Behind the Mic of the BBC’s Live Coronation Descriptive Commentary

Season 1, Episode 1725,   May 19, 2023, 10:00 AM

For the BBC’s live television broadcast of the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6 May 2023, for the first time for a state occasion there was live descriptive commentary via the red button and through the BBC iPlayer for blind and partially sighted people 

RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey recently caught up with two of the people behind the BBC’s live descriptive commentary, former Army Colonel Lincoln Jopp MC and BBC Radio 3 Breakfast presenter Petroc Trelawny.

Toby began by asking both Lincoln and Petroc about how they were initially approached by the BBC to work on the live descriptive commentary for the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. To then finding out how they prepared for the day itself, working on their descriptive scripts, the great help and support that they received from the RNIB, RedBee Media who produce audio description for a range of broadcasters along with the personal insight about descriptive commentary that Lincoln received from two blind and partially sighted friends.

To find out more about audio description for BBC television programmes do visit the following link to the BBC website-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/help-guides/everything-else/audio-description 


Image shows the British Flag. In a white circle in the middle it reads: 'The Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III & Her Majesty The Queen Consort', an image of a crown is placed underneath the text with '6-8 May 2023' written below the crown. In the bottom left corner is the RNIB logo. RNIB in capital black letters, underlined with a pink bold line and 'See differently' written beneath it.