Shipping Forecast excluding the header line, has a limit of 350 words—except for the 0048 broadcast, where it is increased to 380 to accommodate Trafalgar's inclusion—and has a very strict format. It begins with "And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at xxxx today." This format is followed quite strictly, although some continuity announcers read out the actual date of issue as opposed to the word "today". This is followed by gale warnings (winds of force 8 or more on the Beaufort scale), if any (e.g., "There are warnings of gales
Shipping Forecast reading it. She finds his voice arousing. In the BBC sitcom "As Time Goes By", the character Mrs Bale is obsessed by and constantly mentions The Shipping Forecast much to the befuddlement of the other characters. Many characters in the 1983 children's cartoon, "The Adventures of Portland Bill" are named after features mentioned in the Shipping Forecast. In Funcom's massively multiplayer online role-playing game "The Secret World", the shipping forecast plays over the radio in a London Underground station, adding to the British flavour distinguishing the setting from other worldwide locations featured in the game. A number of minor characters