mmvii

[Sweetie77]

Can anyone tell me why this appears on the BBC? I searched in Wikipedia and it says that MMVII is something to do with 2007 but hasn't it appeared for longer then that?

Strange question I know but it was a family discussion!!!

[hundreddolla]

It's Roman numerals for 2007.

[hundreddolla]

Perhaps it's because the year before that it was MMVI which is very similar.

[scoobysoo]

And it should say MMVIII now!

[Ethel]

http://www.novaroma.org/via_romana/numbers.htm l

[Aquariel]

When you say it says 'on the BBC', where do you mean exactly? If it's at the end of a programme, then ones that were made in 2007 will have last year's date on. New programmes, or anything live such as sport, should have MMVIII.

[Postdog]

It's simple really - the date of the copyright/production written in roman numerals.

[tonymclark]

I think the BBC started using Roman Numerals in the 1970's. I can't remember exactly which year (around the mid-1970's I think).

The date is applied to the end caption of closing titles to show the year the programme was made.

I think Roman Numerals were used as programmes made at the end of one year may not have been transmitted till the start of the next, and some viewers thought they were watching a year old programme, possibly a repeat.

[pug100]

It's basically a device borrowed from the film industry to disguise the age of a film or programme for the hard of thinking. Hollywood has since dropped this practice but the BBC still persists.

If at the end of a programme it said c1999 that's easy but if it was c MCMXCIX you'd be into the next prog before deciphering the code.

More here.

http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/idents/bbclogo.ht m

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tvbranding/ copyright_ind.shtml

[Panic Button]

MM looked so dull after MCMXCIX