The Daily Politics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Daily Politics
The Daily Politics.png
Previous title card (used until December 2011).
Genre Current Affairs & Politics
Presented by Andrew Neil
Jo Coburn
Theme music composer Jim Meacock (2003–2011)[1]
George Fenton (2012–)[2]
Country of origin United Kingdom
Language(s) English
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel BBC Two
Original run 2003 (2003) – present
Chronology
Related shows This Week
Politics Show
External links
Website

The Daily Politics is a British television show launched by the BBC in 2003 and presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. The programme takes an in-depth and sometimes irreverent look at the daily goings on in Westminster and other areas across Britain and the world, and includes interviews with leading politicians and political commentators.

Contents

[edit] History

During 2000, the then BBC Director General Greg Dyke ordered a review of political output from BBC, which was carried out by Fran Unsworth[3], this led to a major overhaul of political output from 2003. A number of flagship programmes were axed including On the Record, Dispatch Box and Westminster Live and replaced with new raft of programmes, including The Politics Show.[4]

In October 2011 as part of review from 2011 BBC Budget Changes, it was announced from 9 January 2012, the series will be relaunched broadcasting six days a week, with all 30 minutes editions being extended to one hour. The extra weekly edition, broadcast on Sundays and called Sunday Politics, is presented by Andrew Neil. Sunday Politics replaces The Politics Show, which ended in December 2011. [5].

[edit] Sunday Politics

Sunday Politics - presented, like the Daily Politics by Andrew Neil - was launched on 15 January 2012 to replace The Politics Show. The programme starts with the BBC News Bullet. Each edition also carried a 20-minute opt-out localised political programmes for each of the English regions.

[edit] Sunday Politics Scotland

Sunday Politics Scotland, follows the same format as the axed Politics Show Scotland, the programme will take the first 20-30min of the national show before opting out to proivde up 60mins of analysis of the big political stories of in Scotland, presented by Isabel Frazer.

[edit] Northern Ireland

The NI Version of the Sunday Politics usually follows the UK with a 20 minute opt out and returning for the final 10 minutes. Occasionally NI does not return to main instead providing a full 30mins. The Edition is also repeated after the late night news on a sunday evening usually 10.20pm to 10.40pm.

  • Presenter: Tara Mills
  • Political editor: Mark Davenport
  • Political correspondents: Gareth Gordon, Yvette Shapero and Martina Purdy

[edit] Broadcast times

The Daily Politics is broadcast live weekdays on BBC Two. From 2003 - 2011 it went in a 30 minutes slot , except on Wednesdays, when it broadcasts for 90 minutes, to include live coverage and analysis of Prime Minister's Questions. Since 21 January slots was increased to 60 minutes. Each show is repeated on BBC Parliament at midnight on the same day, and is available on the BBC iPlayer for seven days. During the party conference season the Daily Politics has extended programmes of 60-minutes long in the mornings, with an additional show covering the leaders' speeches in the afternoon. The Daily Politics team also produces a conference highlights pogramme called Today at Conference which goes out after Newsnight on BBC Two and is also presented by Andrew Neil. During the 2010 General Election, BBC Two ran nine, 45-minute Daily Politics Election Debates. These programmes were presented by Andrew Neil and a specialist BBC correspondent.

[edit] NI

There is also a BBC NI version of the Daily Politics and this is broadcast as the Daily Politics from Northern Ireland. This occurs once a month during the sitting of Parliament with Connor Bradford and Gareth Gordon and this looks at NI Ministers Questions from Westminster opting out of the national program for the first half an hour before PMQs on a Wednesday and after the session is over they return to Westminster for the PMQs and the rest of the London program is broadcast uninterupted.

[edit] Presenters

Daisy Sampson was Neil's co-presenter until the summer of 2005 when she left to join ITV. Jenny Scott joined as her replacement, she left in June 2008 to join the Bank of England. Sally Magnusson joined briefly in 2005 as the sole presenter on Friday's episode. Anita Anand joined the programme as Jenny Scott's replacement in September 2008 with Jo Coburn presenting on Thursdays.

Shelagh Fogarty joined the team in January 2010 to co-host with Neil on Thursdays for three months after Anita Anand began maternity leave, while Jo Coburn took on Anita Anand's role presenting four days a week.[6] At the beginning of April 2010, Jo Coburn went full time presenting the programme every day. Anita Anand returned on 6 September 2010 and left the programme in July 2011.[7]

When the programme returned on on 5 September 2011, it was presented by Andrew Neil on Mondays, Jo Coburn on Fridays, and the two of them together on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Jon Sopel and Eddie Mair have appeared as guest presenters in Andrew Neil's absence. The regular reporters are Adam Fleming, Giles Dilnot, Max Cotton and David Thompson - a joint team with BBC1's Politics Show. Other regular contributors to the show include the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson and his deputy James Landale - who help to review Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday's extended shows.

[edit] Daily Politics Debates

During the run up to the 2010 General Election The Daily Politics held a series of special editions of the programme featuring debates involving members of the incumbent Labour Cabinet and their Conservative and Liberal Democrat equivalents. These debates ran alongside the main leaders' debates held for the first time in 2010. Starting on Monday 19 April, there were nine debates held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the three weeks before 6 May. Andrew Neil acted as moderator, along with a specialist BBC correspondent.[8]

[edit] Competition

Every Wednesday the programme features an e-mail competition where viewers answer a question for the chance to win a coveted Daily Politics mug. This competition was suspended as per BBC policy in the wake of the Blue Peter phone-in scandal. The competition returned in 2008 with entries picked out of a giant-sized Daily Politics mug instead of a normal mug (after initially using a Daily Politics bucket). Neither the enlarged mug nor the Daily Politics bucket have yet been made available as a prize. The design of the mug changed in September 2008, after a relaunch of the programme.

[edit] Trivia

The Daily Politics is produced at the BBC's Millbank studios just over the road from the Palace of Westminster but despite this convenient location it is not unknown for MPs and guests to arrive late for their interviews; a social gaffe which Andrew Neil frequently reminds them of on subsequent appearances. However on May 17th 2011 when the programme was re-scheduled to an earlier slot of 11:30 Neil himself was caught in traffic and missed the entire programme, which had to be introduced solo by Anita Anand with an empty chair alongside her. [9]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export