​Thousands of Gloucestershire homes are going to receive the Welsh version of the BBC following next month’s digital switchover.

The blip is a result of the increased strength in signal of the Welsh transmitter and is expected to affect large parts of the Forest of Dean.

But disgruntled viewers are being urged not to panic as the problem can be fixed.

Bill Taylor, South West regional manager for Digital UK, said: “We have done some analysis which suggests that, after the switchover, pockets of the West of England will receive the Welsh version of the BBC instead of their regional variation of BBC 1 when they tune in.

“This is something we expect to happen because of the strong signal being emitted by the Wenvo transmitter in Wales which will compete with the Mendip transmitter.

“We want viewers to know this is expected and the message is ‘don’t panic’. The solution is to manually retune and we can help you do that via our phoneline and website.”

The West version of the BBC will still be available elsewhere in the TV programme guide.

Those living in areas which do not receive BBC Points West, such as around Cheltenham and Gloucester will experience the switchover at a later date.

BBC Midlands switches over in 2011 and BBC South switches over in 2012.

The switchover for the area covered by BBC Points West takes place on two dates, March 24 and April 7.

This means after these dates analogue TVs without digi-boxes will cease to work and will lose any TV picture.

Digital UK is urging TV users to get themselves ready for the switchover ahead of time.

Those already with satellite and cable do not need to do anything but those with TVs that get their signal from an aerial must prepare.

Those who have Freeview already will need to follow the instructions for retuning and those who have analogue TV will need to purchase a Freeview box for each set.

For more details visit www.digitaluk.co.uk or phone 08456 50 50  50.