Stewart joined Southern Television in 1976, then joined ITN in 1980, where he served three years with Channel 4 News and went on to become a main newsreader with ITV News. He remained in this role for more than 35 years, making him the longest-serving male newsreader on British television, having worked in both local and national news for 44 years. As a presenter for ITV News, he won the Royal Television Society's News Presenter of the Year award in 2004 and 2005.
In January 2020, he stepped down as an ITV News presenter and joined GB News on its introduction in 2021. In March 2023, he announced his retirement as a regular broadcaster.[1]
Stewart's career in television started in 1976 with ITV's south of England company Southern Television in Southampton.[6] He was a reporter, industrial correspondent, presenter and documentary maker. He recorded one of the last interviews with Lord Mountbatten before Mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA in 1979,[7] and spent six weeks in Ford Open Prison to make a half-hour documentary.[5]
1980s
He joined ITN in 1980 as industrial correspondent,[5] soon joining its roster of additional newsreaders. From 1983[6] to 1986, he was a presenter and reporter with ITN's Channel 4 News, and also presented ITN's News at 5.45.
Stewart provided live coverage of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster as the details of the tragedy unfolded.[6] A two-minute newsflash became an unscripted, one-hour special programme. He also anchored, with Sandy Gall, the award-winning coverage on ITN on the night of the bombing of the Pan Am jet over Lockerbie[6] and presented the ITV network coverage of the memorial service for the victims.
He moved again in May 1989, to ITN's flagship News at Ten bulletin,[6] which he anchored live from the fall of the Berlin Wall, before spending a year in the United States as ITN's Washington correspondent. Four days after returning from his assignment in Washington he was sent to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, to anchor ITN's coverage of the Gulf War. He presented News at Ten, live from Saudi Arabia for two months. At the end of February, Stewart became the first British television reporter to broadcast live from the liberated Kuwait City. He presented News at Ten from Kuwait for a week before returning to the UK.
1990s
ITN's network coverage of the 1992 Budget saw the ninth year of Stewart's involvement in the presentation of the annual event for ITV.[7] It was his fifth year anchoring the programme having replaced Sir Alastair Burnet, who retired from ITN in 1991.
Stewart also presented Police Camera Action!, which originally started in 1994, on ITV, showing video footage of examples of road crime from police cars. In 2003 he was dropped from this role after his second conviction for drink driving. He was more than three times the legal limit when his car crashed in Hampshire.[8] Episodes that had already been recorded for broadcast in 2002 were finally shown in January 2006.[citation needed]
2000s
Stewart was a presenter on the now defunct ITV News Channel for the 2003 Iraq War presenting a weekday programme called Live with Alastair Stewart.
He was also a regular presence in ITV's national election coverage, co-anchoring network coverage of the general elections of 2005 (with Jonathan Dimbleby), 1997 (with Dimbleby and Michael Brunson), 1992 (with Jon Snow) and 1987 (with Alastair Burnet). He was the main anchor of Election Night Live: America Decides, ITV's through-the-night programme covering the 2008 US Presidential election.
In February 2007, he became co-presenter of the ITV Lunchtime News, replacing Nicholas Owen. The bulletin was revamped in July 2009, from which point Stewart became one of two main alternate newscasters for the programme. Also in 2007, he hosted a political programme for ITV, Moral of the Story, which aired at various late times on Sunday nights.
In August 2009, it was announced that he would become main co-presenter of the ITV Evening News, relinquishing his role as presenter of London Tonight. This came into effect from 7 September 2009. He was also the main presenter of ITV's general election results programme in 2010.[9]
On 15 April 2010, Stewart moderated the first ever United Kingdom political leaders' debates between the prime ministerial candidates in the 2010 general election, featuring the Labour incumbent Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, debating on live television. Three debates were to take place, produced by ITV, the BBC and Sky. By random lots, ITV drew the first debate, and chose Stewart to act as moderator.
On 28 December 2014, Stewart presented a one-off ITV documentary called Unbelievable Moments: Caught on Camera. The programme returned for further episodes in January 2016 and 2017.[14]
In June 2015, it was announced that, as part of a wider restructure at ITV News, Mark Austin would return to the ITV Evening News full-time, alongside Mary Nightingale from October 2015. Alastair Stewart continued to appear on the programme as a relief newscaster, alongside his duties on the ITV Lunchtime News.[17] Coinciding with the main presenter line-up, the programme was again being referred to as the ITV Evening News.[18]
In early January 2020, Stewart engaged in a dispute on Twitter with Martin Shapland, a black man. During the dispute, Stewart made a tweet addressed to Shapland which quoted the line "Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd – His glassy elegance – like an angry ape" from the Shakespeare play Measure for Measure. ITN received public complaints about this post and others.[20] On 29 January 2020, Stewart deleted his Twitter account and announced he would be stepping down as an ITV News presenter.[21] The following day, an ITN source said his departure came after "multiple 'errors of judgment' in his use of social media", not just the Measure for Measure quote.[20] Following Stewart's departure, Shapland said "I understand that Mr Stewart has acknowledged the words he used were misjudged and has expressed regret at what happened. I thank him for that... It is regrettable that he has decided to stand down and I take no pleasure in that."[22]
Later in 2020 Stewart worked as a relief presenter for Talkradio. In early April 2021 it was announced that he would join GB News to host a weekend news and current affairs programme.[23] On 16 July 2021, he announced he would temporarily suspend hosting on GB News following a hip injury and returned on 28 August 2021. He covered for Andrew Neil from 30 August until 3 September.[24]
On 19 March 2023, GB News aired the final edition of Alastair Stewart & Friends. Stewart announced his retirement a few days later.[25] He stated that he would continue to contribute to GB News as an occasional guest and pundit, and provided commentary on the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday 6 May.
Personal life
Stewart has been married to Sally Ann Jung since 1978 and has four children. His son Alex Stewart was formerly a football analyst for Tifo Football, a division of The Athletic.[26] He and his wife live on a farm in Bramdean, Hampshire.[27][28] His nephew is actor Nick Hendrix.[29]
In 2003 Stewart was banned from driving for 23 months and fined £3,000; he had been arrested, charged and convicted of drink driving after crashing his car into a hedge and telegraph pole whilst three times over the legal alcohol limit in June 2003. He had the original 30-month ban reduced after he agreed to go on a rehabilitation course for disqualified drivers.[30]
In September 2023, Stewart announced during an interview on GB News that he had been diagnosed with early-onset vascular dementia after suffering a "series of strokes" and began to feel "discombobulated" when [undertaking] simple tasks around the house.[31] Stewart had smoked since his teens and had smoked up to 40 cigarettes a day,[32] but said the diagnosis had led to him "stopping smoking, going on longer dog walks and trying to keep his brain active with puzzles."[33]
Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washington, D.C.
Peter George Sissons was an English journalist and broadcaster. He was a newscaster for ITN, providing bulletins on ITV and Channel 4, before becoming the presenter of the BBC's Question Time between 1989 and 1993, and a presenter of the BBC Nine O'Clock News and Ten O'Clock News between 1993 and 2003. He retired from the BBC in 2009 and died in 2019 from leukaemia at the age of 77.
The ITV News Channel was a 24-hour television news channel in the United Kingdom which broadcast from 1 August 2000 to 23 December 2005. It was available on Sky, NTL:Telewest, and analogue cable. It was also available during the morning on ITV Digital. The channel was carried by its replacement Freeview, although the launch of ITV4 saw its hours on that platform reduced to 6:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Angela May Rippon is an English broadcaster, former newsreader, writer and journalist.
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since continued to produce all news programmes on ITV. The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the ITV Evening News held the title of "RTS News Programme of the Year". The flagship ITV News at Ten has won numerous BAFTA awards, and also being named "RTS News Programme of the Year" in 2011, 2015, 2021 and 2022.
Sir James William Alexander Burnet, known as Alastair Burnet, was a British journalist and broadcaster, best known for his work in news and current affairs programmes, including a long career with ITN as chief presenter of the flagship News at Ten; Sir Robin Day described Burnet as "the booster rocket that put ITN into orbit".
ITV News at Ten is the flagship evening news programme on British television network ITV, produced by ITN and founded by news editor Geoffrey Cox in July 1967. The bulletin was the first permanent 30-minute news broadcast in the United Kingdom, and although initially scheduled for only thirteen weeks due to fears that its length would turn viewers off, the bulletin proved to be highly popular with audiences and became a fixture of the ITV schedule.
The ITV Evening News is the evening news programme produced by ITN on the British television network ITV. It airs Monday to Friday from 6:30pm, covering British national and international news stories and is presented by Mary Nightingale.
The ITV Lunchtime News is the afternoon news programme produced by ITN on the British television network ITV. It airs Monday to Friday from 1:30pm, covering British national and international news stories and is presented by Nina Hossain. The bulletin's time-slot is occasionally brought forward to a 1pm start-time in the event of ITV Racing coverage airing on ITV.
Nina Hossain is a British journalist and presenter employed by ITN as the lead presenter of the ITV Lunchtime News.
Mark William Austin is an English journalist and television presenter, currently working for Sky News.
Mary Nightingale is an English journalist and television presenter, best known for presenting the ITV Evening News since 2001.
Nicholas David Arundel Owen is an English journalist, television presenter and radio presenter. He previously presented on the BBC News channel and BBC One, and hosts a weekly programme on Classic FM radio.
Simon McCoy is a British journalist and former newsreader on BBC News, Sky News and GB News.
5 News at 5, also known as Channel 5 News, is the flagship news programme of British broadcaster Channel 5. It is produced by ITN from its main newsroom on London's Gray's Inn Road, and has been broadcast since Channel 5's launch in March 1997.
Leonard Parkin was an English television journalist and newsreader for the BBC and ITN. He began his career as a reporter for local newspapers in Yorkshire before moving to London to work for BBC Radio Newsreel and TV News. Parkin became the BBC's Canadian correspondent in 1960, and three years later was promoted to Washington correspondent. In 1965, he was a reporter on the BBC's current affairs programme Panorama, leaving in 1966 when he was injured in a car accident.
Matthew James "Matt" Teale is an English broadcast journalist employed by ITV Meridian.
Lucrezia Gaia Millarini is an English news journalist and television presenter, currently employed by ITN and presenting on ITV News.
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