Timeline of BBC Television News

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A timeline of notable events relating to BBC Television News.

1930s

  • 1936
    • 2 November – The BBC opens the world's first regular high-definition television service from Alexandra Palace. Television news coverage consists of cinema newsreels from British Movietone News and sound-only news bulletins from BBC Radio.
  • 1937
    • 12 May – First use of its TV outside broadcast van to cover the procession that followed the
      coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
      .
  • 1938
    • No events.
  • 1939
    • 1 September – The BBC Television Service is suspended, owing to the imminent outbreak of the
      Second World War
      .

1940s

  • 1940 to 1945
    • No events due to television being closed for the duration of the Second World War.
  • 1946
    • 7 June – BBC Television broadcasts resume.
    • BBC Radio bulletins start being simulcast on television with a still picture of Big Ben.[1]
  • 1947
    • 9 November – The first use of telerecording of an outside broadcast, the Service of Remembrance from the Cenotaph is televised live and a telerecording shown that evening.
    • 20 November – The
      wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh
      is televised by the BBC. It is watched by an estimated 400,000 viewers.
  • 1948
    • 5 January – The first edition of Television Newsreel is broadcast. The weeknight programme, broadcast at 7:30pm runs for fifteen minutes.
  • 1949
    • No events.

1950s

  • 1952
    • No events.
  • 1956
    • No events.
  • 1957
    • 18 February – The first episode of
      Tonight
       is broadcast.
    • 30 August –
      Scottish television
      which provided its own regional news service from the outset.
    • September – The first broadcasts of regional news bulletins on the BBC take place and bulletins also start being broadcast in Wales and Northern Ireland.
    • 30 September – Regional television news bulletins for the north of England begin from Piccadilly's studio N in Manchester.[3]
  • 1959
    • The
      Newcastle-upon-Tyne aired for the first time. Previously, the area was part of a pan-Northern region based in Manchester
      .

1960s

  • 1960
    • No events.
  • 1967
    • No events.
  • 1968
    • 7 March – Newsroom on BBC2 becomes the first UK news programme to be transmitted in colour.[7]
    • 25 March – BBC regional television from Leeds begins and the first edition of Look North is broadcast. Previously, the Yorkshire area had been part of a wider North region based in Manchester.
    • 1 April – The first edition of
      Reporting Scotland
      is broadcast.
  • 1969
    • 9 September – The first edition of Nationwide is broadcast on BBC1.
    • 19–20 September –
      BBC Television Centre
      in West London.

1970s

  • 1971
    • No events.
  • 1973
    • 2 January – A new late evening extended news bulletin News Extra begins broadcasting on BBC2.
  • 1974
    • 7 January – A two-minute mid-afternoon regional news summary is broadcast on
      BBC1
      for the first time. It is transmitted immediately before the start of the afternoon's children's programmes.
    • 23 September – Teletext service Ceefax goes live.
  • 1975
    • 1 September
      • Tonight returns to BBC1 after thirteen years off air. The new programme airs as a late evening news and analysis programme.[10]
      • BBC2's late evening news bulletin is renamed Newsnight.
  • 1976
    • 17 September – The original incarnation of Newsnight is broadcast for the final time. It is replaced three days later with a shorter bulletin called Late Night News on 2.
  • 1977
    • No events.
  • 1978
    • No events.
  • 1979
    • 5 July – The final edition of Tonight is broadcast on BBC1.[11]
    • 25 September – The first edition of
      Question Time
       is broadcast on BBC1.

1980s

  • 1980
    • 28 January – Newsnight is launched on BBC2.[12]
    • March – The first in-vision Ceefax transmissions are broadcast.
  • 1981
    • 29 July – The
      Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer
      is produced by BBC Television & Radio with an audience of 750 million viewers and listeners in over 60 countries.
    • 4 September – The final edition of Midday News is broadcast.
    • 7 September – News After Noon is launched as a 30-minute lunchtime news programme, replacing the much shorter Midday News.[13]
  • 1982
    • BBC News provides extensive coverage of the Falklands War with newsflashes supplemented by additional and extended news bulletins, including weekend editions of Newsnight.
    • 1 November – The first edition of Welsh-language news bulletin Newyddion is broadcast on the first night of broadcasting of Wales' new fourth channel S4C.
  • 1983
  • 1985
    • 23 January – Television coverage of proceedings in the House of Lords begins.[17]
    • 30 August – The weekday lunchtime Financial Report, broadcast on BBC1 in London and the south east, is broadcast for the final time ahead of the launch of a lunchtime regional news bulletin for viewers in the BBC South East region.
    • 2 September – A regional news bulletin following the Nine O'Clock News is launched.
    • 22 December – Having been broadcast every Sunday teatime since the launch of BBC2 in 1964, News Review is broadcast for the final time.
  • 1986
    • 4 January – The first edition of NewsView is broadcast on BBC2. The new Saturday early evening programme lasts 40 minutes and combines the day's news with a look back at the week's news.
    • 9 June – The BBC launches its first parliamentary review programme when the first edition of The Lords This Week (renamed The Week in the Lords later in 1986) is shown on BBC2.
    • 17 October –
      BBC2
      broadcasts a teatime news summary with subtitles for the last time. For the past three years this bulletin which had been broadcast at around 5:25pm, had been the first programme of the day (apart from educational programmes and sports coverage).
    • 24 October – Ahead of the launch of the BBC's new daytime service, News After Noon is broadcast for the final time.
    • 27 October
    • 10 November – Breakfast Time is relaunched with a more formal news and current affairs format.[18]
    • 8 December – Six weeks after launching its daytime service, BBC TV starts broadcasting hourly news summaries. Morning bulletins are shown on BBC1 and early afternoon summaries (at 2pm, 3pm and 3:50pm) are shown on BBC2. Each bulletin is followed by a weather forecast.
  • 1987
    • No events.
  • 1988
    • 18 September –
      On the Record
       replaces This Week Next Week as BBC1's Sunday lunchtime political discussion programme.
    • 31 October – For the first time, Newsnight is given a fixed starting time, of 10:30pm.
  • 1989
    • 22 June –
      Newsround
      .
    • 29 September – The final edition of Breakfast Time is broadcast.
    • 2 October – The first edition of
      BBC Breakfast News
       is broadcast.
    • 21 November – Television coverage of proceedings in the
      Prime Ministers Questions in a twice-weekly programme called Westminster Live. Also, BBC2 launches a weekday breakfast round-up of yesterday's proceedings. This is preceded by the 8am bulletin from Breakfast News.[19]

1990s
  • 1991
    • 7 January – The
      East Midlands Today
      is broadcast.
    • 16 January–2 March – BBC News provides extensive coverage of the Gulf War. In addition to extended news bulletins, a daytime news and analysis programme War in the Gulf is broadcast, presented by David Dimbleby although as the War progresses, War in the Gulf is scaled back to allow BBC1 to resume its regular daytime schedule.
    • 2 March –NewsView is broadcast on BBC Two for the final time, bringing to an end the weekly news review with on-screen subtitles that BBC Two had broadcast since the channel first went on air in 1964. BBC Two replaces the programme with a standard 15-minute news and sport bulletin.
    • 15 April – The World Service Television News service is launched. Unlike World Service radio which is funded by direct grant from the
      Foreign and Commonwealth Office
      , WSTV is commercially funded and carries advertising which means that it cannot be broadcast in the UK.
    • 21 September – The BBC launches a five-minute long weekend breakfast news bulletin.[21]
  • 1992
    • No events.
  • 1993
    • 3 January – The debut of Breakfast with Frost, a Sunday morning current affairs programme on BBC1 presented by David Frost.[22]
    • 13 April – For the first time, all BBC News programmes have the same look following a relaunch of all of the main news bulletins.
  • 1994
    • 19 September – BBC2 launches a weekday afternoon business, personal finance and consumer news programme Working Lunch, which broadcasts for 42 weeks per year.
  • 1998
    • 23 September – Following its purchase of the cable-only Parliamentary Channel, the BBC launches BBC Parliament on digital satellite and analogue cable with an audio feed of the channel on DAB.[25]
    • 20 October – A new late night programme review of the day's events in Westminster, Despatch Box, is launched. It replaces The Midnight Hour.
    • 15 November
      • The public launch of digital terrestrial TV in the UK. Consequently, BBC News 24 is now available to all digital viewers for the first time.
      • The first edition of UK Today is broadcast. It airs as a replacement for the regional news bulletins because English variations on satellite were not possible due to a single broadcast feed being able to cover the entirety of England (in reality it could cover much of north and western Europe) and also because the regional broadcasting centres had not been upgraded to digital which meant they were unable to opt-out of the network. Therefore, in the initial months of digital television in the UK, BBC regional news was only available to analogue viewers.

2000s

  • 2000
    • 15 September – The final edition of Breakfast News is broadcast.
    • 2 October
      • The first edition of BBC Breakfast is broadcast on BBC One and News 24 from 6am to 9:30am, to 9am on BBC News 24.
      • BBC News starts broadcasting in
        16:9
        widescreen.
    • 13 October – The final edition of the BBC Nine O'Clock News is broadcast on BBC One.
    • 16 October
      • The BBC Ten O'Clock News launches on BBC One amid controversy, having been moved from 9pm to cash in on the axing of ITN's News at Ten the previous year.
      • South Today
        .
  • 2001
    • 16 July – The first edition of 60 Seconds is broadcast on BBC Choice. The bulletin is broadcast on the hour each evening between 7pm and midnight.
    • 3 September – As part of a major reorganisation of the BBC's south east region,
      Newsroom South East
      .
    • 11 September – Viewers around the world witness a
      Twin Towers
      in New York City, live on television. BBC1 abandons regular programming to provide up to date coverage of unfolding events.
    • 1 October –
      Newsroom South East.[29]
  • 2003
    • 8 January – As a result of the review of the BBC's political output,[30] coverage of politics on BBC Television is relaunched resulting in the first editions of Daily Politics and its Sunday companion programme the Politics Show.[31]
    • 16 January – BBC One broadcasts the first edition of This Week.
    • 9 February – The launch of BBC Three results in the start of a new news bulletin for the channel called The 7 O'Clock News.
    • 20 March – As the 2003 invasion of Iraq begins, many broadcasters abandon regular programming to provide up to date coverage of unfolding events.
    • 4 July – The mid-afternoon regional news bulletin is moved from BBC Two to BBC One.
    • 8 December –
      BBC News 24
      is relaunched with a new set and titles, as well as a new Breaking News sting. Networked news on BBC One and Two remains with the same titles though the set was redesigned in a similar style to that of the new News 24.
  • 2004
    • 16 February – Network news titles are relaunched in the style of BBC News 24, introduced two months earlier.
  • 2006
    • 31 May – The World on BBC Four is replaced by an edition of World News Today.
    • 13 November – BBC Parliament broadcasts in full-screen format for the first time on the Freeview service, having previously only been available in quarter-screen format.[35] The BBC eventually found the bandwidth to make the channel full-screen after receiving "thousands of angry and perplexed e-mails and letters",[36] not to mention questions asked by MPs in the Houses of Parliament itself.
  • 2007
    • 22 January –
      BBC News 24
      is relaunched with new titles and new Astons.
    • May – A pilot of a new 8pm BBC News Summary begins in the East Midlands prior to being rolled out across the UK. The summary consists of a national bulletin followed by a regional summary.
    • 9 September – The BBC One Sunday morning political programme Sunday AM is renamed The Andrew Marr Show when it returns after its Summer break.[37][38]

2010s

  • 2011
    • 11 December –
      The Politics Show
       is broadcast for the final time.
  • 2013
    • 5 April – BBC Monitoring moves to Licence Fee funding.[42]
    • 10 December – The BBC News Channel starts broadcasting in high definition.[43]
  • 2017
    • No events.
  • 2018
    • 30 May – The final 8pm BBC News Summary is broadcast.
    • 24 July – The final edition of Daily Politics and Sunday spin-off The Sunday Politics) is broadcast, ending a fifteen-year run as BBC News' flagship weekday politics show.[48][49]
    • 3 September – The first edition of
      Politics Live is broadcast.[50]

2020s

  • 2021
    • 9 April – At just after midday, Buckingham Palace announces the death of Prince Philip and BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Parliament and BBC World News switch over to BBC News to announce the death.[61] The message was likely received during the top-of-the hour headlines, as the wide-shot in the opening featured multiple journalists running across the room.[62]
    • 19 December – The final edition of The Andrew Marr Show is broadcast, ending after 15 years ahead of Andrew leaving the BBC.
  • 2022
    • 13 June – BBC News unveils its flagship studio[63] for use during BBC News at Six,[64] BBC News at Ten[65] and BBC London's local newscasts.[66] The newsroom's new look and technological features[67] are first introduced to the viewing public by Huw Edwards on a report during The One Show with Alex Jones.[68][69]
    • 14 July – The BBC sets out plans for a new global news channel titled BBC News. It will replace its two existing news services for the UK and overseas. It is scheduled to launch in April 2023.[70]
    • 4 September – The first edition of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is broadcast.[71]
    • 8 September – Just after 6:30pm, Buckingham Palace announces the Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II and BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Parliament and BBC World News switch over to BBC News to announce the death of Elizabeth II. BBC One was already on air covering The Queen's health while they announced it live on air.
    • 16 December – The Cambridgeshire edition of
      South Today will also be scrapped. [73][74]
  • 2023
    • 3 April – The
      BBC World News to form a single worldwide news channel called BBC News with programmes based on BBC World News output although the ability to break away from international programming for a major UK news story is retained. The weekday simulcasts of the BBC One news bulletins and BBC Breakfast continue to be shown on the channel and a simulcast of Newsnight
      is launched.
    • 17 April-October – Nicky Campbell's BBC Radio 5 Live weekday morning show starts to be simulcast on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.[75][76] This is the first time that a BBC radio programme has been simulcast on a BBC television channel. The simulcast ends in October to allow for extended live coverage of the Israel–Hamas war conflict and when programming returns to normal, the simulcast does not reappear.[77]

See also

References

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  2. ^ 1950s British TV Milestones Whirligig 50s British TV
  3. ^ "CHAPTER FOUR – BBC MANCHESTER – A HISTORY" (PDF). BBC Trust. p. 26. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  4. ^ "BBC Parliament – 30 November 2008 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  5. ^ "Tonight – BBC One London – 18 June 1965 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 18 June 1965. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  6. ^ "The Money Programme – BBC Two England – 5 April 1966 – BBC Genome". BBC. 5 April 1966. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  7. ^ History of the BBC – key dates page 5 BBC Heritage 1960s.
  8. ^ Witts, Preston (21 March 2014). "Obituary: Former BBC political editor David Holmes". BBC News. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  9. ^ "About the Ten O'Clock News". BBC News. 17 January 2003. Retrieved 15 August 2007.
  10. ^ BBC Genome Project – BBC1 listings 1 September 1975
  11. ^ BBC Genome Project – BBC1 listings 5 July 1979
  12. ^ Andrew Billen "Flagship sails on" Archived 27 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, New Statesman, 7 February 2000
  13. ^ A clip of the opening of the first edition of News After Noon
  14. ^ BBC Programme Index - BBC One 17 January 1983
  15. ^ BBC Programme Index - BBC One 5 August 1983
  16. ^ BBC Genome Project – BBC1 listings 4 August 1984
  17. ^ BC Genome Project – BBC1 listings 23 January 1985
  18. ^ "BBC NEWS – Programmes – Breakfast – Presenters – The Evolution of Breakfast". BBC News. 14 November 2008.
  19. ^ "BBC Two England – 22 November 1989 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  20. ^ BBC Programme Index - BBC Two 14 January 1990
  21. ^ BBC Genome Project – BBC1 listings 21 September 1991
  22. ^ "Breakfast with Frost – BBC One London – 3 January 1993". BBC Genome. 3 January 1993. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  23. ^ BBC news - BBC unveils plans for Digital Services
  24. ^ How the BBC News website has changed over the past 20 years
  25. ^ "BBC Parliament • September 1998 – October 2002". Thetvroom.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  26. ^ "Newsnight Scotland". BBC News. 4 October 1999. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  27. ^ Williams, Craig (25 January 2005). "Devolution and Newsnight Scotland". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  28. ^ "BBC's all-star millennium bash". BBC News. BBC. 2 December 1999. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  29. ^ Welsh, James (24 September 2001). "Countdown to launch of new BBC London services". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  30. ^ Deans, Jason (23 December 2004). "BBC appoints new head of newsgathering". The Guardian. London.
  31. ^ Cozens, Claire; Deans, Jason (20 September 2002). "The BBC: A new manifesto for viewers". The Guardian. London.
  32. ^ "Breakfast with Frost – BBC One London – 29 May 2005". BBC Genome. 29 May 2005. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  33. ^ "Sunday AM – BBC One – 11 September 2005". BBC Genome. BBC. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  34. ^ BBC Three drops nightly news show BBC News, 21 October 2005
  35. ^ "BBC Parliament goes full screen". BBC News. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 1 May 2009.
  36. ^ "BBC NEWS – The Editors". Retrieved 1 May 2009.
  37. ^ "The Andrew Marr Show: Labour focus on action". BBC News. BBC. 9 September 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  38. ^ Jones, Barney (26 September 2007). "The Editors: What's in a name?". BBC. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  39. ^ "BBC Arabic-language television channel to be launched 11 March". Arab Media & Society. 16 February 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  40. ^ "BBC Awaits response to Persian TV". BBC. 14 January 2009. Archived from the original on 20 February 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  41. ^ "BBC's Working Lunch show to end". BBC News. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  42. ^ "BBC:The real story:BBC licence fee settlement" Retrieved 16 January 2011
  43. ^ "BBC to launch five new subscription-free HD channels on Tuesday 10 December". BBC. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  44. ^ Miller, Phil (6 February 2014). "Newsnight Scotland to be axed ahead of referendum". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  45. ^ Carrell, Severin (21 June 2016). "BBC to scrap flagship current affairs show Scotland 2016". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  46. ^ Plunkett, John (8 July 2014). "5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire to join BBC News Channel". The Guardian.
  47. ^ Carrell, Severin (21 June 2016). "BBC to scrap flagship current affairs show Scotland 2016". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  48. ^ "Goodbye to the Daily Politics after 15 years". BBC News.
  49. ^ "BBC – BBC announces changes to political programming – Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
  50. ^ BBC Programme Index - BBC Two 3 September 20180
  51. ^ Tobitt, Charlotte (13 February 2019). "BBC to shorten News at Ten by 10 minutes to introduce 'youth programming' slot". Press Gazette. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  52. ^ "Thursday 18 July: Join This Week for audience programme". BBC News. BBC. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  53. ^ Upcoming changes to BBC interactive services on TV
  54. ^ "Save the BBC Red Button Teletext Service!". NFBUK. 22 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  55. ^ a b "BBC suspends Red Button text switch-off". BBC News. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  56. ^ "Victoria Derbyshire Show to come off air". BBC News. 22 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  57. ^ "BBC News to close 450 posts as part of £80m savings drive". BBC News. BBC. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  58. ^ "BBC Two - Authoritative 1". tvhome.co.uk.
  59. ^ "BBC axes evening edition of Newsround after 48 years". The Guardian. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  60. ^ "BBC News sets out update on modernisation plans".
  61. ^ Prince Philip's Death Announcement Switchover on BBC Channels, retrieved 10 July 2021
  62. ^ How BBC News broke the death of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, retrieved 10 July 2021
  63. ^ "BBC unveils modernised flagship TV news studio". BBC News. 13 June 2022.
  64. ^ "BBC News - BBC News at Six, 14/06/2022".
  65. ^ "BBC News - BBC News at Ten, 13/06/2022".
  66. ^ "BBC One - BBC London, Evening News, 14/06/2022".
  67. ^ "BBC News unveils new state-of-the-art studio".
  68. ^ "One Show fans have same criticism as Alex Jones tours new BBC News studio". 14 June 2022.
  69. ^ "The One Show - 13/06/2022". BBC Iplayer.
  70. ^ "BBC sets out plans for TV news channel merger in 2023". BBC News. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  71. ^ "Laura Kuenssberg announced as BBC Sunday morning presenter". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  72. ^ "Cambridge-based BBC Look East news broadcast to end, says corporation". BBC News. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  73. ^ "Confirmed: Two BBC TV regions to close within weeks > RXTV info". 31 October 2022.
  74. ^ BBC Local Radio faces significant cuts to programming
  75. ^ "Nicky Campbell's BBC Radio 5 Live show to be simulcast on TV". 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  76. ^ Nicky Campbell TV simulcast to start this month
  77. ^ BBC brings back ex News channel presenters
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