London Tonight

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London Tonight
LondonTonightITV.jpg
London Tonight opening sequence
Also known as London Today
Format Regional News
Presented by Nina Hossain
Natasha Kaplinsky
Country of origin England, UK
Language(s) English
Production
Editor(s) Faye Nickolds
Location(s) ITN Studios,
London, England, UK
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 30 minutes
(main 6pm show)
Production company(s) LNN (1993-2004);
ITN (2004-present)
Broadcast
Original channel ITV1 London
Picture format 576i (SDTV 16:9)
Original run 1993 (1993) – present
Chronology
Preceded by Thames News
(1978-1992),
LWT News
(1982-1993)
Related shows ITV News,
BBC London News
External links
Website

London Tonight (in other editions London Today) is a regional news programme broadcast on ITV London (previously Carlton/LWT). Produced by ITN, the programme is broadcast at 6pm every weeknight, also including local sports news and local features of interest.

Like all regional news programmes on ITV in England and Wales and Channel Television, it uses the generic ITV plc font and idents.

Contents

Overview

London Tonight began on 4 January 1993 after Carlton Television won the London weekday franchise from previous holder Thames. The programme was originally produced by London News Network in association with LWT and Carlton. LNN was established to provide a united, seven day, ITV (Channel 3) news service for London. Its creation established a continuity between the once different brands of weekend and weekday news, weather and sport in the region.

On screen, the only difference between the Weekday and Weekend programmes became the endcap. This continued after the onscreen identities of Carlton London and LWT were scrapped by owners Carlton and Granada in anticipation of a merger. Instead of being referred to as LWT and Carlton, ITV London (weekend) and ITV London (weekday) became the respective names and all onscreen idents referred to ITV1 London.

ITV London (weekday) and ITV London (weekend) owners Carlton and Granada merged, forming ITV plc and LNN was dissolved soon after this. Production for all ITV London News programming remained at The London Studios (formerly known as the LWT South Bank Centre) until 29 February 2004. Production is now conducted by the national Channel 3 news franchisee ITN at their headquarters in Central London, making the region unique as it holds the only franchise operation not to produce its own in-house news programmes.

London Tonight was unaffected by the ITV regional news cuts in late 2008 to early 2009.[1]

Presenter changes

Alastair Stewart, who presented London Tonight for over 16 years, left the programme in September 2009 to be replaced temporarily by Matt Teale.[2] Teale was replaced by Donal MacIntyre in April 2010,[3] and now presents weekend bulletins.

Katie Derham left London Tonight on 23 June 2010 to join the BBC[4] and was replaced by Nina Hossain.[5] MacIntyre left the programme in September 2010,[6] with London Life correspondent Ben Scotchbrook taking over his duties.

Entertainment correspondent Lucy Cotter and weather presenter Robin McCallum presented the last double headed programme for the capital on 29 October 2010, with Cotter also departing on this date to join Sky News.[7] From 1 November 2010 the programme has been presented solely by Nina Hossain.[7]

On 3 August 2011, it was announced that Natasha Kaplinsky will provide maternity leave cover for Nina Hossain, the main presenter of London Tonight and relief presenter of ITV News programmes from mid-September until Spring 2012.[8] She tookover from Hossain in mid November 2011 after two months as a relief presenter.

Broadcast times

London Today/Tonight airs on ITV1 London seven days a week.

ITV London provides three news bulletins during Daybreak. The lunchtime bulletin follows on from the ITV News at 1:30, giving a seven minute round-up of the days developments from 1:54pm. The main evening edition of London Tonight begins at 6.00pm, and ends at 6.29pm. The late edition follows the ITV News at Ten, airing between 10.28pm and 10.37pm, Monday to Friday.

London Today/Tonight airs two bulletins at weekends, late afternoon on Saturday, and early evening on Sunday.

Current on air team

Presenters

Person Title(s) Related note(s)
Nina Hossain London Tonight presenter
Lunchtime bulletin newsreader (alternating)
ITV News at 1:30 newscaster
Natasha Kaplinsky
Alastair Stewart Lunchtime bulletin newsreader (alternating) ITV News at 1:30 and ITV News at 6:30 newscaster
Faye Barker Daybreak and weekend bulletins newsreader (alternating) ITV News at 5:30 newscaster
Charlene White
Ali Douglas Relief newsreader Freelance broadcast journalist and presenter
Alexandra Hill
Sangeeta Kandola
Matt Teale
Manali Lukha ITV Weather presenter Manager of the Met Office media team
Robin McCallum
Clare Nasir Freelance contract
Helen Austin Travel presenter

Correspondents

Person Title(s) Related note(s)
Phil Bayles News Correspondent
Ria Chatterjee
Murray Dron Freelance contract
Daisy Gray
Piers Hopkirk Freelance contract
Jasmine Lowson
Rachel Millichip
Sarah Mills Freelance contract
Marcus Powell
Tamsin Roberts
Robin Ross
Toby Sadler Freelance contract
Carolyn Sim
Emma Simpson Freelance contract
Nick Thatcher
Sharon Thomas
Bhavani Vadde Freelance contract
Emma Walden
Glen Goodman Business Correspondent
Simon Harris Political Correspondent Freelance contract
Lucrezia Millarini Arts Correspondent
Sally Williams Sport Correspondent
Ronke Phillips Crime Correspondent
Ben Scotchbrook London Life Correspondent London Tonight relief presenter
Liz Wickham Health Correspondent

Former on air team

References

External links

Preceded by
BBC Midlands Today
RTS: Television Journalism
Regional Daily News Magazine

1999
Succeeded by
BBC Look North
Preceded by
Frontline Scotland: The Ghost of Piper Alpha
RTS: Television Journalism
Regional Current Affairs
(Soho Bombing)

2000
Succeeded by
Spotlight: Life and Death of an IRA Quartermaster

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