Wales at Six

Wales at Six
Presented by	Andrea Byrne Jonathan Hill
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Phil Henfrey (Head of News and Programmes)
Production locations	Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, Wales
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes (main 6pm programme)
Production companies	HTV (1968–2002) Carlton Television (2002–2004) ITV Cymru Wales (2004–)
Original release
Network	Harlech/HTV Cymru Wales/HTV Wales (1968–2002) ITV1 Wales/ITV Cymru Wales (2002–)
Release	1968 (1968) – present
Related
ITV News, BBC Wales Today

Wales at Six (branded on-screen as ITV News: Wales at Six) is a Welsh national television news programme, produced by ITV Cymru Wales.

Overview

Wales at Six and all other ITV Wales news programming is broadcast live from studios at Assembly Square in Cardiff Bay, with a North Wales newsroom based in Colwyn Bay, and a political unit at the National Assembly of Wales in Cardiff Bay. District reporters are also based in West Wales, Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea.

Jonathan Hill was promoted from news reporter and newsreader to a main anchor for the main evening news programme during February 1994. Andrea Byrne was appointed co-anchor on 14 January 2008 following the departure of Lucy Owen to rival programme BBC Wales Today. Hill and Byrne anchor alternating editions of the main 6pm programme as of June 2014. Ruth Wignall fronts national weather forecasts for ITV Wales.

History

From the launch of Harlech Television in May 1968, the company produced a full-scale bilingual news service - the only of its kind in the ITV network. The 6pm weekday slot for regional news was shared by two programmes - Y Dydd (The Day) in the Welsh language and Report Wales in English. The launch of S4C in November 1982 signalled the end of Welsh language news from HTV, although the company continues to produce Welsh current affairs programmes, including the long-running Y Byd ar Bedwar (The World on Four) and the documentary series Ein Byd (Our World).

Wales at Six replaced Report Wales as a full-length English language news programme on Monday 1 November 1982. HTV's news service was based at its Pontcanna studios until moving to the Television Centre at Culverhouse Cross in 1990. Wales at Six was latterly replaced by Wales Tonight in 1994 and 2005, HTV News in 1999, ITV Wales News in 2004 and ITV News Cymru Wales in 2013.

On 17 September 2013, ITV Wales announced it would launch a weekly 30-minute current affairs programme, Newsweek Wales, featuring interviews, analysis and a look back at the week's main news stories in Wales. The new programme, broadcast on Sunday lunchtimes, was launched on Sunday 22 September 2013. A previous plan to extend the weekday late bulletin to 15 minutes was scrapped.

On Saturday 28 June 2014, ITV Cymru Wales broadcast from its Culverhouse Cross studios for the last time. Two days later, broadcasting began from its new base at Cardiff Bay. As part of the move, Wales at Six was revived as the title for the main 6pm programme on weekdays, after an absence of 20 years.

Broadcast times

Wales at Six airs each weeknight at 6pm with ITV News Cymru Wales bulletins airing seven days a week.

• Three short opts air as part of Good Morning Britain at approximately 6:10am, 7:10am and 8:10am.
• A four minute lunchtime bulletin, following the ITV Lunchtime News.
• The main half-hour 6pm programme, before the ITV Evening News.
• A ten minute late-night bulletin, following ITV News at Ten.
• At weekends, a short five minute bulletin before the early evening ITV Weekend News.

Current notable on air team

Wales at Six lead presenters, alternating

• Andrea Byrne

• Jonathan Hill

Good Morning Wales opts newsreader

• Andrew Jones
• Kate Lewis

ITV Weather presenters

• Amanda Houston (Freelancer)
• Helen Plint (Freelancer)
• Kelsey Redmore (also News Correspondent)

• Ruth Wignall
• James Wright (Freelancer)

External links

• Wales at Six at itv.com
• ITV News at itv.com