Beeb dominates the visuals battle, as stilted political podcaster chat blights ITV and Channel 4 coverage
General election 2024: live newsUK general election results live tracker
Standing under a buckling umbrella in the dark, cacophonous Manchester rain at a few minutes past 10 on election night, Angela Rayner braced herself to field a question from the BBC’s Clive Myrie. “You say you’re not counting your chickens,” Myrie gravely intoned. “What kind of chickens might they be? What kind of chickens would you like to see?” Welcome to the chaotic magic of the live, four-channel extravaganza that is TV on general election night.
The place to be for the opening exit poll reveal was Sky News. At 10pm precisely, in whizzed the graphic reading “Labour 410” – a number so significant, it caused host Kay Burley to peak early. “Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh-ho-ho!” she gasped, as Sky subscribers scrambled to turn the volume down, lest the neighbours gossip. But better that than the confused gawping on Channel 4, which had to cover for its lack of advance access to the exit poll. The presenters Emily Maitlis and Krishnan Guru-Murthy desperately filled while they waited for someone in the gallery to get Sky on, copy the numbers down and shout them into their earpieces.
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