New voice for 2009 stock announcements?

[Recessio]

On this video on the London Overground website about the new line identities, at 1:00 you can hear a new recording in a male voice for the Victoria line 2009 stock:

Is this just a one-off recording for the sake of the video, or is the entire line actually getting new recordings in this new voice? And is this the same new voice as on the Central line?

 

[Dstock7080]

One-off for the video, the new Line name will not be introduced until the Autumn.

 

[Sprigibax]

Btw another strange thing I noticed about this video is that the Victoria line map shows interchange to to the Mildmay line at Walthamstow Central, and no interchange to the Weaver line

 

[LCRTrainfan979]

That might be a future announcement, but that recording itself may also have been recorded primarily for that trial. The alternative could be to get the lady who does the announcements on there to re-record certain announcements which feature london overground lines to have the new names. This could be the same procedure on other lines, other than the northern line where Celia Drummond has died, (same case in other cases where the previous voice actor is dead) so they'll probably just film an entirely new set of announcements to avoid too many inconsistencies (with the Battersea announcements already being a different voice).

 

[ballas]

That might be a future announcement, but that recording itself may also have been recorded primarily for that trial. The alternative could be to get the lady who does the announcements on there to re-record certain announcements which feature london overground lines to have the new names. This could be the same procedure on other lines, other than the northern line where Celia Drummond has died, (same case in other cases where the previous voice actor is dead) so they'll probably just film an entirely new set of announcements to avoid too many inconsistencies (with the Battersea announcements already being a different voice).

Can confirm this won't be the future voice. Adrian Hieatt, the voice heard in the video, works in the Visual Services team at TfL (who produced this video). He was used as the voiceover because he happens to work in that team, and can do it for free. It is not meant to reflect what the real announcements will sound like (will be a female voice, as per customer research for the Piccadilly line voice that TfL said in an FOI), it is just meant to show people that announcements will be changing.

 

[Recessio]

Can confirm this won't be the future voice. Adrian Hieatt, the voice heard in the video, works in the Visual Services team at TfL (who produced this video). He was used as the voiceover because he happens to work in that team, and can do it for free. It is not meant to reflect what the real announcements will sound like (will be a female voice, as per customer research for the Picc line voice), it is just meant to show people that announcements will be changing.

Thanks for this clarification. Is Adrian the new voice on the CLIP 92 stock?

 

[Blindtraveler]

Let's just have lots more Emma hignet as I really like her voice

 

[ballas]

Thanks for this clarification. Is Adrian the new voice on the CLIP 92 stock?

Not permanently, his voice is being used temporarily/for testing.

 

[RacsoMoquette]

I strongly suspect that Sarah Parnell on the 2009TS will be substituted for Adrian Hieatt. I also think his announcements will be progressively deployed on the S Stock aswell.

 

[ThameslinkUser]

That is highly unlikely given customers prefer a female voice.

 

[ballas]

I strongly suspect that Sarah Parnell on the 2009TS will be substituted for Adrian Hieatt. I also think his announcements will be progressively deployed on the S Stock aswell.

He did a few COVID announcements and some See it Say it Sorted, and is the temporary voice for the Central/Bakerloo lines whilst a permanent female voice is found. Not sure I understand how this translates to him suddenly substituting other perfectly fine voice artists, when it is known that customers prefer a female voice?

 

[Recessio]

Was there research into customer preferences at some point? I must have missed this.

 

[ThameslinkUser]

Was there research into customer preferences at some point? I must have missed this.

FOI request detail

FOI request detail

tfl.gov.uk

We are also actively exploring the use of a female voice for permanent use on the refurbished Central and Bakerloo line trains, which will better reflect our customer research findings.

Feel free to FOI the actual research documents, of course.

 

[Recessio]

FOI request detail

FOI request detail

tfl.gov.uk

Feel free to FOI the actual research documents, of course.

Thank you very much!

 

[ballas]

Thank you very much!

You can't FOI the research, it is exempt from disclosure. See below for information on the findings though:

FOI request detail

FOI request detail

tfl.gov.uk