even though it was probably one of the best records that i have ever written. you think this is directly linked to that? yeah, i really do. the bbc understands that lily allen's alleged attacker continues to work with the label. she said she didn't go to the police about the assault and according to those who represent survivors of sexual assault in the workplace, that isn't uncommon. i think the difficulties can be because they perceive the perpetrators to be very powerful. i think that they think that women who are victims of sexual assault and indeed men, will struggle to find people to support them in that industry. lily is currently working on her new album, but it won't be her last with warner. chi chi izundu, bbc news. you can hear the full interview on

bbc sounds. now it's time for newswatch, with samira ahmed. this week, how is a new weekly tv programme trying to explain brexit? hello and welcome to news watch. a new take for television audiences on a very familiar subject, the pod cast brexit cast comes to tv. will its informal approach enlighten confused viewers? and how do its presenters and the bbc‘s journalist in general deal with rising levels of anger about perceived bias over brexit? to say feelings have been running high over brexit and over the bbc‘s coverage is to state the obvious, but this week if anything, the temperature was raised again. what got many viewers hot under the collar was the reporting of this development in the long—running saga

on wednesday. the high scottish court rules borisjohnson has suspended parliament illegally to avoid scrutiny of his brexit plans. opposition mps demand the recall of parliament as a judgment sends shock waves through westminster. the case was brought by a group of opposition mps in protest against monday's five—week suspension of parliament. the way the bbc treated the story that they produced a furious response from some viewers, including these callers to the news watch phone line. i just including these callers to the news watch phone line. ijust want including these callers to the news watch phone line. i just want to complain about your completely ioo% biased news reporting on today's decision. every single person that has been interviewed on the news programme at the moment is against what the government has currently done. it isjust... i am so angry. you have not given a fair, balanced

view of what is actually happening. the coverage of the scottish ruling is pitiful. and totally biased. totally one—sided. absolutely... i am speechless, i am so... i am so appalled by the whole presentation of the news broadcasts, i can't think of the right words to describe how appalled i am. strongly worded complaints like those that bbc news has a bias against brexit, significantly has a bias against brexit, significa ntly outnumber objections ofa significa ntly outnumber objections of a prejudice in favour of brexit. though there have been plenty of the letter also in the last few days have seen the arrival of a new television programme and this contentious area, hoping to shed some light on the twists and turns of the process. brexit cast which has been running as a podcast for

more than two years has now taken over the thursday late night slot previously occupied by andrew neil's this week on bbc one. at the start of the first show one of its four presenters outlined what new audiences should expect. for people sitting in a box with headphones on. and it's not the usual thing of telly and suits and auto cues and all that kind of stuff. that is obvious. it is not our usual persona oi'i obvious. it is not our usual persona on television either because if you see us on television either because if you see us on on television either because if you see us on the ten o'clock news or if you hear us on radio four, we will be sounding a lot more serious and we give short answers. we summarise, here we go into detail and behind the seems a lot. the immediate verdict was largely positive. i have been listening to brexit cast and

love being informed and entertained along the way. congratulations on your move to bbc one. and deborah mack agreed. there is enough state political shows... but a twitter user thought it was like an after getting together of a futile journalists. and for chris g it fails ultimately because it is too middle class and having bbc types agreeing with each other for 30 minutes doesn't make for great tv. on the plus side, it is obviously cheap to make. finally here are the thoughts of nick goodman. they did their best to retain the mood and feel of the pod cast. it will be interesting to see as it progresses where there are subconsciously the presenters will be better behaved because they are on telly. i hope not. chris mason, political correspondent for bbc news and co—presenter of brexit castjoins me now from westminster. chris, you have had successful pod cast for this for over two years. what was

the thinking behind transferring it to tv? someone offered us the chance and that was that and we grabbed it. very aware of the pitfalls are really because as you say, the pod cast came about by accident but has become relatively successful in pod cast land. and then we thought, we have this chance to put it on the tv, but that is tricky because we don't want it to be a conventional tv show, we want to make sure people who have always listened to it as a pod cast don't feel like they have been forgotten or are hitting stop and start again. but at the same time we will be on bbc one and on the bbc news channel, we will get far more people seeing it than have previously listened to it and will be coming at it from the start. the viewing figures, more than a million people saw it on thursday night which is greater than the number who we re which is greater than the number who were listening to it as a podcast and we needed to welcome them in in and we needed to welcome them in in a way that they would understand what we're trying to do and that will be a work in progress. how far

have you tried to adjust it, change it, to accommodate those new viewers coming to it? the first thing we thought it was we don't want it to bea thought it was we don't want it to be a normal tv show. we have —— are not ina be a normal tv show. we have —— are not in a studio, we are in a radio studio. but as far as our first show was concerned, studio. but as far as our first show was concerned , we studio. but as far as our first show was concerned, we will all together in the same room. we decided we don't want to be doing the thing that so often happens where the reporter or presenter talks to the camera. we let the cameras be incidental to hoover up the pictures in the studio. but not actually talk directly to them and to try and be as off the cuff and conversational as off the cuff and conversational as we can be. one of the tweeters talked about us looking like a bunch of tired journalists at the end of the day wittering on and bang on. that is exactly what we are and what we're trying to do. it is clear people who enjoyed the pod cast like

that informal tone and are wondering if you keep it up now. but as you have hinted there is the question about whether you need to adopt a more serious tone with some of the issues coming up. you are to like to say slightly chaotic, we are totally chaotic. around the question of seriousness, it is a fair point because brexit is a hugely serious topic and we'll take the hugely seriously. our every waking professional hour is consumed by brexit at the moment and we are fascinated by the detail and nuance and all the rest of it but our mantra is, we take the issue seriously but we don't take ourselves too seriously. we don't think it is misplaced to be very conversational and human, talking about something that sure is serious but we are going to be human about how we interact about it rather than state orformulaic in how we interact about it rather than state or formulaic in the way that sometimes we all are when we are on

more conventional news programmes are. the other emotion that comes up around brexit is anger and lot of people are getting very angry. there are accusations of perceived bias coming against the bbc. more of them come from people who feel the bbc is anti—brexit and i wonder how you are dealing with that. everyjournalist comes with their own baggage but it is absolutely fundamental to the british broadcasting tradition and it is written down in laws and regulations that due impartiality is essential and none of us want to do thejob if essential and none of us want to do the job if that wasn't the kind of guiding principle. sure, we are a lwa ys guiding principle. sure, we are always challenging ourselves about all hearing the right range of voices, i'll be going to the right places to hear those voices, i'll be falling into unconscious bias? but all of us are driven by that motivation to put the story first, to find the best voices to

illustrate it and understand it and crucially, that word understand. trying to get under the skin of what is going on so we can explain it. people are simultaneously bored and motivated by the whole brexit question, so fascinated and bored at the same time and the same person can hold both thoughts. the sense there is a huge at stake, huge amount at jeopardy but at the same time, it is perfectly human that you can take on the tv and radio and think, flipping out, they are still talking about brexit. that is why we have gone for this conversational tone so we are not putting people off even if sometimes the subject matter might be heavy going or something that people have a weary familiarity with. given all the uncertainty, one can't help but ask how long this podcast will be going, year, five years? it's a fair question! as far as our tv stuff is

concerned, for as long as they will have us. nobody knows. no one has a clue about how long this will go on. the reality is the brexit conversation in the uk will go on for quite some time. i suppose at some point it will slip down the agenda but there is no sign of it yet. from our perspective professionally, this is the story of our lifetimes. this is a huge question about britain's place in the world, its relationship with its nearest neighbours, how it sees itself in the world and how the world sees it and it's a privilege to be involved in the coverage of a story like this that so often is at the top of the news bulletins and as i say, people do seem fascinated by day—to—day even if they are a little wa ry day—to—day even if they are a little wary of. thank you so much. just time for a brief mention of what else you have been contacting us

what else you have been contacting us about this week. the clean—up operation in the bahamas is still going on after the damage wrought by hurricane dorian. at least 50 people we re hurricane dorian. at least 50 people were killed with a number missing are now standing at 1300. the reporting of this has eased off too soon. he writes, ifind the reporting of this has eased off too soon. he writes, i find the follow up soon. he writes, i find the follow up on the ground coverage by the bbc in the be harbor is woefully inadequate. tens of thousands are homeless. their residence is com pletely homeless. their residence is completely destroyed, the infrastructure is a shambles that any normality would take a long time to come about. clearly there needs to come about. clearly there needs to be an ongoing coverage of this human tragedy. thank you for all your comments this week. please get in touch with all your opinions on what you see on bbc news. you may even appear on the programme. you can e—mail us at... orfind us on twitter or call us... to have a look at previous interviews on our website... that is all from us. we

are back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye. with their weekend upon us now the weather is looking pretty decent for much of the uk. lots of dry, settled weather with sunshine but not dry everywhere. tonight we have the cloud increasing from the north—west with rainfall north—west scotland. clear skies elsewhere and with the light wins it will be quite a chilly night with temperatures in the mid—single figures across england and wales. mr and fog patches possible first thing about much of england and wales looking sunny. for northern ireland it will code over and for scotland heavy rain and strong winds. temperature is about i7 strong winds. temperature is about 17 degrees across parts of scotland, we could see 23 in the south—east. gusts of wind a0 to 60 mph on saturday. overnight into sunday that

weather front sinks further south, light and patchy rain for northern ireland, northern england and wales. sunshine on either side of that. temperatures around ia in edinburgh, 25 in london.

this is bbc news. the headlines. david cameron breaks his silence on brexit in an interview with the times the former prime minister says a second referendum cannot be ruled out. meanwhile boris johnson says he is cautiously optimistic about getting a deal on brexit but a heckler in yorkshire tells him to get back to parliament. why are you not with them in parliament? i would be very happy to get back to parliament very soon. but what i think we want to see is... the family of a teenager who died from an allergic reaction after eating out want the law changed to improve food labelling in restaurants. the number of people killed as a result of domestic violence