Mark Simpson
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marksimpson.bsky.social
Mark Simpson
@marksimpson.bsky.social
1.3K followers 250 following 590 posts
I do stuff that makes things appear on your telly.
Personal account. 🏳️‍🌈
Donaghadee, Northern Ireland. He/him|Sé/é

I block any new followers which do not have any content on their accounts.
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marksimpson.bsky.social
Mark Simpson @marksimpson.bsky.social · Nov 20
Hello new followers. Just in case there's any confusion... I'm not the TV reporter of the same name. I look after the tech and operational things that keep a number of TV channels on air.
Reposted by Mark Simpson
whydontyoutube.bsky.social
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: who starts a brand new series two days before Christmas, with a special episode to boot? Bod, of course. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fv2...
Bod's Present
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
annabower.bsky.social
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:
News Team, Thank you for the notes and texts. I apologize for not reaching out earlier. I learned on Saturday that Bari Weiss spiked our story, INSIDE CECOT, which was supposed to air tonight. We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now-after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one. We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a "kill switch" for any reporting they find inconvenient. If the standard for airing a story becomes "the government must agree to be interviewed," then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state. These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless. CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that "low point." By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones. We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of "Gold Standard" reputation for a single week of political quiet. I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight. Sharyn
December 22, 2025 at 3:37 AM
marksimpson.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Remembers... - Derek Griffiths Remembers... Bod
Derek Griffiths, himself an icon of children's broadcasting, looks back on the 1970s animated series Bod, a cult classic narrated by John Le Mesurier of Dad’s Army fame.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 21, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
whydontyoutube.bsky.social
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: Basil Brush's Christmas In Norway, though there doesn't appear to be much evidence of he/it or Mr Roy being actually in Norway.
Basil Brush Show S10E10 December 20, 1975 Basil Brush's Christmas in Norway
Introduced by Roy North and special guest Larry Parker with OLAF POOLEY , SUSIE BAKER MARK BROWN , MICHAEL CLARKE RAYMOND COOKE , ROGER GREEN PHILIP HAIGH , LEILA HART CHRISSIE KENDALL , JANE MARLOW JILL NICHOLSON , PETER O'DELL DAVID L. TATE , VAL WILLIAMS Script GEORGE MARTIN MUSIC THE BERT HAYE
www.youtube.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:00 PM
marksimpson.bsky.social
Tonight at 2000 on BBC Four...

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Four - Remembers..., Derek Griffiths Remembers... Bod
Derek Griffiths looks back on the 1970s animated children's series Bod.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 20, 2025 at 5:03 PM
marksimpson.bsky.social
Well this is all very familiar (BBC News NI article on issues here with #Evri deliveries, following on from the #Panorama from last night).

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Evri: Pressure continues over delays as Christmas looms
Politicians in Northern Ireland say they have been contacted by hundreds of customers waiting on deliveries.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 16, 2025 at 5:19 PM
marksimpson.bsky.social
#Panorama #Evri lost a parcel of mine and just said it had disappeared in their depot. I guess it was stolen. They couldn't give a stuff, contacting customer service was a waste of time.
December 15, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
transdiffusion.org
There is no part of this that isn't both amazing and shocking. Full decision here: www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/r... (PDF, contains strong language)
December 15, 2025 at 1:43 PM
marksimpson.bsky.social
The BBC archive series Windmill, Christmas edition from 1985.

This programme is now very much older than most of the featured clips were at the time of transmission (22 Dec 1985).
Via @rollvt.bsky.social.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzZu...
Windmill - Christmas (1985)
YouTube video by Roll VT
www.youtube.com
December 14, 2025 at 5:17 PM
marksimpson.bsky.social
With the nephews at the Grand Opera House in Belfast. 🎄🎅🎄
December 14, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
arstechnica.com
Conservative attacks on NPR and PBS continue with call to take FCC licenses
NPR and PBS stations targeted by group involved in Carr’s news-distortion probes.
arstechnica.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:07 PM
marksimpson.bsky.social
80% of Northern Ireland's electricity supply is generated by the wind tonight.
December 9, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
mmaarrow.bsky.social
Heads up, you can apply to be Director General of the BBC through the job listing here: careers.bbc.co.uk/job/Director...

And if you think you're not qualified, just remember that John Reith had to find out what "broadcasting" was before his interview.
For the next two days I tried to bring every casual conversation round to "broadcasting.' It was a Glasgow schoolfellow, a chartered accountant in Pearsons, who enlightened me. Then I was quite sure of it. Having discovered what broadcasting was, reflected, given rein to imagination, I realised to some extent at least what had been committed to me. For to me it was committed. I had thought that the chairman or Sir William Noble might be around a good deal, and when Noble came to see me…
December 9, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
marksimpson.bsky.social
It's taken years but a video copy of one of the 1980s versions of the Primark Northern Ireland Christmas adverts "Got a Whole Lot of Things for Christmas!" has finally turned up!

youtu.be/kF7Oi5iHAcI?...

#Preemark
09 12 1983 Channel 4 Northern Ireland The World at War Scalextric Woolco
YouTube video by Kaleidoscope's Presentation Vault
youtu.be
December 9, 2025 at 12:46 PM
marksimpson.bsky.social
Back to Christmas 1981 then for the annual outing of this great selection of adverts from Downtown Radio. It's a great bit of Northern Ireland social history.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELnu...
Christmas Radio Ads 1981.avi
YouTube video by irishradio
www.youtube.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:00 PM
marksimpson.bsky.social
It's taken years but a video copy of one of the 1980s versions of the Primark Northern Ireland Christmas adverts "Got a Whole Lot of Things for Christmas!" has finally turned up!

youtu.be/kF7Oi5iHAcI?...

#Preemark
09 12 1983 Channel 4 Northern Ireland The World at War Scalextric Woolco
YouTube video by Kaleidoscope's Presentation Vault
youtu.be
December 9, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
nathannelson.bsky.social
A tweet from Janel Comeau - hey sorry I missed your text, I am processing a non-stop 24/7 onslaught of information with a brain designed to eat berries in a cave
December 8, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
nickwalker.bsky.social
Reminder that Channel 5 acquired the rights to Home & Away in 2000 by agreeing to an extraordinary lifetime deal with the Seven Network in Australia meaning they are locked into a contractual obligation to keep paying for Home & Away for as long as it exists.
December 8, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
robinince.bsky.social
then, the transphobes , feeling victorious at how many people they have made unhappy and despairing in the previous week, move on to anything else that has a spectrum and the possibility of more colours than they can conceive - such hateful people - they cannot understand anything that is not THEM
pete_wharmby_books & ••• HADLEY FREEMAN Wes Streeting must stand up to the ADHD activists I can help with the minister's review: some people are just confused by life Hadley Freeman pete_wharmby_books Ah, as expected the right wing press (and Freeman's pipeline from the Guardian op-Ed pages to the Times is worth looking into) is now piling on, suggesting that these scary ADHD activists are just trying to ruin things for everyone. Not, like, try to improve people's self esteem and sense of what is going on. 2025 is so horrifyingly, predictably *boring*
December 7, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
tobyontv.bsky.social
just been awarded the FIFA Housework Prize after sitting on the sofa eating crisps all morning
December 7, 2025 at 9:33 AM
marksimpson.bsky.social
"RÚV Television unveiled a new News theme this week. To mark the occasion, we're taking a look back at how the show's musical themes and visuals have evolved since its launch in 1966."

www.ruv.is/polski/2025-...
Jak zmieniała się czołówka Wiadomości RÚV - RÚV.is
Telewizja RÚV zaprezentowała w tym tygodniu nową czołówkę Wiadomości. Z tej okazji przypominamy, jak zmieniały się motywy muzyczne i oprawa programu od czasu uruchomienia telewizji w 1966 roku.
www.ruv.is
December 7, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
zxguesser.bsky.social
It's still a work in progress, but seems stable enough for "public beta", so by popular demand here's a standalone version of the parametric clock generator I recently added to my online teletext viewer:
zxnet.co.uk/clock/#templ...
Recreated BBC1 clock circa 1991 BBC Two Northern Ireland clock 1970s mechanical BBC1 clock 1980s electronic BBC1 clock
December 6, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
waltydunlop.bsky.social
Make way for Harold Llloyd's Christmas Tree, ya-da ya-da ya-da ya-da-da-da. You'd need more than a pair of glasses and a smile to take in all of that one.
Harold Lloyd, standing in front of a frankly ENORMOUS Christmas Tree.
December 6, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Mark Simpson
adamcsharp.bsky.social
Joy Division vs Charlie Brown dance party also slaps...
October 8, 2024 at 4:40 PM
marksimpson.bsky.social
This was originally due off air 25 minutes ago
December 5, 2025 at 7:04 PM