The BBC News at Six is the BBC's evening news programme on British television channels BBC One and BBC News (UK feed), broadcast weeknights at 6:00pm and produced by BBC News. It is normally broadcast for 30minutes, except on bank holidays when it may be shorter and only shown on BBC One. For a long period, the BBC News at Six was the most watched news programme in the UK but since 2006 it has been overtaken by the BBC News at Ten (10:00pm). On average it is watched by four million viewers.[1]
Since December 2007, the length of the programme was shortened from 30minutes to 28minutes to allow for a news summary being shown on BBC One at 7:58pm.
On 8 May 2017, SBS in Australia began airing BBC News at Six during their English-language news programming segment. It is broadcast at 7:00am every day on delay from Britain.[2]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the bulletin was extended to 33minutes.
The programme is usually not broadcast on the international feed of the BBC News channel and is meant for UK viewers only. However, during special occasions or major stories such as UK government collapse, the programme is simulcast on the international feed,[3] carrying BBC News at Six branding and title sequence, although listed on the guide as simply BBC News.
History
The Six O'Clock News, as the bulletin was originally titled, was part of the second revamp of BBC1's early evening news and current affairs lineup in as many years. In October 1983, the BBC had replaced the long-running 5:40pm BBC Evening News, as well as current affairs and regional news programme Nationwide, with Sixty Minutes, an attempt to integrate regional and national news and current affairs in a single broadcast; it began with a fifteen-minute news segment similar to the Evening News. However, it lasted less than a year, ending the following July, and for the next five weeks, the BBC Evening News was reinstated at 5:40pm, finally ending on 31 August 1984.[4]
A bulletin presented by Sue Lawley and Nicholas Witchell. This set design was in use from 3 September 1984 to 12 April 1993.
The new programme was twice as long as the previous bulletins, with a running time of 30 minutes.
In 1988, the Six O'Clock News studio was invaded during a live broadcast by a female group protesting against Britain's Section 28 (a law against the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools). Witchell grappled with the protesters and is said to have sat on one woman, provoking the memorable front-page headline in the Daily Mirror, "Beeb man sits on lesbian".[6] Lawley left the Six O'Clock News later that year, followed by Witchell a year later, although he would return as a relief presenter intermittently until 1999. From 1989, the programme was mainly presented by two of Peter Sissons, Anna Ford, Andrew Harvey and Moira Stuart, with other BBC journalists such as Witchell, Hayton, John Humphrys, Michael Buerk, Jill Dando, Laurie Mayer, Mike Smartt and Chris Lowe also occasionally presenting.[7]
On 13 April 1993, the bulletin was relaunched with a more coherent look that was adopted across all BBC newscasts on the same day. A year later, Sissons departed to present the Nine O'Clock News, swapping positions with Martyn Lewis. From 1994 to 1999 the programme was generally presented by Lewis as lead presenter of the programme on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, with Ford taking on the lead role on Wednesday and Thursday, although both would cover each other's absences. Stuart was co-presenter on Monday and Tuesday, Harvey on Wednesday and Dando on Thursday and Friday. Other BBC journalists, in particular Jennie Bond, covered in the absence of co-presenters, with future lead presenters Huw Edwards and Fiona Bruce making occasional appearances. Senior journalists, including Witchell, Sissons and John Humphrys would present as lead anchor when both Lewis and Ford were unavailable.
On 10 May 1999, the bulletin was relaunched again, along with the rest of the BBC News programmes and the new presenter was Huw Edwards with Fiona Bruce as the deputy presenter. During Bruce's maternity leave in 2001, Sian Williams, who was special correspondent for the programme at this time, covered as deputy presenter. Both Edwards and Bruce left the Six O'Clock News on 19 January 2003 to front the Ten O'Clock News.[8]
On 20 January 2003, as George Alagiah and Sophie Raworth took over, the bulletin was relaunched along with the rest of BBC One's news bulletins. During Raworth's first maternity leave in 2004, Sian Williams stood in for her for over the six months. However, during Raworth's second maternity leave at the end of 2005, Natasha Kaplinsky stood in, originally as a temporary measure. As part of a presenter reshuffle in April 2006, Kaplinsky was confirmed as the new full-time presenter. Sophie Raworth was later named as the main presenter of the BBC News at One. Raworth is now a regular presenter on the News at Six and BBC News at Ten, covering for main presenters during their absences.
Since April 2005, the programme has formed the first half-hour of the Six O'Clock Newshour on the BBC News Channel. The second half-hour consists of business and sport updates presented from within the News Channel studio by one of the News Channel presenters. As before, the bulletin still completes at 6:30pm before splitting off to regional news programmes on BBC One.
On 5 October 2007 it was announced that Natasha Kaplinsky was leaving the BBC to replace Kirsty Young on 5 News, taking up her new role on 18 February 2008 presenting two half-hour evening bulletins. She left at the end of the Six O'Clock News on the same day.[9]
For a while Sian Williams filled in as co-presenter, but on 3 December 2007 the programme went single-headed, with George Alagiah as main presenter, and Sian Williams as deputy presenter. A few months into the new arrangement Fiona Bruce took over from Sian as the main Friday presenter.
On 28 January 2008, the programme moved studios, from N6 to TC7, as part of a restructuring across BBC News. On 21 April 2008 the programmes, along with the rest of BBC News, underwent a refresh, taking on new titles and a new set.
On 17 March 2013, the BBC News at Six bulletin presented by Sophie Raworth was the final programme to be broadcast from TC7 in BBC Television Centre, after BBC Breakfast and Newsnight vacated the studio in 2012.[10] The studio was demolished later in 2013 as part of the redevelopment of the site. 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.[11]
George Alagiah was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2014, and took leave from presenting duties. Raworth and Bruce were the main cover presenters during this time, which also saw regular appearances from Reeta Chakrabarti and Jane Hill.[12] Alagiah returned in late 2015, but saw his cancer return in 2018, and once again took leave to undergo further treatment. Raworth once again covered Alagiah during his absence, with Bruce, Chakrabarti, Hill and Clive Myrie also regularly appearing on the programme. Alagiah returned to his presenting duties in January 2019.[13] He last presented the BBC News at Six in 2022. In July 2023, he died from bowel cancer at the age of 67.[14]
After eleven years in the role, in January 2019, Fiona Bruce stepped down as the programme's regular presenter on Fridays in order to replace David Dimbleby on Question Time. Sophie Raworth then began to present on Fridays.
After the unification of BBC News for UK viewers and international viewers, the programme continues to be simulcast only on the UK feed.[15] The presentation after the merge remains identical except for the new titles with chameleon-style branding.
Presenter Reeta Chakrabarti at the opening of a bulletin in Studio B of Broadcasting House on 15 June 2022
Unlike the other BBC News bulletins that were broadcast from BBC Television Centre, the BBC News at Six was broadcast from TC7, which until 2012 housed Newsnight, Newsround, The Politics Show and The Andrew Marr Show, most of which moved to Broadcasting House. The programme would occasionally be broadcast from the BBC News channel studio (N6). Since the move to Broadcasting House the bulletin is broadcast from Studio E, the same studio as the BBC News channel and other national bulletins. The current set design and titles were introduced in March 2013.
Within the last few minutes of each bulletin, a full national weather forecast is presented by Helen Willetts, Alina Jenkins, Susan Powell or Louise Lear of the BBC Weather centre. The final full national weather forecast on the BBC News at Six, broadcast from Studio TC7, was presented by Nick Miller.[10]
In October 2018, due to technical difficulties at the Broadcasting House, Fiona Bruce was forced to present from the Millbank Studios.
On 26 May 2022, the BBC announced that the BBC News at Six and Ten, along with BBC Breakfast will be revamped in June 2022 to include a completely new studio and presentation, as part of a wider rebrand of the BBC in general. Local regional programmes will also be revamped over the coming months to tie in with the regional BBC channels broadcasting in HD by the beginning of 2023.[16]
The bulletin has been accused of being an example of the BBC 'dumbing-down' with more consumer-led reports and dynamic presentation. In particular, in 2006 the then Leader of the House of CommonsJack Straw berated the programme's presenters for "prancing around the studio".[17]
The BBC defend the format as they believe that the body language and integration of presenter and graphics increase the viewer's understanding of the news.[18]
The bulletin has also been accused of having an English perspective on the news in terms of items covered and priority each news item is given. There have been calls in Scotland for a separate Scottish Six that would combine Scottish, British and international news items to create a news programme from a Scottish perspective. The idea was rejected by the BBC in 2003 after a series of public meetings and a poll showed that 38% favoured the idea, as opposed to the 45% that wanted no change.[19] However, the SNP have continued to call for the change.[20]
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.
Susan Lawley is a retired English television and radio broadcaster. Her main broadcasting background involved television news and current affairs. From 1988 to 2006, Lawley was the presenter of Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4.
Sian Mary Williams is a Welsh journalist, current affairs presenter, and psychologist.
Fiona Elizabeth Bruce is a British journalist, newsreader, and television presenter. She joined the BBC as a researcher for their current affairs program Panorama in 1989, and became the first female newsreader on BBC News at Ten, as well as presenting many other flagship programmes for the corporation, including BBC News at Six, Crimewatch, Real Story, Antiques Roadshow, and Fake or Fortune? Since 10 January 2019, she has been the presenter of the BBC One television programme Question Time.
The BBC Nine O'Clock News is a BBC News programme that was the Corporation's flagship news programme. It was launched on 14 September 1970 and ran until 13 October 2000, when it was replaced by the BBC Ten O'Clock News.
BBC Newsline is the BBC's national television news programme for Northern Ireland, broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland from the headquarters of BBC Northern Ireland in Ormeau Avenue, Belfast.
Dermot John Murnaghan is a British media personality, notable as a journalist, news reporter and television host. He has been a presenter for numerous networks including at Channel 4, a news presenter at CNBC Europe, Independent Television News and BBC News. He has presented news programmes in a variety of time slots since joining Sky News in 2007, until the end of February 2023.
Natasha Margaret Kaplinsky is an English newsreader, TV presenter and journalist, best known for her roles as a studio anchor on Sky News, BBC News, Channel 5 and ITV News. As of September 2022, she is the president of the British Board of Film Classification.
Sophie Jane Raworth is an English journalist, newsreader and broadcaster working for the BBC. She is a senior newsreader and is one of the main presenters of BBC News. She has been a television presenter for state occasions and has also presented the BBC's Election Night coverage, alongside other presenters.
BBC News at Ten is the BBC's flagship evening news programme on British television channels BBC One and the BBC News Channel, broadcast nightly at 10:00pm and produced by BBC News. It is normally broadcast for 30minutes, except on bank holidays when it may be shorter and only shown on BBC One. The programme was controversially moved from 9:00pm to 10:00pm on 16 October 2000. The Sunday edition of the programme is listed as BBC Weekend News on TV guide and BBC iPlayer.
George Maxwell Alagiah was a British newsreader, journalist and television presenter, and one of BBC News's chief presenters. From 2007 until 2022, he was the presenter of the BBC News at Six, and also the main presenter of GMT on BBC World News from its launch in 2010 until 2014. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.
Breakfast News is a breakfast news programme which first aired on BBC1 on 2 October 1989. The programme was previously known as Breakfast Time. It was planned to launch on 18 September 1989 but was held back by two weeks due to technical issues with its new studio. The programme adopted a rolling news format with news summaries every 15minutes plus weather and regional news every 30minutes. Other features included a review of the day's newspapers and regular business news updates.
The BBC News at One is the BBC's afternoon news programme on British television channels BBC One and the BBC News channel, broadcast weekdays at 1:00pm and produced by BBC News. The programme runs for 60 minutes, including a ten-minute regional news bulletin at approximately 1:35pm. The programme is currently presented by a pool of presenters from across BBC Breakfast and BBC News.
BBC Breakfast is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel every morning from 6:00am. The simulcast is presented live, originally from the BBC Television Centre, London before moving in 2012 to MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester. The programme is broadcast daily and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items. When BBC Breakfast is not broadcast on BBC One, it is transmitted via BBC Two.
ITV News London is a British television news service broadcast on ITV London and ITVX. It is produced by ITN.
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.
The BBC News at Five was an hour-long daily news programme which was broadcast at 5:00pm on BBC News between 2006 and 2020. The programme was fronted by Huw Edwards, who at the time was the BBC's lead presenter for major breaking news. Gavin Esler or Jane Hill presented the show on a Friday. The show includes a detailed look at the news, as well as analysis with guests and sport and weather updates.
BBC Weekend News is the BBC's national news programme on BBC One at the weekend and bank holidays, although it is often referred to on guides simply as BBC News. It is called BBC Weekend News on all bulletins and carries generic BBC News bulletin titles, apart from the late bulletin on Sunday where it is named BBC News at Ten and carries the BBC News at Ten titles.
The BBC News Summary is a news update created by BBC News.
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