- Meridian Tonight
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Meridian Tonight Format News, Sport, Weather Presented by Sangeeta Bhabra,
Fred DinenageCountry 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 TodayExternal 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 TVS – Meridian Tonight and Meridian News originally consisted of three sub-regional services, as follows:
- East (Kent, Medway, southern Essex, East Sussex, and Brighton & Hove), based in Maidstone before moving to New Hythe in 1994. The news operation was moved back to Maidstone (Vinters Park Studios) ten years later.
- South (Brighton & Hove, West Sussex, southern Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, eastern Dorset, and the Isle of Wight), based in Southampton before moving to Whiteley in 2004.
- West (northern Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, and parts of Surrey), based in Newbury.
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
- Luke Castiglione (also Meridian Tonight reporter)
- Martyn Davies (utilised with national ITV Weather)
- 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
- Phil Hornby (Political)
- Mike Pearse (Transport)
- Stacey Poole (Health)
References
External links
ITV Local News ITV-plc regions Anglia: Anglia Tonight · Border: Lookaround · Central: Central Tonight · Granada: Granada Reports · London: London Tonight · Meridian: Meridian Tonight · Tyne Tees: North East Tonight · Wales: Wales Tonight · West/Westcountry: The West Country Tonight · Yorkshire: Calendar
Non ITV-plc regions STV North/STV Central: STV News at Six / Scotland Tonight · UTV: UTV Live · Channel Television: Channel Report
Former programmes ATV: ATV Midlands News, ATV Today · Anglia: About Anglia · GMTV: GMTV News (South) · Grampian: North Tonight · Scottish: Scotland Today · TSW: TSW Today · TVS: Coast to Coast · Thames: Thames News · Thames Valley: Thames Valley Tonight · Tyne Tees: Northern Life · West: The West Tonight · LWT: LWT News · Westcountry: Westcountry Live
Daybreak regions Related ITV Breakfast · ITV News · ITV Weather · itv.com · stv.tv
Categories:- 1993 television series debuts
- ITV regional news programmes
- Media in Dorset
- Media in Essex
- Media in Hampshire
- Media of the Isle of Wight
- Media in Kent and Medway
- Media in Sussex
- Media in Surrey
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