News at Ten

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For the BBC News programme, see BBC News at Ten.
"News at Ten" is also a name of track on New Clear Days by The Vapors, and was a follow-up to "Turning Japanese".
News at Ten
Image:ITV News At Ten logo.png
Format News
Country of origin United Kingdom
Production
Producer(s) ITN
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel ITV
Original airing July 3, 1967 – March 5, 1999;
January 22, 2001 – January 30, 2004;
January 14, 2008 - present
Chronology
Related shows ITV Morning News,
ITV Lunchtime News,
ITV Evening News,
ITV Late News,
ITV Weekend News

News at Ten is ITN's flagship news programme on British television network ITV, founded by news editor Geoffrey Cox.[1] It was originally planned as a thirteen week project in July 1967, because senior figures at ITV refused to believe that a 30 minute late night news bulletin would be needed,[2] but the bulletin proved popular with viewers and lasted until March 1999. It was resurrected in January 2001 and ended once more in January 2004. Finally, it was revived for a second time in January 2008, heralding the return of Trevor McDonald who came out of retirement after two years.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] The original run

News at Ten began its first broadcast on July 3, 1967 with a presenting team including Alastair Burnet, Andrew Gardner, and George Ffitch. Though not the first half-hour news bulletin in Britain (BBC 2's Newsroom predates News at Ten by some three years), it became a popular bulletin and provided in-depth reports of the day's news. It is believed that News at Ten was one of the first news programmes to create the 'reporter package', which saw for the first time reporters recording their commentary with the film later edited to fit their speech.[3]

Throughout the 1970s and well into the 1980s, News at Ten managed to encompass a regular team of famous and well-known newscasters including Alastair Burnet, Sandy Gall, Reginald Bosanquet, Anna Ford, Selina Scott, Carol Barnes, Pamela Armstrong, Alastair Stewart, and Trevor McDonald.

News at Ten title sting as used between 1992 and 1999.
News at Ten title sting as used between 1992 and 1999.

Head anchor and main News at Ten presenter Alastair Burnet retired from ITN in 1991, at which point plans were made for News at Ten to relaunch. For the first time, the theme music - a piece of library music composed by Johnny Pearson entitled The Awakening - was rerecorded, this time in a higher key. A new studio was made for the programme, and the change was made from two anchors to a single presenter. Trevor McDonald won the role, and subsequently became one of the most popular and well-known newsreaders in Britain.

[edit] Second incarnation

After much debate and controversy, News at Ten was axed in March 1999 to allow the uninterrupted broadcast of dramas and films on the ITV network. The ITN flagship news programme role replacing News at Ten (and in turn the 5:40pm Early Evening News) was the 6.30pm ITV Evening News, now presented by Trevor McDonald; also introduced was a late-night ITV Nightly News programme at 11pm. However, various campaigns and a decline in the ratings for ITV's news bulletins meant that a half-hearted ITV News at Ten was introduced in 2001, again presented by McDonald.

Trevor McDonald presenting the original final broadcast of News at Ten, on March 5 1999.
Trevor McDonald presenting the original final broadcast of News at Ten, on March 5 1999.

In this later run, however, the programme was shorter. The ITV Nightly News had only been 20 minutes long and this remained the case for the reintroduced News at Ten. Unusually, the regional news remained at 11.20pm for some time, although it was later amalgamated with News at Ten, causing the news segment to become 30 minutes. Another unusual aspect of the revived programme was its scheduling. It only ran from Monday to Thursday, with the Friday edition remaining at 11pm and being renamed the ITV Weekend News. Often during Monday-Thursday, the ITV News at Ten was delayed for 15 to 30 minutes to allow for other programming such as films, drama or football. This uncertainty, as well as starting times that ranged from 9.58pm to 10.10pm led the programme to be dubbed News at When? by some of its critics.[4]

It was announced late in 2003 that the ITV News at Ten would be axed for a second time due to poor ratings against the BBC Ten O'Clock News programme. On February 2, 2004, the ITV News at 10.30 was born, again anchored by McDonald. McDonald himself retired from ITN in December 2005, and the bulletin was re-launched and anchored by Mark Austin.

[edit] Third incarnation

Trevor McDonald and Julie Etchingham presenting News at Ten, January 2008.
Trevor McDonald and Julie Etchingham presenting News at Ten, January 2008.

ITV plc chairman Michael Grade confirmed plans to resurrect News at Ten on Wednesday 31 October 2007, announcing that the bulletin would be restored to its traditional flagship slot in early 2008. News at Ten returned on January 14, 2008, broadcasting Monday to Thursday, with the ITV Late News airing on Fridays at 11pm. The revived programme saw the return of McDonald out of retirement. In addition, ITN re-introduced the double-headed presentation associated with News at Ten during its early years, with Julie Etchingham joining the firm from Sky News. Mark Austin also co-presents News at Ten with Etchingham during the weekday bulletins, alternating with McDonald.[5][6]

Days before the relaunch, News at Ten had its own YouTube channel with one video available, with Trevor McDonald introducing himself and the programme to YouTube viewers. The channel has since become unavailable for unknown reasons.

On the relaunch date, News at Ten was watched by 3.8 million viewers, compared to 4.9 million viewers who watched the BBC's Ten O'Clock News. Despite this, ITV states that they were happy with the ratings. The BBC has been comfortably ahead on every single head-to-head contest since the new schedule started. On some nights, News at Ten has trailed by as many as 3 million viewers.

There has only been one occasion since its relaunch - on February 27, 2008 - that News at Ten has beaten the BBC's Ten O'Clock News, gaining a peak audience of 4.3 million, against the BBC's 3.6 million, and this was due to the Ten O'Clock News being delayed by 40 minutes because of extra time in an FA Cup replay.[7]

On 16 March 2008, the Sunday Express reported that ITV was to axe News at Ten, just months after its heavily publicised relaunch.[8] The newspaper quotes a source as saying the news programme will be cancelled "before the summer" because of its poor viewing figures. However, this news was not confirmed or denied by ITV.

[edit] Theme music and opening sequence

The theme music for News at Ten is an excerpt from The Awakening, a piece of library music composed by Johnny Pearson. Since 1995, The Awakening, in various arrangements, has been used as the theme for all ITV News programmes. A longer version of the music was used during the opening credit sequence (involving a cyclone) at the start of the film Journey Back to Oz.

The music is immediately followed by a chime of Big Ben (commonly referred to as a "bong") and a headline read by a presenter, then by further chimes and headlines.[9]

The current News at Ten launched on Monday 14 January 2008, with opening titles similar to those used between 1988 and 1992, both in the theme arrangement and the visual. The titles consist of an aerial zoom over nighttime London, passing London landmarks such as the Canary Wharf and the London Eye right up to the 'Big Ben' clockface on the Westminster Clock Tower showing the current time. The post-headline, 'coming up', and 'welcome back' stings and closing music are styled in the same manner as the ones used between 1992 and 1999.

[edit] Presenters

[edit] Main anchors

[edit] Relief presenters

[edit] Former presenters

[edit] News articles

[edit] References

  1. ^ News At Ten, 2 April 2008, Obituary report for Geoffrey Cox.
  2. ^ News At Ten, 5 March 1999, 'Turning back the clock' report.
  3. ^ "News at Ten: Forty Years Off and On", ATV News & Soap Zone, October 25, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-25. 
  4. ^ "News at When", transdiffusion.org. Retrieved on 2007-10-23. 
  5. ^ "News at Ten returns to ITV", MediaGuardian, December 7, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-12-07. 
  6. ^ "News at Ten", itv.com, January 2, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-01-02. 
  7. ^ "News at Ten's bongs beat the BBC", MediaGuardian, February 29, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-31. 
  8. ^ "Bong! News at Ten axed", Sunday Express, March 16, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-16. 
  9. ^ TVARK | ITV News | Late: RealVideo clips of openings and closings

[edit] External links