News at Ten | |
---|---|
News at Ten opening sequence
|
|
Also known as | ITV News at Ten, ITV News, ITV Late News, ITV News at Ten Thirty |
Genre |
News Current affairs |
Presented by | Tom Bradby |
Theme music composer | David Hewson |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Location(s) |
ITN headquarters, London, England, UK |
Editor(s) | Alex Chandler (Programme Editor, News at Ten) Geoff Hill (Editor, ITV Network News) |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 40-45 minutes (including regional news) |
Production company(s) |
ITN ITV News |
Release | |
Original network | ITV, STV, UTV |
Picture format | 1080i (HDTV 16:9) |
Original release |
First incarnation 3 July 1967 –5 March 1999 Second incarnation 22 January 2001 –30 January 2004 Third incarnation 14 January 2008 – present |
Chronology | |
Preceded by | ITV News at 10.30 |
Related shows |
ITV Lunchtime News ITV Evening News ITV Weekend News |
External links | |
Website |
News at Ten is the flagship evening news programme on British television network ITV, produced by ITN and founded by news editor Geoffrey Cox in July 1967. The bulletin was the first permanent 30-minute news broadcast in the United Kingdom, and although initially scheduled for only thirteen weeks due to fears that its length would turn viewers off, the bulletin proved to be highly popular with audiences and became a fixture of the ITV schedule.
News at Ten rose to popularity for its winning combination of in-depth, analytical news coverage and populist stories. It simultaneously helped popularise newscasters such as Alastair Burnet, Andrew Gardner, Reginald Bosanquet, Sandy Gall, Anna Ford, Alastair Stewart and Trevor McDonald into well-known television personalities.
When the bulletin was axed in 1999 in order for primetime entertainment programming to air uninterrupted, there was a public outcry. ITV reluctantly brought News at Ten back in 2001, airing it at 10pm for a minimum of three nights per week, but eventually replaced it with the ITV News at 10:30 in 2004. It was not until January 2008 that News at Ten was permanently reinstated to the ITV schedule. The programme is currently presented by Tom Bradby.
ITN had been ITV's news provider since the channel's launch in September 1955. News updates from ITN tended to run 14 minutes in length at most, with no fixed broadcast time. From his arrival in 1956, ITN editor Geoffrey Cox had consistently argued to the Independent Television Authority that ITN should be providing at least one news bulletin of substantial length, in order to cover and analyse major news stories more closely. ITV argued against the idea of a 30-minute evening bulletin, insisting a news programme of such length would eat into its primetime entertainment schedule and turn viewers away from the channel, but the ITA granted Cox's wish in 1967. ITV reluctantly agreed to give the proposed bulletin – a Monday-to-Friday programme, fixed at 10pm – a 13-week trial run to test its success.