Schedules resume after royal coverage

The Queen Mother's death has dominated the news

Television schedules in the UK are returning to normal after coverage of the Queen Mother's death on Saturday led to programme changes over the weekend.

The BBC and Channel 4 said they were unlikely to make any changes to Monday's schedules, while Channel 5 said its news programmes would be longer than usual. ITV was unavailable for comment.

The Queen Mother died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday afternoon at the age of 101, at Windsor's Royal Lodge.

As yet none of the TV channels have revealed their plans for coverage of the funeral, which takes place on 9 April.

Peter Sissons hosted the BBC's coverage

The BBC first announced the news of the Queen Mother's death at 1749GMT on Saturday and was closely followed by ITV1 and Channel 4.

BBC One saw its normal Saturday evening schedule dropped as it switched to its rolling news service News 24, as well as special tribute shows to the Queen Mother.

Normal service was resumed at 2130GMT with the one-off drama Man and Boy, an adaptation of the bestselling book by Tony Parsons, which was shown half an hour later than scheduled.

BBC Two returned to its programming at 1810GMT, but the channel showed BBC One drama Casualty at 2010GMT instead of House Detectives.

Michael Parkinson's show was postponed

After a special bulletin when the news first broke, Channel 4 showed a programme on the Falklands War before the first-part of a special tribute to the Queen Mother at 2000GMT - the second part was on Sunday at 1415GMT.

The TV channels reduced their coverage on the Queen Mother's on Sunday, with ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5 showing extending news bulletins.

BBC One axed That Was Life, Antiques Roadshow and Blackadder Goes Forth to make way for the second part of an obituary programme.

In the evening Michael Parkinson's chat show was postponed in favour of a Dudley Moore tribute programme which had been held over from the previous evening.

Mary Nightingale was praised by the Daily Mail

BBC Radio is also getting back to normal after extensive coverage over the weekend.

BBC Radio 2, 3, 4, 5 and local radio teamed up with a special programme on Saturday at 1800GMT, while Radio 1 increased its news bulletins.

Some programmes, including a Radio 2 documentary on punk music, were dropped.

Reaction to the coverage of the Queen Mother's death has been mixed in the press.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Tom Utley criticised the BBC, saying: "What is the point of a publicly funded national broadcasting service that cannot rise to a national occasion such as this?"

'Sombre'

The Guardian's Nancy Banks-Smith said the corporation was "caught on the hop" while The Times's Joe Joseph claimed that both BBC and ITV1 were "respectful" in their coverage but that they ran out of ideas.

ITV1's news coverage was praised by Quentin Letts in The Daily Mail, who said presenter Mary Nightingale conducted the programme with a "gentle understanding".

Several newspapers noted that BBC newsreader Peter Sissons wore a burgundy tie instead of a black one, but a BBC spokeswoman said it was the policy of the corporation that presenters are dressed "sombrely".

"The presenter of the BBC One news on the day of the funeral will wear a black tie," she said.

She added that the BBC's journalism was "authoritative and comprehensive", and that Peter Sissons struck an appropriate tone, both dignified and respectful."