ARCHIVE: The TV Room
2nd September marks the 40th anniversary of a significant relaunch of the Nine o’Clock News.
Computer graphics were introduced, new titles and music were produced and the programme moved to a two-presenter format.
But look carefully at the listings for that week and there is a little mystery.
Radio Times shows that the new look Nine o’Clock News was supposed to be followed by a regional news bulletin.
In fact, the bulletin did not appear until 6th January 1986.
Radio Times billed the regional news for the first two weeks of September 1985 – with the subsequent programme starting at 9.30pm.
The regional news wasn’t listed from 16th September and the following programme was billed with a 9.25pm start.
So what happened?
The BBC had never provided mid-evening regional news bulletins previously. However most English regions closed the night with a regional news summary before English regional presentation was dropped in 1980.
The nations still provided a bulletin at closedown – albeit read out-of-vision by the announcer in Scotland and Wales.
By 1985 most ITV regions had short local summaries after News at Ten although some were poorly produced. The announcer would simply read a script with no autocue or moving pictures.
So a regional news bulletin after the Nine o’Clock News seemed to be an overdue response by the BBC.
The move coincided with two other developments.
- The start of regional news bulletins in London and the south east. The region only got a dedicated regional news magazine, London Plus, in 1984 after the end of Sixty Minutes. However there were no short bulletins at other times. This was put right on 2nd September 1985.
- The move of the weekly regional programmes in England to BBC Two where they were shown at 8pm on Fridays. Previously they had been screened on BBC One in the late evening.
So why was the plan for mid-evening bulletins suddenly postponed?
Were there practical issues such as disputes over the rota? Were some regions initially unable to provide them? Does anyone who worked in a regional newsroom in 1985 know what happened?
Either way the 2-minute bulletin finally appeared in January 1986. It was extended to around 3 minutes in 1995 and doubled in length when the network news moved to 10pm in 2000.
RELATED ARTICLE: Northern Ireland News, BBC Weather, BBC One Northern Ireland continuity including programme promotion for Spotlight (12th February 1986).
By the way, the schedule changes in 1985 meant routine opts on BBC Two in England for the first time.
Until then, they were exceptional – for instance the early evening regional news magazines moved to BBC Two during the 1980 Olympics.
Apparently significant engineering work had to take place in 1985 to make regular opting on BBC Two in England practical. The channel’s distribution network was previously not tailored to allow for straightforward opting unlike the BBC One distribution system.
It is important not to confuse the ability of each region to opt out on BBC2 locally with “regional” trade test transmissions which were a regular occurrence on the channel in the afternoon.
Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow inserted Test Card G into the network distribution circuit – but these broadcasts were seen across much of the country and not just their local areas.
This took place so the BBC Two feed from London could be used to send programme material to the regions.
But back to the mystery of the mid-evening bulletin.
Why was the planned start date delayed by 4 months?
And was it a last minute decision? Too late for Radio Times.
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: Northern Ireland News presented by Rose Neill. COPYRIGHT: BBC.
The same but different … as far as I can remember BBC Scotland never had a pre children’s television regional news bulletin. Also, despite liking multiple opt outs mainly when you wanted to see your favourite programme, in the early eighties, in the early evening regional slot, they just showed the London broadcasts. I remember seeing repeats of Sykes and a cartoon programme being introduced by a disgraced celebrity, before it was networked not long after.