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BBC London (formerly known as BBC London News) is the BBC's regional television news programme for Greater London and its surrounding areas. Its local competitor is ITV News London, which is produced by ITN for ITV London.
| BBC London | |
|---|---|
 Title card used since April 2022 | |
| Also known as | BBC LDN (2001–2004) BBC London News (former name) |
| Theme music composer | David Lowe |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producers | BBC News BBC London |
| Production locations | Studio B, Broadcasting House, London Studio D, Broadcasting House, London |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes (main 6:30pm programme) 10 minutes (1:35pm and 10:30pm programmes) Various (during weekends and Breakfast) |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC One London |
| Release | 1 October 2001 – present |
| Related | |
The bulletin is broadcast seven days a week on BBC One in London and the surrounding areas. On weekdays, three-minute updates are aired during BBC Breakfast, a 10-minute bulletin airs at 1:35pm during the BBC News at One, and a 15-minute bulletin airs after the BBC News at Ten. The flagship programme airs between 6.30pm and 7pm each weekday after the BBC News at Six and is usually presented by Riz Lateef. Weekend bulletins are broadcast on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Lateef became the main presenter of the flagship programme in March 2006, when she replaced Emily Maitlis who left to join the BBC News Channel and BBC Two's Newsnight.
Weather forecasts are included within bulletins, presented by either Kate Kinsella or Elizabeth Rizzini. The weekday evening weather forecast is usually presented from the roof of the programme's production base at BBC Broadcasting House or at the location of an outside broadcast from earlier in the programme. Other forecasts are presented primarily from within the BBC London studio or the BBC Weather studio.
Originally broadcast from studios in Marylebone High Street, the programme moved to the newly built Egton Wing of Broadcasting House in January 2013. Egton Wing was subsequently renamed John Peel Wing.[1]
History
editThe programme launched on 1 October 2001 as BBC LDN after a major reorganisation of the BBC's South East region, with the London area splitting away to form its own separate region. The previous programme, Newsroom South East, had gradually decreased in its coverage as certain areas were switched to receive other regional news programmes. Following the launch of South East Today, a brand new programme for the new South East region, Newsroom South East was effectively broadcasting solely to the London area for a short while before it became BBC London News.
During planning, the programme for London had been named London Live, also at the time the name of the region's BBC Local Radio station; titles were produced by the Lambie-Nairn design agency but never shown onscreen.[2]
The eventual title became BBC London, though the programme is always referred to by presenters as BBC London News, while programme titles were originally BBC LDN: an abbreviation of 'London'. However, the programme has long since been called BBC London both on air and TV guide.
The area created for the BBC London programme to broadcast to now covers a much more tightly defined area, chiefly Greater London but still including parts of Bedfordshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the East of England region and parts of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex in the South East England region. There is also some overlap with the editorial areas of other BBC regions in this part of England. Most of Oxfordshire and parts of Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Northamptonshire, Berkshire and Gloucestershire now take an opt-out of South Today,[3] while most of Kent and East Sussex has (since 2001) been covered by the BBC South East region based in Tunbridge Wells, which produces South East Today.[4]
Areas that get BBC London News can also receive overlaps from neighbouring regional programmes which are also well covered-by them such as:
- Luton, Stevenage, Chelmsford and Southend can receive Look East.
- Guildford, Farnham, Godalming, Henley and Aldershot can receive South Today.
- Crawley, Dartford, Gravesend, and Sevenoaks can receive South East Today.
In 2020, the weekday lunchtime bulletin of BBC London merged with that of South East Today to join forces with the latest on COVID-19 as BBC London and South East, hosted by the South East Today team in Tunbridge Wells. All other bulletins remain separate between the two regions.
On 18 October 2022 (coinciding the corporation's 100 years of broadcasting) BBC London merged production teams with BBC News at 6 and 10 teams. This resulted in them moving to Studio B in Broadcasting House for those programs. Breakfast, lunchtime, and weekend bulletins continue to produce in a redesigned Studio D of the said building.
Satellite broadcast
editThe programme can be viewed throughout the UK (and Europe) on digital satellite channel 974 on the BBC UK regional TV on satellite service.
Presenters
editNews Presenters
edit| Person | Position |
|---|---|
| Riz Lateef | Main Programme presenter (Monday-Wednesday) |
| Asad Ahmad | Main Programme & Late Bulletin presenter (Thursday/Friday) |
| Victoria Hollins | Main programme relief presenter |
| Samantha Simmonds | |
| Ben Boulos | |
| Luxmy Gopal | BBC Breakfast Bulletin presenter and main programme relief presenter |
| Alice Bhandhukravi | |
| Tolu Adeoye | BBC Breakfast & Lunchtime Bulletin presenter (rotating) |
| Thomas Magill | |
| Alice Salfield | |
| Allison Earle | |
| Victoria Cook | |
| Nicky Ford | BBC Breakfast & Lunchtime Bulletin relief presenter |
| Jim Wheble | |
| Frankie McCamley | |
| Paul Murphy-Kasp | |
| Angie George | |
| Leigh Milner | |
| Barry Caffrey |
Weather
edit- Georgina Burnett
- Katerina Christodoulou
- Kate Kinsella
- Matt Taylor
- John Hammond
- Elizabeth Rizzini
- Kawser Quamer
Former Presenters
edit- Emily Maitlis (1 October 2001- 24 March 2006)
- Mike Ramsden (2001-2011)
- Nina Hossain (2001-2004)
- Gillian Joseph (2001-2004)
- Matt Barbet (2003-2006)
Travel
edit- Katie Allen
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ "BBC - BBC to name wing of new Broadcasting House after John Peel - Media Centre". Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
- ^ "BBC South East – BBC London News". TV & Radio Bits. Retrieved 7 May 2007. [dead link]
- ^ "BBC South East – South Today". TV & Radio Bits. Retrieved 3 April 2007. [dead link]
- ^ "BBC South East News". The TV Room Plus. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
