Meridian Tonight

Meridian Tonight
Meridian Tonight
Format News, Sport, Weather
Presented by Sangeeta Bhabra,
Fred Dinenage
Country of origin United Kingdom
Language(s) English
Production
Running time 30 minutes (6pm programme)
Broadcast
Original channel ITV, ITV1 Meridian
Original run 4 January 1993 – present
Chronology
Related shows South Today,
South East Today
External links
Website

Meridian Tonight is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ITV Meridian (formerly Meridian Broadcasting), serving the South and South East of England (including the Thames Valley), and usually broadcast at 6pm and 10.30pm every weeknight. Other bulletins are branded as Meridian News. In February 2010 the programme won the Royal Television Society's Award for Best Nations & Regions News Coverage.[1]

Contents

Overview

January 1993 – December 2006

Launched on 4 January 1993 – three days after Meridian replaced TVSMeridian Tonight and Meridian News originally consisted of three sub-regional services, as follows:

GMTV bulletins in the South and West sub-regions were shared while the East received its own bulletins.

Studio production of the West edition moved to Meridian's main studios at Northam in Southampton by 2001 with presentation for all three services moved to new smaller studios at Whiteley, near Fareham on Saturday 4 December 2004. Newsgathering operations in all areas were retained.

In December 2006, the GMTV bulletins became pan-regional. Weekend bulletins had become pan-regional across the South and East only, whilst the West retained its own weekend bulletins right up until 3 December 2006, when ITV Thames Valley was launched.

December 2006 – February 2009

On 4 December 2006, the long expected merger between West and Central South, took place to form the non-franchise ITV Thames Valley service, broadcasting Thames Valley Today/Tonight from the same studio at Whiteley. The merger saw Oxfordshire, the Swindon area, and Buckinghamshire being added to the region for news purposes. The former Central South headquarters at Abingdon was retained as the main newsgathering base for ITV Thames Valley, but the studio presentation facility was mothballed.

Bulletins during GMTV became pan-regional across the entire combined ITV Meridian and ITV Thames Valley areas, and branded as GMTV News. Weekend bulletins continued to be separate Meridian News (pan-regional for South and East) and Thames Valley Today/Tonight services.

February 2009 – present

At the end of 2008, in light of a restructuring through the ITV regional news network, around 100 staff across the Meridian & Thames Valley areas were made redundant and all sub-regional services in the Thames Valley were axed. A single news programme for the entire region was launched. Within this, two sub-regions remained - the new West, comprising the former South & Thames Valley areas combined, and the East, consisting of the former South-East region.

The remaining sub-regional elements are:

  • The opening 15 to 18 minutes of the main 6pm programme.
  • Localised weather forecasts.
  • Full late night bulletins on weeknights, following ITV News at Ten.

Both sub-regional editions utilise exactly the same presenter(s) and studio/set, therefore one of the two opt-outs - depending on the day's news - is pre-recorded 'as live' shortly before broadcast.

The news service is produced and broadcast from ITV Meridian's studios in Whiteley, near Fareham with reporters also based at bureaux in Maidstone, Brighton, Reading, Abingdon and Poole. The Head of News is Robin Britton who previously launched Thames Valley Tonight and the West edition of Meridian Tonight.

Broadcast times

Meridian News airs on Meridian seven days a week. Meridian provides three news bulletins during Daybreak. The lunchtime edition of the programme follows on from the ITV News at 1:30, giving a five minute round-up of developments between 1.55pm and 2.00pm. The main evening edition of Meridian Tonight begins at 6.00pm, and ends at 6.30pm. The late news update from the Meridian sub-regions follows the ITV News at Ten, airing between 10.30pm and 10.35pm, Mondays to Fridays.

Meridian News airs two bulletins at weekends: one on Saturday, in the late afternoon, and one on Sunday: in the early evening.

Current on air team

Newsreaders

  • Sangeeta Bhabra (Meridian Tonight and alternate late bulletin)
  • Fred Dinenage (Meridian Tonight and alternate late bulletin)
  • Amanda Piper (Daybreak and lunchtime bulletins)

Weather presenters

  • Philippa Drew (freelancer)
  • Simon Parkin

Sports presenters

  • Sarah Gomme
  • Chris Maughan

District Correspondents

Thames Valley

  • Correspondent
    • Rachel Hepworth
  • Reporters
    • Kate Cooney
    • Nick Harper
    • Penny Silvester

South East

  • Correspondents
    • Derek Johnson (Maidstone)
    • Sarah Saunders (Maidstone)
    • Malcolm Shaw (Brighton)
  • Reporters
    • Tom Savvides (Maidstone)
    • David Wright (Maidstone)
    • Nashreen Issa
    • Victoria Heath
    • Charlotte Wilkins (Brighton)
    • Andy Dickenson (Brighton)

News Correspondents

  • Correspondents
    • Christine Alsford (Education & Social Affairs)
    • Martin Dowse
    • Andrew Pate
  • Reporters
    • Richard Jones
    • Sally Simmonds
    • Kerry Swain
    • Divya Kohli (Abingdon)
    • Mel Bloor

Specialist Correspondents

  • Stacey Poole (Health)

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

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