BBC News at One

The BBC News at One is the BBC's afternoon news programme on British television channels BBC One and BBC News (UK feed), broadcast weekdays at 1:00pm and produced by BBC News. It is normally broadcast for 30 minutes, except on bank holidays when it may be shorter and only shown on BBC One. On the weekends, it is replaced by a shorter bulletin branded as BBC Weekend News. The programme is currently presented by Ben Brown and Jane Hill.

BBC News at One
Title card used since 3 April 2023
Also known asBBC One O'Clock News (1986–2008)
BBC News at One O'Clock (2001–2004)
Created byBBC News
Presented byBen Brown
Jane Hill
Theme music composerDavid Lowe
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
News editorSam Taylor
Production locationsStudio N6 BBC Television Centre (1986–2013)
Studio E, Broadcasting House, London (2013–2023)
Studio B, Broadcasting House, London (2023–present)
Running time30 minutes
Production companyBBC News
Release
Original networkBBC One
BBC News (UK feed)
Original release27 October 1986 (1986-10-27) –
present
Related

The BBC News at One achieved an average reach of 2.7 million viewers per bulletin in 2007, making it the most watched programme on UK daytime television.[1] During the COVID-19 pandemic, audiences reached 4.2 million viewers in 2020.[2]

History
BBC One O'Clock News with Martyn Lewis in 1986

The One O'Clock News launched on 27 October 1986 as part of the new daytime television service on BBC1. It replaced News After Noon programme, which had a two-person presentation team of Richard Whitmore and either Moira Stuart or Frances Coverdale. Martyn Lewis, who had joined the BBC from rival ITN, was the original presenter of the new One O'Clock News, in a single-presenter format.[3] Michael Buerk took over as main presenter in October 1987 when Martyn Lewis left to present the Nine O'Clock News. Philip Hayton acted as main relief presenter from when the programme began, and took over as main anchor in October 1988 when Michael Buerk left to present the Nine O'Clock News along with Martyn Lewis in a single-presenter format. Martyn Lewis and Michael Buerk, the main anchors of the Nine, along with Anna Ford, acted as relief presenters during this period.[4]

A unified look across BBC news output was introduced on 13 April 1993 from N2, and the programme, while retaining the One O'Clock News title, adopted the Silicone graphics computer look, which distorted the image into Virtual Reality, a real studio did exist with changeable panels behind the newsreaders, dependent upon the bulletins, made up of three one metre, three 1.5-metre, and three x three-metre panels, these being kept in storage racks in N2. The programme still kept some of its individuality, such as a reworked version of the theme music, again by George Fenton, with the newer version being performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra at Abbey Road studios. John Tusa and Edward Stourton took over as main presenters at this time. Tusa left the bulletin in 1996, with Stourton taking over as main presenter, and Justin Webb becoming deputy presenter a year later. Anna Ford, who would later become lead anchor of the programme, would also occasionally stand in as presenter.[5]

According to the TV studio history website, N1, was the former World Service studio next door to N2, were both closed around 1998/1999 when the new News Centre opened in Stage 6, understanding – becoming the "property" of BBC Resources, which renamed N1 to TC10 and N2 to TC11, and that Recourses could not afford to refurbish them. Both studios were unused for a couple of years.

A new look across all of BBC News television output on 10 May 1999 meant that for the first time all the main bulletins on BBC One had the same look, the only exception being the title of the programme. At this time Anna Ford took over as the main presenter of the bulletin in 1999, staying until her retirement from newsreading in April 2006. George Alagiah became deputy presenter at the same time until early 2002 when he became the presenter of BBC Four News. Darren Jordon took over from George Alagiah as deputy presenter until late 2006.[6] Following Ford's retirement, Sophie Raworth became lead anchor.

On 22 January 2007, the programme titles were relaunched, along with the rest of the BBC television output, to give an identical series of titles across news programming on all BBC channels.

Between February and August 2008, Kate Silverton took over as main presenter while Sophie Raworth was on maternity leave. After this Kate Silverton became deputy presenter.

On 4 February 2008, the programme temporarily moved studios, from N6 to N8 (the former BBC News 24 studio), as part of restructuring across BBC News. On 21 April 2008 the programme underwent a graphical refresh and returned to the refurbished N6, and was now known as the BBC News at One.

On 5 November 2010, during the National Union of Journalists strike action,[7] former Sky News and GMTV presenter Emma Crosby presented the programme whilst the regular presenters were absent. Further strike dates occurred on 15 July 2011 and 1 August 2011 plus on 28 March 2013. Gavin Grey presented on these days in addition to BBC News Channel.[8][9]

On 18 March 2013, the programme moved to Broadcasting House, along with the BBC News channel and the other BBC One bulletins, and began broadcasting in high-definition. The programme was the first to be broadcast from the new studio.[10]

Between January and June 2015, the bulletin was extended to 40 minutes due to the length of the English regional bulletins being reduced to 5 minutes during the general election campaign period. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland retained the original 30-minute broadcast length and aired their regular 15-minute bulletins.

From 23 March 2020, Simon McCoy took the role as the Monday-Wednesday presenter, following the end of the BBC's Afternoon Live, Jane Hill continued to present on Thursdays, with her sharing the role on Fridays with Kate Silverton. Raworth ceased to present the bulletin and appeared exclusively as a main anchor of the BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten.

On 25 March 2021, Simon McCoy left the BBC after 17 years at the network. He presented his final BBC News at One on the same day. Since McCoy's departure, the programme has dispensed with a main presenter, with a team of established BBC journalists presenting the programme on rotation.

On 14 March 2023, BBC News at One used Studio B at the Broadcasting House for the first time to include a completely new studio and presentation. However, unlike BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten, Studio E was still in use regularly for the bulletin, until the main launch.

On 15 May 2023, two months after the first trial, BBC News at One moved to Studio B permanently to follow the same format as the BBC News at Six and Ten using the new presentation, graphics, titles and the new handover to the nations and regions.

Presenters

Current presenters
Years Presenter Current Role
2014–present Ben Brown Main Presenter
2003–present Jane Hill
2014–present Reeta Chakrabarti Relief Presenter
2014–present Clive Myrie Occasional Relief Presenter
2023–present Maryam Moshiri

In addition, senior presenter Sophie Raworth occasionally presents in the event of a major news story.

Former presenters

Presenters below are occasional or relief presenters unless indicated otherwise.

One O'Clock News Hour

The BBC News at One has been shown on the BBC News channel since April 2006, making up the first half-hour of the BBC News at One. During the headlines and "coming up" section, BBC One viewers see a preview of the stories to come from their region, while BBC News viewers see sports headlines. Between 12:45 pm and 1:30 pm BBC News has a service providing in-vision British Sign Language for viewers with hearing difficulties. Within the last few minutes of each programme, a full national weather forecast is presented within the studio.

Between 2006 and 2017, significant differences could be seen between the two-halves of the programme, as the second half was originally presented by the Duty News Channel presenter. Since 2017, coinciding with schedule changes on the BBC News channel, the presenter of the BBC News at One has fronted the full one-hour slot.It also features an extended Sport Today and World Business Report. On 28 June 2021, a new regional round up called Across the UK was introduced looking at stories from the nations and regions.

See also

References
  1. "News viewers turned to BBC in 2007". BBC Press Office. 7 December 2007.
  2. "Viewing figures for BBC News programmes in 2020". BBC Press Office. 17 April 2020.
  3. "The start and finish of the first edition of the One O'Clock News". Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  4. "Search Results – BBC Genome".
  5. Diana death TV coverage: BBC, ITN, Channel 4 News + other bits and bobs, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 5 September 2021
  6. "Out with the old, in with the younger, at BBC news". TheGuardian.com. 5 September 2002.
  7. "BBC News staff strike over pensions". BBC News. 5 November 2010. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  8. "BBC News Strike July 2011 – BBC National News". TV Newsroom. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  9. "BBC News Strike August 2011 – BBC National News". TV Newsroom. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  10. "BBC News' television output moves to new studios at Broadcasting House". BBC. 18 March 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
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