September 2019, debuting firstly on the
BBC News Channel
at 9.30, before being shown on BBC One at 11.35pm. The first edition was watched by an average one million viewers.
[13]
On 10 October, the journalist and musician
Rhodri Marsden
appeared as a guest on the programme where he debuted tracks from his Brexit-inspired disco concept album
The Hustle
. It then appeared on the iTunes UK Album Chart, where it quickly began to outsell
ABBA Gold
.
[4]
In November 2019, a discussion on
Brexitcast
about "
shitposting
" attracted some media comment after Kuenssberg gave an incorrect description of the term.
[14]
On 23 January 2020 it was announced that
Brexitcast
would be renamed
Newscast
following the United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January.
[15]
[16]
The edition aired on 30 January, the day before the UK's exit, was recorded before a live audience at London's
BBC Radio Theatre
.
[17]
The final edition of
Brexitcast
, recorded as a podcast for radio and titled "Over and Out!", was released on 1 February 2020.
[18]
The first edition of
Newscast
aired on 6 February, and while continuing to discuss Brexit, also focused on other events such as the
2020 Irish general election
.
[19]
Brexitcast
has returned on occasion for one-off editions. An edition aired on 12 November 2020 to discuss the latest Brexit developments.
[20]
It also aired on 24 June 2021 to mark the five years since the Brexit referendum result of 23 June 2016. The four presenters were again Adam Fleming, Laura Kuenssberg, Chris Mason and Katya Adler.
[21]
Reception
[
edit
]
At the time of its BBC One launch, the
Brexitcast
podcast had been downloaded over eight million times, and the
Financial Times
reported that it regularly topped both the weekly podcast and
iTunes
charts, particularly editions recorded after significant events in the
Brexit process
.
[3]
By the end of January 2020 it had received eighteen million downloads.
[17]
Writing about
Brexitcast
for the
New Statesman
in March 2018, Antonia Quirke described its style as "fairly relaxed" and commented on its impartiality: "Probably the best thing about Brexitcast is that there isn't a great deal of lamenting going on".
[22]
Prospect magazine
named the podcast among the best podcasts for June 2019, describing it as "a funny, up-to-the-minute and behind-the-scenes guide to Brexit from the BBC's political correspondents".
[23]
Charlotte Runcie, writing in
The Daily Telegraph
, described
Brexitcast
as "excellent...funny, well-informed and refreshingly sane", but questioned whether the format would transfer successfully to television.
[24]
The
i
newspaper included it in a list of podcasts to "help guide you through Brexit and beyond".
[25]
The television version has received a mixed reaction from critics. Following the broadcast of the first television edition of
Brexitcast
, Alison Rowat of the
Glasgow Herald
questioned the logic of creating a TV version, which she described as "watching four people sitting in a row. Very dull", and she compared it unfavourably with the podcast version, concluding "a quick check on the podcast version of the TV show on Sounds showed Brexitcast was still better in sound than in vision".
[26]
Joel Golby of
The Guardian
has emphasized the show's nerdish nature, describing
Brexitcast
as "TV for people who can recite their credit score from memory", and he was largely positive in his review of its content: "While it isn't pretty, it is clever: an informed conversation about the day's politics by people who do that smart-person snicker instead of an actual real laugh".
[27]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Brexitcast podcast to get late-night BBC One slot"
.
BBC News
. BBC. 13 June 2019.
Archived
from the original on 13 June 2019
. Retrieved
13 June
2019
.
- ^
"Brexit Round-Up: February 2018"
.
www.warrant-group.com
. Retrieved
13 June
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
Savages, Fiona (17 September 2020).
"Brexitcast ? the never-ending story"
.
The Financial Times
.
Archived
from the original on 5 December 2019
. Retrieved
30 January
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Peat, Jack (11 October 2019).
"Rhodri Marsen has just released a Brexit disco concept album"
.
The London Economic
.
Archived
from the original on 12 October 2019
. Retrieved
12 October
2019
.
- ^
"BBC Radio 5 live ? Electioncast is here!"
.
BBC
.
Archived
from the original on 7 November 2019
. Retrieved
7 November
2019
.
- ^
"BBC Radio 5 live ? Brexitcast, Electioncast is dead. Long live Brexitcast!"
.
BBC
.
Archived
from the original on 5 December 2017
. Retrieved
13 June
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"5 Live's Brexitcast wins British Podcast Awards Listeners Choice"
. 18 May 2019.
Archived
from the original on 9 June 2019
. Retrieved
13 June
2019
.
- ^
"Brexitcast, Electioncast is dead. Long live Brexitcast!"
.
BBC Radio 5 Live
. BBC. 19 June 2017.
Archived
from the original on 5 December 2017
. Retrieved
30 January
2020
.
- ^
Martin, Roy (4 December 2018).
"5 Live's Brexitcast team visit The One Show"
.
Radio Today
.
Archived
from the original on 11 June 2019
. Retrieved
30 January
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Brexitcast is coming to BBC One"
.
BBC Media Centre
. BBC. 13 June 2019
. Retrieved
13 June
2019
.
- ^
"BBC 'cheeky' Brexitcast podcast to replace Andrew Neil's This Week on BBC1"
.
The I
. 13 June 2019.
Archived
from the original on 8 July 2019
. Retrieved
13 June
2019
.
- ^
"Brexitcast podcast commissioned for BBC One to replace This Week"
.
Evening Express
. D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. 13 June 2019.
Archived
from the original on 13 June 2019
. Retrieved
14 June
2019
.
- ^
Walker, James (13 September 2019).
"BBC's Brexitcast tops 1m viewers on TV debut"
.
Press Gazette
.
Archived
from the original on 12 October 2019
. Retrieved
12 October
2019
.
- ^
Hern, Alex (8 November 2019).
"BBC podcast's attempt to define 'shitposting' leaves viewers baffled"
.
The Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on 14 December 2019
. Retrieved
30 January
2020
.
- ^
Martin, Roy (22 January 2020).
"Brexitcast to end as UK departs EU this month"
.
Radio Today
. Retrieved
30 January
2020
.
- ^
Cremona, Patrick (23 January 2020).
"Brexitcast to end as Britain leaves the EU"
. Radio Times
. Retrieved
25 January
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Fleming, Adam (31 January 2020).
"My strategy for surviving Brexit ? be a proud geek"
. London Evening Standard
. Retrieved
2 February
2020
.
- ^
"BBC Radio 5 live ? Brexitcast, Over and Out!"
. BBC. 1 February 2020
. Retrieved
2 February
2020
.
- ^
"But still wanging on about Brexit"
.
BBC News
. BBC. 6 February 2020
. Retrieved
7 February
2020
.
- ^
"BBC One ? Brexitcast ? 12 November 2020"
. BBC
. Retrieved
12 November
2020
.
- ^
"BBC One ? Newscast, Series 2, Brexitcast"
. BBC
. Retrieved
21 March
2023
.
- ^
Dickie, John (8 March 2018).
"The best thing about BBC 5 Live podcast, Brexitcast, is its lack of lamenting"
. The New Statesman.
Archived
from the original on 30 April 2019
. Retrieved
30 January
2020
.
- ^
Runcie, Charlotte (8 May 2019).
"The best podcasts for June 2019 ? Brexitcast and Borrowed"
. Prospect Magazine.
Archived
from the original on 11 May 2019
. Retrieved
2 February
2020
.
- ^
Runcie, Charlotte (19 June 2019).
"The BBC's Brexitcast podcast is excellent ? but will the move to TV ruin it?"
.
The Daily Telegraph
.
Archived
from the original on 19 September 2019
. Retrieved
2 February
2020
.
- ^
"Our selection of political podcasts to guide you through Brexit and beyond"
. inews. 24 October 2019
. Retrieved
2 February
2020
.
- ^
Rowat, Alison (13 September 2020).
"Brexitcast, episode one, review"
.
The Glasgow Herald
. Newsquest.
Archived
from the original on 29 December 2019
. Retrieved
30 January
2020
.
- ^
Golby, Joel (16 November 2019).
"Brexitcast: TV for people who can recite their credit score from memory"
.
The Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on 5 December 2019
. Retrieved
30 January
2020
.
External links
[
edit
]
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