BBC Look North (Yorkshire and North Midlands)

BBC Look North is the BBC's regional television news service for West, South and North Yorkshire and northern parts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The service is produced and broadcast from the BBC Broadcasting Centre at St. Peter's Square in Leeds with district newsrooms based in Bradford, Sheffield and York.

For other regions of "Look North" see BBC Look North.

BBC Look North
Title card used since April 2022
Theme music composerDavid Lowe
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersBBC News
BBC Yorkshire
Production locationsBroadcasting Centre, 2 St Peter's Square, Leeds LS9 8AH
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time30 minutes (main 6:30pm programme)
10 minutes (1:30pm and 10:30pm programmes)
Various (on weekends and Breakfast)
Release
Original networkBBC One Yorkshire
Original release25 March 1968 (1968-03-25) –
present
Related

Look North can be watched in any part of the UK (and Europe) from Astra 2E on Freesat channel 966 and Sky channel 956. The latest edition of Look North is also available to watch on the BBC iPlayer.

Coverage area

The Leeds programme covers the editorial areas of Radio Leeds and Radio Sheffield. Due to the size of North Yorkshire, the listenership of Radio York is covered by the geographically multitudinous Look North programmes from Leeds and Newcastle.

The programme is available online through BBC iPlayer. In some (but not all) areas of North Yorkshire have their aerials point to Bilsdale TV transmitter that broadcast the Newcastle edition of Look North, however most viewers in the county point their aerial to the Emley Moor or Oliver's Mount Transmitter to watch the Leeds edition of Look North. Viewers in Scarborough and some in Filey receive the Leeds edition from the relay transmitter at Oliver's Mount.

For viewers on Freesat, northern areas of North Yorkshire (DL, TS, and YO21/22 postcodes) are allocated Look North from Newcastle on BBC1 and ITV News Tyne Tees. YO7 and YO62 postcodes are allocated BBC Yorkshire and ITV Tyne Tees news services.

Broadcast

On weekdays, Look North in Yorkshire and the North Midlands broadcasts three main bulletins: a 15-minute lunchtime news at 1.30 pm, the main half-hour programme at 6.30 pm and a 15-minute late bulletin at 10.30 pm, following the BBC News at Ten, with a 30-second headline update during the BBC News Summary at 8 pm.

Look North also airs three bulletins during the weekend: early evening bulletins on Saturday & Sunday and a late night bulletin on Sundays, following the BBC News at Ten. The times of these bulletins usually vary.

Breakfast bulletins during BBC Breakfast aired at 27 and 57 minutes past each hour until Monday 6 June 2016, when the opt-outs were merged with those provided by Look North's sister service in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, as part of a pilot scheme from the BBC's Hull studios. These bulletins now come from the BBC's Leeds studios.

History

Before 1968, the region was served by regional output from Manchester, launched in September 1957 with daily News from the North bulletins for the entire north of England. The start of a separate programme for the North East & Cumbria in 1959 allowed the daily bulletins to focus on the North West and Yorkshire & Lincolnshire areas. The programme was extended to 20 minutes in 1962 and renamed North at Six (later Look North). BBC regional television from Leeds has been broadcast since Monday 25 March 1968.[1]

The launch of a dedicated regional news service from Leeds allowed for greater coverage of the two distinct areas on each side of the Pennines. It also coincided with the decision to introduce a separate ITV contractor for the east of the Pennines, Yorkshire Television, which went on air in July 1968 along with its own regional news magazine, Calendar. Prior to that, Yorkshire had been covered by the Manchester-based contractors ABC (weekends) and Granada (weekdays).

The original team of Look North presenters and reporters from Leeds included John Burns, Barry Chambers, David Haigh, James Hogg and David Seymour.[2]

Because the Leeds programme was carried on the powerful Holme Moss transmitter, it could be received in the north-west, Isle of Man, south to near Birmingham and even in parts of Northern Ireland as viewers' correspondence often testified (the Manchester programme was carried from Winter Hill and restricted to the north-west).

Look North from Leeds was the main programme for the whole of the 'BBC North' (later 'Yorkshire & Lincolnshire') region until 11 November 2002, when a new studio had been built in Hull, and the programme split in two. A short opt-out service for the East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire had been in service since 2001. The programme was first produced from All Souls' Church in Blackman Lane, Leeds, where part of the church had been converted into a black-and-white television studio with attendant equipment.

In 1974, Look North moved to new studios at Broadcasting House on Woodhouse Lane near Leeds Metropolitan University and around the corner from All Souls Church. The new facilities, equipped for colour, remained the base for Look North Leeds and other regional programmes until 26 September 2004.

A new broadcasting centre was built near the West Yorkshire Playhouse on St Peter's Square, with BBC Look North moving into the new premises on 27 September 2004. The move coincided with the introduction of a new BBC region for Yorkshire and the North Midlands.

Presenters

References
  1. "Celebrating Look North at 40". BBC. 20 March 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  2. "Look North". Radio Times Volume 178 No. 2315 North of England issue. United Kingdom: BBC. 21 March 1968.
  3. "ClareFrisby". Twitter. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  4. ""Is it true? Yeah it is lad, I'm off" - BBC Look North's Harry Gration to present last show this evening". www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  5. "Amanda Harper on colleagues, fashion and Leeds' resurgence as she marks 20 years at BBC Look North". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  6. "Phil Bodmer". Twitter. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  7. "daveedwards". Twitter. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  8. "BBC One - Break-in Britain - The Crackdown - Keeley Donovan". BBC. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  9. "BBC One - Look North (Yorkshire) - Paul Hudson". BBC. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  10. "BBC One - Break-in Britain - The Crackdown - Keeley Donovan". BBC. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  11. "katerinabbc". Twitter. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  12. "Christa Ackroyd sacked by BBC over alleged contract breach". BBC News. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  13. Banner, Megan (26 January 2023). "Fans gutted as BBC Look North legend leaves show after 20 years". YorkshireLive. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  14. "BBC Look North veteran to retire after 52 years in journalism". Prolific North. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  15. "BBC Look North presenter Harry Gration dies suddenly, aged 71". Hull Daily Mail. 24 June 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  16. "Good Morning with Anne and Nick – What Was Pebble Mill?".
  17. Teale, Connor (7 November 2020). "Look North's Charlotte Leeming is leaving the BBC after 23 years". YorkshireLive. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  18. "BBC Yorkshire political editor Len Tingle dies aged 63". BBC News. 11 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  19. Newton, Grace; Lan, Sophie Mei (21 October 2022). "Former BBC Look North presenter Ian White to join ITV Calendar as co-presenter - Yorkshire Post". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  20. "Gillian Brown – Weather Presenter and Broadcast Journalist at BBC East Midlands Today". www.bournemouth.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  21. "nicholadixon". Twitter. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  22. "LisaWeather". Twitter. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  23. "New North West Tonight weather presenter named". BBC News. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
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