Football Focus
Football Focus is a BBC television magazine programme covering football, normally broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday lunchtimes during the football season. Since the 2009–10 season, Football Focus has been hosted by Dan Walker. The programme is broadcast from BBC Sport's headquarters and main studios in MediaCityUK in Salford, although some episodes are broadcast on location, from football grounds around the country. A version of the programme focusing on world football airs on BBC World News.[2]
Football Focus | |
---|---|
Genre | Sports |
Presented by | Dan Walker |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Production location(s) | Studio TC5, BBC Television Centre (1974-2012) dock10 studios (2012-present)[1] |
Running time | 30 - 60 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | BBC One |
Picture format | 576i (16:9 SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
Original release | Grandstand strand 1974 – 2001 Stand-alone series 2001 – present |
Chronology | |
Related shows | Match of the Day Match of the Day 2 Final Score The Football League Show The Premier League Show |
External links | |
Website |
When the programme was launched in 1974, it formed part of the long-running Grandstand Saturday afternoon programme, but from August 2001, it was a stand-alone show, and Grandstand was discontinued in 2007. The programme is now a weekly magazine, with reports from across the country at all levels of English and Scottish football. It previews the weekend's fixtures and provides updates from the early Premier League game. Since BBC have the rights to Premier League highlights, Football Focus also shows the key moments from the midweek matches. Prior to the launch of Match of the Day 2, it was often the first chance for free-to-air viewers to see analysis of the Sunday and Monday Premier League games.
The theme song for the programme is different for each new season. For the 2002-03 season it was "Backaround" by Elevator Suite. The 2003-04 season featured a cover of the Stevie Nicks track "Stand Back" by Linus Loves featuring Sam Obernik. For the 2007-08 season it was "Kill The Director" by The Wombats and for the 2009-10 season it was "Jetstream" by Doves, from the album Kingdom of Rust. For 2012-13 it was "Undegpedwar" by Y Niwl from the self-titled album, and in a break with tradition continued as the theme for 2013-14.
As of 2012, presenter Dan Walker is usually joined by the BBC's main football pundits such as Mark Lawrenson, Jermaine Jenas, and Martin Keown. Match of the Day commentators, including Steve Wilson, Guy Mowbray, Jonathan Pearce, and Simon Brotherton often check-in with game previews from the stadiums.
Studio
Ahead of the 2019–20 Premier League season, BBC Sport upgraded the studio that Match of the Day, Match of the Day 2, Football Focus, and Final Score broadcasts from.
The facility uses a "4K UHD ready virtual reality studio." It uses Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 rendering technology.
The studio is located at the dock10 studios facility at MediaCityUK in Salford.[3]
Presenters
- pre 1974: - First presenter Sam Leitch
- 1974–1994: Bob Wilson (departed to join ITV as its main football presenter)
- 1994–1996: Steve Rider (host of Football Focus and Grandstand and Focus for two seasons, then dropped Focus)
- 1996–1999: Gary Lineker (previously pundit then presented after Steve Rider dropped Focus, went on to front Match of the Day)
- 1999–2004: Ray Stubbs (left to present Final Score on Saturday afternoons, left BBC in 2009 to move to ESPN)
- 2004–2009: Manish Bhasin (left to become presenter of The Football League Show)
- 2009–present: Dan Walker[4]
- Guest presenters
- 2018: Seema Jaswal (one episode)[5]
- 2016: Eilidh Barbour (presented during 2016 Olympics while Dan Walker was in Rio)
- 2014: Mark Chapman (presented a World Cup special edition)[6]
- 2007, 2008: Jake Humphrey (presented during 2007 Ashes and Cricket World Cup while Manish was presenting BBC coverage. Also was main host during Euro 2008 Football Focus)
- 2005: Mark Pougatch
References
- "Football Focus Studio".
- "Football Focus - BBC World News". BBC. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- "Match of the Day Moves Into Dock10's VR Studio".
- Walker joins Football Focus
- "07/04/2018, Football Focus - BBC One". BBC. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- "World Cup Football Focus Special, Football Focus - BBC One". BBC. Retrieved 10 June 2018.