BBC North West Tonight

BBC North West Tonight is a regional news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 6.30pm and 10:30pm each weeknight with shorter bulletins seven days a week. The programme is broadcast from the BBC's MediaCityUK studios at Salford Quays, with district newsrooms based in Liverpool, Blackburn and Chester.

North West Tonight
Also known asNorth West Today
Presented byRoger Johnson
Annabel Tiffin
Theme music composerDavid Lowe
Country of originEngland
Original language(s)English
Production
Production location(s)Quay House, MediaCityUK
Editor(s)Michelle Mayman
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time30 minutes
(main 6:30pm programme)
Production company(s)BBC North West
Release
Original networkBBC One North West
Picture format576i (16:9 SDTV)
Original release3 September 1984 (1984-09-03) –
present
Chronology
Related showsGranada Reports
External links
Website

BBC North West region

The BBC North West region covers Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire (excluding West Craven), Merseyside, the western High Peak of Derbyshire, southern Cumbria, western North Yorkshire, and the Isle of Man. Transmitters in the extremes of West Yorkshire, covering towns like Todmorden, previously broadcast this regional version but are now covered by BBC Look North.

The programme can be watched in any part of the United Kingdom (and Europe) from Astra 1N on Freesat channel 955 and Sky channel 958. The latest edition of North West Tonight is also available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

History

BBC television news from Manchester began on 30 September 1957, with a nightly bulletin entitled News from the North, broadcast to the whole of Northern England (incorporating the current BBC North West, Yorkshire & North Midlands, East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire and North East & Cumbria regions). The rival station Granada Television had already begun providing regional news coverage when it first went on air in May 1956, at first covering the North West only before extending to Yorkshire six months later.

The BBC's service was refocused to cover the North West and Yorkshire areas when separate bulletins for the North East and Cumbria were introduced in 1959. By 1962, the nightly bulletins had been extended to 20 minutes and evolved into the magazine programme North at Six, later renamed Look North.

On 25 March 1968, the Manchester edition of Look North was again refocused to cover the North West area, only following the launch of a third Look North programme from Leeds. The programme was renamed in 1980 as Look North West, with News North West introduced for shorter bulletins.

On 18 May 1981, Look North West moved from small studios at Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester to New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road. North West Tonight was introduced on 3 September 1984 to coincide with the launch of the BBC Six O'Clock News. Between 1986 and 1989, the programme also covered parts of Cumbria previously served by the Newcastle edition of Look North and provided a news opt-out for the area at lunchtime. Following viewer complaints, Cumbrian news coverage was switched back to Newcastle's Look North.

The last edition of the programme from Studio B at New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road aired on 27 November 2011, and was also the last broadcast from the studios after 36 years of operation. The programme's first broadcast from the BBC's Salford Quays studios took place on 28 November 2011, during the BBC Breakfast programme. North West Tonight and BBC Breakfast now share the same studio.

Notable former anchors include Stuart Hall, Gordon Burns,[1] Tony Morris and Ranvir Singh.[2]

Owain Wyn Evans is North West Tonight’s weather presenter.[3]

Broadcast times

North West Today

On weekdays, breakfast bulletins air as part of BBC Breakfast at 26 and 56 minutes past the hour, between 6:26am and 9:00am. A 15 minute lunchtime bulletin airs at 1:30pm, following the BBC News at One.

North West Tonight

The main edition of North West Tonight is broadcast every weeknight between 6.30pm and 7.00pm. A short 30 second headline update airs just before 8.00pm during the BBC News Summary and a late night edition of the programme is broadcast (the 15 minute bulletin airs Monday to Thursday at 10:30pm and a 10 minute bulletin airs every Friday at 10:25pm), following the BBC News at Ten.

North West Tonight also airs short early evening bulletins on Saturday and Sunday evenings, although times usually vary. A late night bulletin is also broadcast on Sundays, following the BBC News at Ten.

Presenters

Current presenters

Main presenters

Relief presenters

Weather presenters

Former presenters
gollark: Alternatively, redesign all mathematics so that we only need one constant?
gollark: Include τ on all calculators!
gollark: Thus, pi/tau hybridization.
gollark: I think there are mostly good arguments each way and we just got π arbitrarily.
gollark: > cos(theta) = sin(theta+poo)hmm, that is very nice actually.

References
  1. Gordon Burns to step down from BBC North West Tonight BBC News, 15 April 2011
  2. Ranvir Singh to leave BBC North West Tonight BBC, 28 May 2012
  3. "Owain Wyn Evans is BBC North West Tonight's new weather presenter". BBC News. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
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