Meridian Tonight

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Meridian Tonight

Genre	News
Creator(s)	ITV Meridian
Starring	South East: Sangeeta Bhabra (2007 - present) Ian Axton (2007 - present) South: Fred Dinenage (1993 - present) Debbie Thrower (1993 - present)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Running time	Meridian Tonight: 30 Minutes Meridian News: Varies
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV1 Meridian
Original run	January 4, 1993 – present

Meridian Tonight is the flagship news programme in the ITV Meridian region. It broadcasts at 6pm every weeknight. Meridian Tonight began shortly after Meridian took over from TVS, on January 4, 1993.

There are separate editions of the programme for each Meridian sub-region: Meridian South East (Kent, Medway, southern Essex, East Sussex and Brighton and Hove), and Meridian South (Brighton and Hove, West Sussex, southern Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth and eastern Dorset). Meridian West (northern Hampshire, Wiltshire and Berkshire) concluded broadcasting on Sunday December 3rd 2006, making way for the new combined Meridian West/Central South service Thames Valley Tonight, beginning Monday December 4th 2006. Thames Valley Tonight still broadcasts from the same studio, however.

On December 3, 2006, South East presenter Charlotte Hawkins announced her move to Sky News. Her final show was on December 22. Her temporary replacement was Helen James.

[edit] On Air

Meridian News airs on ITV1 Meridian seven days a week. All bulletins from the past few days can be found on the ITV Local website.

Weekdays

11.10 - 11.15 (During This Morning)
13.50 - 13.55 (During ITV Lunchtime News)
18.00 - 18.30 (Meridian Tonight, Before ITV Evening News)
22.50 - 22.55 (During ITV News at 10.30)

Note that during GMTV, the weekday bulletins at approx. 6.35am, 7.05am and 8.05am are branded GMTV News and as a replacement for both Meridian News and the new Thames Valley News.

Weekends

Meridian News also airs regular pan-regional bulletins throughout the weekend.