ITV News Central
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2007) |
| ITV News Central | |
|---|---|
 Central Tonight opening sequence | |
| Presented by | Sameena Ali-Khan Matt Teale Bob Warman |
| Country of origin | England, UK |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Liz Hannam (Head of News) |
| Production locations | Gas Street Studios, Birmingham, England, UK |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes (main 6pm show) |
| Production company | ITV Central |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV1 Central |
| Release | January 1, 1982 – present |
| Related | |
| ITV News, BBC Midlands Today, BBC East Midlands Today | |
Central Tonight is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ITV Central, serving the English Midlands.
History
Originally, the main weekday evening programme did not have a different title from other bulletins (unlike most other ITV regions, e.g., HTV News/Wales at 6). This finally changed in the late 1990s, when the title Central News at Six was adopted – coinciding with being rescheduled from 18:25 to 18:00. By Monday 24 July 2006, the 18:00 programme had been renamed again, to Central Tonight (except for the South Midlands edition, which retained the Central News at Six name until its final 6pm programme on 1 December 2006).
Overview
January 1982 – December 2006
Launched on 1 January 1982, replacing ATV Today, Central News was initially a pan-regional service based in Birmingham airing a 6pm programme on weeknights alongside shorter weekday bulletins after ITN's News at One and News at Ten. During the rest of the decade, the region was eventually broken up into three sub-regions, which would receive their own news service:
- 12 October 1983: A separate East Midlands edition for southern Derbyshire, Leicestershire, parts of Lincolnshire, southern Nottinghamshire and Rutland is launched from Nottingham after a 20-month delay caused by an industrial dispute. The Birmingham edition continued to serve the rest of the Central region.
- 9 January 1989: A separate South Midlands edition for Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Buckinghamshire, the Swindon area and northern Gloucestershire is launched from Abingdon.[1]
- Thereafter, the Birmingham edition therefore covered the West Midlands region (Staffordshire, Shropshire, the West Midlands county, Warwickshire and Worcestershire).[2]
By December 2006, Central News bulletins during GMTV had become pan-regional across all three sub-regions. Weekend bulletins became pan-regional across the West and East Midlands earlier in the year, whilst the South Midlands retained its own weekend bulletins right up until the end of Central News South on 3 December 2006.
December 2006 – February 2009
On 4 December 2006, the South Midlands sub-region was disbanded, as follows:
- The parts of Gloucestershire served by Central South joined the majority of the county already covered by ITV West and receiving The West Tonight broadcast from Bristol.
- Herefordshire was now covered by the West Midlands edition from Birmingham.
- In the rest of the region (Oxfordshire, the Swindon area, and Buckinghamshire), news operations merged with Meridian West, to form the non-franchise ITV Thames Valley service, broadcasting Thames Valley Today/Tonight from the existing Merdian West studio in Whiteley, Hampshire. The new programme, which also covered northern Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and parts of Surrey, retained Central's Abingdon newsroom as the main newsgathering base for the new region but the studio was closed.
Central News bulletins during GMTV were now pan-regional across the West Midlands and East Midlands only. Meanwhile, in what had now become the ITV Thames Valley region, bulletins during GMTV were pan-regional across the entire combined ITV Meridian and ITV Thames Valley regions (i.e., the entire South and South East of England), and branded as GMTV News. While weekend Meridian News bulletins were pan-regional in the South and South East sub-regions, Thames Valley Today/Tonight continued to produce its own weekend bulletins.
February 2009 – present
As of the 23 February 2009, lunchtime and early evening bulletins in the West and East Midlands on weekdays became pan-regional. The final sub-regional 6pm editions of Central Tonight were broadcast on Friday 20 February 2009. The remaining sub-regional elements are:
- A six minute opt-out during the main 6pm programme
- Localised weather forecast during the 6pm programme
- The full late weeknight bulletins
Both sub-regional editions utilise the same presenter(s) and studio, therefore one of the two opt-outs (depending on the days news) is pre-recorded 'as live' shortly before broadcast.
East presenter Sameena Ali-Khan and West presenter Bob Warman present the current revision of Central Tonight.[3] From February 2012 former sports correspondent Matt Teale shares duties with Warman.
Broadcast times
Central News airs on ITV Central seven days a week. On weekdays, Central provides three pan-regional news bulletins during Daybreak. The lunchtime edition of the programme begins at 13:55, following on from the ITV News at 1:30, giving a six minute round-up of the days developments.
The main evening edition of Central Tonight begins at 18:00 each weeknight and ends at 18:30, immediately preceding the networked ITV News at 6:30. The late news update from the Central sub-regions follows the ITV News at Ten, airing between 22:30 and 22:35 every weeknight.
A pan-regional bulletin is aired in the early evening on Saturdays and Sundays. This bulletin is presented by one reporter/correspondent on a rotating basis.
Current on air team
Presenters
| Person | Title(s) | Related note(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Sameena Ali-Khan | Central Tonight main presenter | Lunchtime/late bulletin newsreader (alternating) |
| Matt Teale | Central Tonight main presenter (alternating) | |
| Bob Warman | ||
| Kate Fisher | Daybreak updates newsreader | Stand-in presenter/newsreader |
| Jo Blythe | ITV Weather presenter | Based at ITV Granada |
| Emma Jesson | Freelance contract | |
| Lucy Kite | Stand-in presenter/newsreader | |
| John Willats | News Correspondent and newsreader |
Correspondents
| Person | Title(s) | Related note(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Phil Brewster | News Correspondent | |
| Vanessa Clements | ||
| Lee Comley | Newsreader | |
| Victoria Davies | Newsreader | |
| Charlotte Grant | ||
| Nimesh Joshi | ||
| Gareth Owen | Stand-in presenter/newsreader | |
| Rajiv Popat | Newsreader | |
| Balvinder Sidhu | On attachment from The West Country Tonight | |
| Wesley Smith | Freelance contract | |
| Rachel Ward | ||
| Keith Wilkinson | Newsreader | |
| Sascha Williams | Freelance contract | |
| Kelly Wright | ||
| Peter Bearne | Education Correspondent | |
| Andy Bevan | Business Correspondent | Newsreader |
| Steve Clamp | Sport Correspondent | Stand-in presenter/newsreader; freelance contract |
| Mark Gough | Consumer Correspondent | Newsreader |
| Jane Hesketh | Health Correspondent | |
| Alison MacKenzie | Political Correspondent |
Notable former staff
East
|
|
West
|
|
South
|
|
Weather presenters
|
References
- ^ Central News South first edition, 9 January 1989
- ^ Final Central News West before launch of Central News South, 6 January 1989
- ^ Seventeen regions into nine: How the updated ITV local news services will run Caitlin Fitzsimmons, The Guardian, 17 February 2009
External links
|
|
ITV News (ITV nations & regions) | |
|---|---|
| |
