BBC London entirely, while a new programme, "South East Today" was to be created for the new South East region. BBC London, as it came to be called, replaced the long-running "Newsroom South East". Greater London and its environs have had a regional BBC television news service for many decades, but the boundaries of the region have always been somewhat nebulous due to the coverage areas of the transmitters used, as television signals do not tend to stick neatly to administrative or historical boundaries. Therefore, while the main focus of "regional" news coverage for this area has always been on the capital
BBC television drama and its sequel "Smiley's People" (1982), and he very much favoured this form of short-run, self-contained filmed serial over longer-running videotaped drama series. It was under his aegis, therefore, that the BBC produced some of its highest-quality examples of this type of drama, of particular note being 1985's "Edge of Darkness" by Troy Kennedy Martin, and the following year's Dennis Potter piece "The Singing Detective", both regarded as seminal BBC drama productions. "A gripping, innovative six-part drama which fully deserves its cult status and many awards," was the British Film Institute's verdict on "Edge of Darkness" in 2000. Powell also