Sixty Minutes (TV series)

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In the United Kingdom, Sixty Minutes was a BBC news and current affairs programme which ran each Daily evening from 17:40 between October 24, 1983[1] to July 29, 1984[2] on BBC1. It replaced the Nationwide programme and integrated the BBC regional news programmes and weather forecasts into a single magazine programme. [3] Indeed, one of the most notable features of the programme was its seamless absorption of the regional news programmes into the hour - national synchronisation of television signals allowed cross-fading between the network programme and the segments produced by the BBC regional news studios without having to fade to a black frame, something the UK's commercial ITV network could not achieve for another 20 years.

However, the BBC's News department stoutly maintained its independence from colleagues in Current Affairs, and the first 15 minutes of news was almost a separate programme, followed by 20 minutes from BBC regional news before the final 25 minutes of national current affairs. Accordingly the format was unwieldy, with neither the conciseness of a bulletin nor the softness of the show's predecessor, Nationwide. Nor did the mix of international, domestic and local news, with debate, human interest and satire, ever really gel.

The editor, David Lloyd, poached Nick Ross from the (then) highly popular Breakfast Time to front the show, along with Desmond Wilcox, Sarah Kennedy, and Sally Magnusson. The news bulletins were usually read by Jan Leeming, Moira Stuart or Richard Whitmore.

The programme was not well received and although its ratings eventually began to improve it was replaced in July 30, 1984 with the BBC Six O'Clock News Hour (now BBC News at Six). Arguably, another legacy was the eventual integration of the BBC's news and current affairs departments.

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[edit] References

  1. ^ TV World Sixty Minutes Launch. Retrieved on 2007-04-16.
  2. ^ TV & Radio Bits - Key Dates. Retrieved on 2007-04-16.
  3. ^ TV & Radio Bits - Bits and Pieces - Nationwide. Retrieved on 2007-04-16.
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