The Nine (BBC Scotland)

Last updated

The Nine
BBC the Nine 2019.svg
Also known asThe Seven
(Fridays and weekends, including Bank Holidays)
Country of origin Scotland
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time60 or 30 minutes (weekdays), 15 minutes (weekends)
Original release
Network BBC Scotland
Release25 February 2019 (2019-02-25) 
19 December 2024 (2024-12-19)

The Nine (and The Seven) was a Scottish television news programme produced by BBC Scotland for the BBC Scotland channel, covering Scottish, UK and international news. From February 2019 to December 2024, it was broadcast weekdays at 9:00 pm as The Nine and weekends at 7:00 pm as The Seven.

Contents

Broadcast

Produced by BBC News Scotland, the 60-minute programme was broadcast on BBC Scotland at 9:00 p.m. from Monday to Thursday nights.

On Fridays, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, a shortened edition is broadcast at 7:00 p.m. (half an hour on Fridays and 15 minutes on Saturdays & Sundays), likewise retitled The Seven.

History

"Scottish Six" and inception

Plans for a "Scottish Six", a news programme which would see BBC Reporting Scotland and Scotland's airing of BBC News at Six be scrapped in favour of an hour-long Scottish news programme, was proposed as part of trials at BBC Pacific Quay in 2017. Despite there being a significant amount of support in having an hour-long news programme, plans for a "Scottish Six" news programme were scrapped in favour of a news programme which would be aired at a 9:00 pm time slot. STV News had tested the format on their STV2 channel with STV News Tonight , which began airing in April 2017 and would later be axed in 2018 as part of the channel's closure. [1] [2] [3]

Following the scrapped proposal for a "Scottish Six" news programme, BBC Scotland announced in February 2017, plans to have the same format proposed be used for a news programme that would air at 9:00 pm on a brand new BBC Scotland TV channel that was launched in February 2019.

In November 2018, BBC Scotland announced details of the programme, including the identity of the show and the presenters. [4] The first episode of The Nine aired on 25 February 2019, a day after the launch of the BBC Scotland channel.

Cancellation and proposed cutbacks

In February 2024, BBC Scotland announced it may axe The Nine, along with weekly review programme Seven Days and the showbiz news programme The Edit as part of cutbacks to the channel's news output. [5] This was approved by broadcast regulator Ofcom in August 2024 [6] and confirmed by the corporation in December 2024. [7]

These changes took place after low viewing figures attracted from BBC Scotland’s news output had been the subject of frequent criticism. According to newspaper reports in January 2024, one edition of The Nine attracted an audience of 1,700 viewers while an edition of The Seven was watched by just 200 viewers. [8] On the day before the programme's axing was announced, The Nine was watched by 6,000 viewers, officially recording a zero share of viewing. [9]

Other investments made by BBC Scotland, using the money saved by cutting The Nine, include the expansion of the Debate Night series, increased investment in online news and the launch of a new topical current affairs visualised podcast series called Scotcast. [8] [7]

The Nine was replaced with a new half-hour news programme called Reporting Scotland: News at Seven. It began airing on BBC Scotland directly after its sister programme Reporting Scotland on BBC One Scotland [8] from 6 January 2025. [10]

Presenters

The programme has a fifteen strong team of presenters and reporters, who present Scottish, UK, and international news from a Scottish perspective. It originally was presented by Rebecca Curran and Martin Geissler from Monday to Thursday [11] and Laura Miller and John Beattie on Fridays. Weekends are hosted by the Reporting Scotland team. Amy Irons and her brother Lewis Irons are the main sports presenters since 2022, with original sport news presenter Laura McGhie currently presenting on the BBC News and World News channels.

BBC Scotland team

The Nine / Seven presenters
TenurePresenterPosition
2021–2024Laura MaciverMain presenter (Monday-Wednesday)
Graham Stewart Rotational presenters (Monday-Friday) and Relief (Monday–Friday)
2019–2024Laura Goodwin
Other presenters of other programmes
TenurePresenterPositionProgramme
2019–2024David FarrellMain presenterThe Edit
Fiona StalkerSeven Days
2021–2024 The Sunday Show
Martin Geissler
Other TV Presenters across BBC Scotland
TenurePresenterPositionOther rolesNotes
2021–2024 Amy Irons Sports PresentersFormer presenter of The Edit
2019–2024Laura McGhieBBC Radio 5Live and BBC Sport presenterCurrently on maternity leave [12]
2021–2024David Wallace LockhartPolitical CorrespondentRelief Presenter
Anne McAlpine Relief rotating Presenters (Monday-Sunday) Reporting Scotland presenters
Sarah McMullan
Andrew Black
2022–2024Louise Cowie
2023–2024Hope Webb
Former Presenters
2019-2021 Rebecca Curran Former Presenters Aberdeen news reporter for Reporting Scotland
2019-2022 Martin Geissler The Sunday Show and Good Morning Scotland presenter
2022-2023Gary Robertson Good Morning Scotland presenter
2019-2023 John Beattie BBC Radio Scotland host and Reporting Scotland presenter
2019-2024 Nick Sheridan [13] Seven Days presenter (2019–2024)
2019-2024 Laura Miller BBC Reporting Scotland presenter
2024Julia MacFarlaneRelief presenterFreelance journalist at BBC Scotland [14]

Related Research Articles

Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed.

<i>BBC Reporting Scotland</i> BBC television news programme for Scotland

BBC Reporting Scotland is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland in Pacific Quay, Glasgow.

ITV Nightscreen was a scheduled programme on the ITV television network that was broadcast from 1998 to 2021. It consisted of a sequence of animated pages of information about ITV's upcoming programmes, features and special events, with easy listening music in the background. The programme was used to fill the station's overnight downtime, where a closedown would have once been used at the end of programmes. The programme was generally shown seven days a week with the typical weekday show airing from 4:05 am to 5:05 am daily. However, on ITV's digital channels, the amount of Teleshopping affects how much Nightscreen is broadcast. The programme was also broadcast on all of ITV's +1 channels.

Television in Scotland mostly consists of UK-wide broadcasts, with regional variations at different times which are specific to Scotland. The BBC and ITV networks both began broadcasting in the country during the 1950s. There were further expansions in the early 1960s with the arrival of Grampian, Border and BBC2 television.

STV Glasgow was a British local television station serving Glasgow and surrounding areas. The station was owned and operated by STV Group plc in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University.

STV Edinburgh was a British local television channel based in Edinburgh which launched on 12 January 2015. It was owned and operated by STV Group plc in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University. The channel was closed on Sunday 23 April 2017 and replaced by STV2, a semi-national network of local TV stations which itself closed on 1 July 2018.

Martin Geissler is a Scottish news anchor, presenter and broadcast journalist for BBC News Scotland. He is the host of BBC Scotland's flagship political programme The Sunday Show and host of Scotcast, the BBC's Scottish news podcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STV (TV channel)</span> Television channel in Scotland

STV is a free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the STV Group. It is made up of the Central Scotland and Northern Scotland ITV public broadcaster licences, formerly known as Scottish Television and Grampian Television respectively.

<i>Lookaround</i> British regional TV news programme (since 1961)

ITV News Lookaround is the name of a British television news service produced by ITV Tyne Tees & Border and broadcasting to the ITV Border region.

<i>STV News</i> Scottish TV program

STV News is a Scottish news division produced by STV. The news department produces two regional services covering STV's Channel 3 franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland.

<i>Calendar</i> (British TV programme) British regional TV news programme (since 1968)

ITV News Calendar is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">That's TV</span> Network of local television services in the United Kingdom

That's TV is a national television network in the United Kingdom, broadcasting via Sky, Freesat, Freeview, and Virgin Media, although only a small number of both local and national That's TV channels are available on Virgin Media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STV2</span> Scottish local television network

STV2 was a British local television network in Scotland, operating five city-based TV licences serving Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Ayr. It was owned and operated by STV Group plc.

This is a timeline of the history of the British television network ITV.

<i>Live at Five</i> (STV2) 2016 Scottish TV series or program

Live at Five was a Scottish topical entertainment and magazine programme which originally aired on STV2 in Scotland, excluding weekends which looked at the latest on the current trends happening in Scotland from music, art and culture among others. The show was presented by David Farrell and Jennifer Reoch with other presenters such as Hayley Matthews, Liam Dolan, Rachel McTavish, Ewen Cameron, Susie Cormack Bruce or Zara Janjua being present whenever Farrell and/or Reoch were unable to present the programme. The programme airs at 5pm and during its Live at 7.30 editions, the programme aired at 7.30pm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Scotland (TV channel)</span> Scottish TV channel

BBC Scotland is a Scottish free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC Scotland division of the BBC. It airs a nightly lineup of entirely Scottish programming. The channel launched 24 February 2019, replacing the BBC Two Scotland opt-out of BBC Two, but operating as an autonomous channel.

This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Scottish Television. It provides the ITV network service for Central Scotland.

This is a timeline of local television in the United Kingdom. This refers to stations transmitting to a small area such as a city or part of a county, not to larger regions covered by ITV and BBC regions.

This is a list of events taking place in 2024 relating to Scottish television.

<i>Reporting Scotland: News at Seven</i> 2025 Scottish TV series or programme

Reporting Scotland: News at Seven is a news programme produced by BBC Scotland which broadcasts on the BBC Scotland television channel. It launched on 6 January 2025 as a replacement to the hour long The Nine (2019–2024).

References

  1. Carrell, Severin (21 September 2016). "STV aims to outflank BBC by launching news show before proposed Scottish Six". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  2. insider.co.uk (25 April 2017). "STV2 Review: Who needs a BBC Scottish Six now? STV News Tonight has stolen its thunder and with no cringe factor in sight". businessInsider. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  3. "STV2 to close and jobs lost in £2m cost-cutting plan". Daily Business. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  4. "First look at The Nine, BBC Scotland's new nightly news programme". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  5. "BBC Scotland to scrap news programme The Nine". BBC News. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  6. "Changes to BBC Scotland news programming approved by Ofcom". BBC News. 6 August 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  7. 1 2 "BBC Scotland to launch Scotcast and News at Seven in January". BBC News. 9 December 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 "BBC Scotland to scrap news programme The Nine". 20 February 2024 via www.bbc.co.uk.
  9. X - @LiamHamilton16, 20 February 2024
  10. "News at Seven: BBC Scotland launches new programme". BBC News. 6 January 2025.
  11. "Meet the news stars of BBC Scotland's The Nine". BBC News. BBC. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  12. "https://twitter.com/LauraMcGhie_/status/1731339039003865498". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 10 December 2023.{{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  13. "BBC Scotland presenter Nick Sheridan dies aged 32". 7 March 2024.
  14. "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 10 July 2024.