BBC Look North (North East and Cumbria)

BBC Look North
Title card used since April 2022
Theme music composer	David Lowe
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Producers	BBC News BBC North East and Cumbria
Production locations	Broadcasting Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, England[1]
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes (main 6:30pm programme) 10 minutes (1:30pm and 10:30pm programmes) Various (during weekends and Breakfast)
Original release
Network	BBC One North East and Cumbria
Release	5 January 1959 (1959-01-05) – present

BBC Look North is the BBC's regional television news service for North East England, Cumbria and parts of North Yorkshire. The service is produced and broadcast from the BBC Broadcasting Centre on Barrack Road in Newcastle upon Tyne with district newsrooms based in Carlisle, Durham, Middlesbrough and York.

Reception

The programme can be watched in any part of the UK (and Europe) from

For viewers on Freesat, northern areas of North Yorkshire (DL, TS, and YO21/22 postcodes) are allocated Look North from Newcastle on BBC1 and ITV News Tyne Tees. YO7 and YO62 postcodes are allocated BBC Yorkshire and ITV Tyne Tees news services.

Viewers in the southern parts of Cumbria such as

Prior to the start of Look North, the BBC television region for the North East and Cumbria launched at 6.10pm on Monday 5 January 1959 from studios at 54 New Bridge Street in Newcastle City Centre. The region began receiving its own nightly news bulletins, originally presented by George House and Tom Kilgour.

Previously, the area was served by a pan-regional bulletin from Manchester entitled News from the North, broadcast across the whole of Northern England from 30 September 1957 onwards.

The new local bulletins from Newcastle were launched ten days before the opening of rival

Three years after the launch of the television service, the bulletins were expanded to 20 minutes and relaunched as a daily magazine programme, Home at Six, presented by Frank Bough.

After Bough left to join

For a short period in the late 1980s, Cumbria was switched to the

The North East and Cumbria region was reformed after campaigning by viewers in Cumbria that they were being overlooked in favour of news from the more populous areas of the north west, such as Greater Manchester and Merseyside.

It was during this time that on 16 January 1988, BBC North East moved to brand new purpose built studios nicknamed 'The Pink Palace' on Barrack Road in Spital Tongues, along with Radio Newcastle.

In 1996, Mike Neville left the BBC after 32 years to re-join Tyne Tees Television to present their flagship evening news programme North East Tonight. Look North underwent major changes with new presenters Carol Malia and John Lawrence (both former reporters for Tyne Tees) introduced to the programme. Malia is now the main presenter, alongside co-presenters Jeff Brown and Dawn Thewlis.

Broadcast times

On weekdays, Look North broadcasts six three-minute opt-outs during BBC Breakfast at 27 minutes past and 3 minutes to each hour.^{[citation needed]} A ten-minute lunchtime programme follows at 1:30pm with the main half-hour edition at 6:30pm and a ten-minute late update is shown at 10:30pm, following the national BBC News bulletins at 1pm, 6pm and 10pm.

Look North also airs three bulletins during the weekend: early evening bulletins on Saturday and Sunday and a late night bulletin on Sundays. The times of these bulletins usually vary.^{[citation needed]}

Presenters

Former on air team

See also

BBC North East and Cumbria's rival regional news programmes.

• ITV News Tyne Tees which covers news stories from County Durham, Northumberland, parts of North Yorkshire, Teesside and Tyne and Wear.
• Lookaround which covers news stories from Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders (on the western side).

References

External links