ATV Today was a regional television
newsA news program, news programme, news show, or newscast is a regularly scheduled radio or television program that reports current events. News is typically reported in a series of individual stories that are presented by one or more anchors...
and
current affairsCurrent Affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast....
programme, produced by
ATVAssociated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
, serving the
MidlandsThe Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
area of England. The programme aired from October 1964 until 31 December 1981 - the final day of broadcasting from ATV before the company was restructured and relaunched as Central Independent Television.
History
Regional television came to the Midlands on 17 February 1956 with the launch of
ATVAssociated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
. The first news programme, a daily 5-minute bulletin called
ATV Midland NewsATV Midlands News was a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ATV, serving the Midlands area of England.First broadcast on Monday 7 May 1956, ATV Midlands News was one of the first daily regional news services on British television, originally consisting of a short...
, was broadcast on 7 May 1956, three months after the channel first went on air. However, following pressure from the
Independent Television AuthorityThe Independent Television Authority was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" , the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom...
for ATV to commit itself to greater regional coverage,
ATV Today began in October 1964 as a 15-minute daily magazine programme, airing after the early evening news from
ITNITN is a news and content provider with headquarters in the United Kingdom. It is made up of four key businesses: ITN News, ITN Source, ITN Productions and ITN Consulting. The ITN logotype can be displayed in any of 4 different colours, each of which represents a business unit. This is the...
. The programme introduced viewers to a more light-hearted form of journalism not seen on television at that time. One of the earliest reporters on ATV Today was the late John Swallow, a journalist who brought his own individual style of reporting events in the Midlands to television screens.
The programme reached its peak during the 1970s when it was watched on a daily basis by some three million viewers. By now airing for 30 minutes from 6pm,
ATV Today was a popular mainstay of television in the Midlands, and alongside the more serious news items, it maintained its light-hearted and knockabout style of presenting. The emphasis was on entertainment rather than what was seen as a more starchy alternative offered by the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's
Midlands TodayMidlands Today is the BBC's regional television news programme for the West Midlands region, which covers the north of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands county...
.
The show was responsible for launching the television careers of many household names in British television. Among those who started as reporters and presenters on
ATV Today are
Chris TarrantChristopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
who joined in 1972 initially as a reporter and newsreader
but later covered more light hearted stories, and
Bob WarmanBob Warman is a British television presenter, born in Walsall, West Midlands .Between the ages of 13 and 18, Warman attended Wrekin College in Wellington, Shropshire. He has spent most of his television career at ATV and Central, presenting regional news programmes.He was also a regional presenter...
, who presents
Central TonightCentral Tonight is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ITV Central, serving the English Midlands.-History:...
to the present day.
As a result of the success of the magazine programme format, ATV launched a number of other shows for the Midlands region.
Farming Today reported on countryside matters throughout the 1970s, and the long running crime show
Police 5 hosted by
Shaw TaylorShaw Taylor MBE is a British actor and television presenter.He served in the RAF and trained at RADA. He then acted on stage in the West End and on tour. He was an announcer for ATV when the normal announcer was not available...
was first introduced as part of
ATV Today during the 1960s.
Criticism
Because the programme was based in
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and focused primarily on news events in and around the
West MidlandsThe West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
, it was often criticised for giving less coverage to other areas of the Midlands region such as the
East MidlandsThe East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...
. An attempt was made to address this after MPs and councillors from the East Midlands region lobbied ATV and the
Independent Broadcasting AuthorityThe Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
(IBA) for a separate ITV region. ATV believed the cost of a separate region would be too expensive, but did establish a small studio in
NottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
after renting space at the city's Theatre Royal.
Final broadcast
In 1980, all ITV regional franchises were up for renewal and the IBA decided that ATV's lack of regional programming and production was hampering the region. It insisted that the new applicant for the franchise should be more clearly based in the region and have separate facilities for the East and West Midlands. Although ATV successfully won the new franchise, it was required to change its name and restructure the company.
The final edition of
ATV Today aired at 6pm on 31 December 1981 and was presented by John Swallow with Wendy Nelson reading the station's last news bulletin. The following day, the programme was replaced by
Central NewsCentral Tonight is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ITV Central, serving the English Midlands.-History:...
.
Presenters
Among those who presented on
ATV Today were
Bob WarmanBob Warman is a British television presenter, born in Walsall, West Midlands .Between the ages of 13 and 18, Warman attended Wrekin College in Wellington, Shropshire. He has spent most of his television career at ATV and Central, presenting regional news programmes.He was also a regional presenter...
,
Anne DiamondAnne Margaret Diamond is an English radio and television presenter and journalist. She hosted Good Morning Britain for TV-am and the similarly titled Good Morning... with Anne and Nick for BBC1, both with Nick Owen as her co-presenter...
, Brian Maclaurin, Margaret Hounsell, Bill Spencer, Geoff Meade,
Chris TarrantChristopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
, Wendy Nelson,
Derek HobsonDerek Hobson is a TV and radio broadcaster and journalist, best known as the original host of ITV's New Faces, which introduced, among others, Lenny Henry, Victoria Wood, Jim Davidson, Les Dennis and Michael Barrymore to a Saturday night audience of more than twelve million viewers.Recently, he...
and
Shaw TaylorShaw Taylor MBE is a British actor and television presenter.He served in the RAF and trained at RADA. He then acted on stage in the West End and on tour. He was an announcer for ATV when the normal announcer was not available...
. Others working on the programme included Helen Piddock, Bev Smith,
Terry LloydTerence Ellis Lloyd was a British television journalist well-known for his reporting from the Middle East. He was killed by U.S. troops while covering the 2003 invasion of Iraq for ITN...
, John Mitchell, Peter Plant, Wendy Jones, Val Lewis, Tony Maycock, Sue Jay, John Swallow, Bob Hall, Rob Golding, John McLeod, Peter Green, political editor Reg Harcourt and former
ITV NewsITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. Since 1955, ITV's news bulletins have been produced by Independent Television News . The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the...
editor-in-chief
David Mannion.
The sports team included
Gary NewbonGary Newbon is a television sports presenter and executive.He attended Culford School near Bury St Edmunds and upon leaving school he became a junior reporter in Cambridge and then a freelance Fleet Street journalist reporting on tennis and rugby...
, Trevor East,
Jimmy GreavesJames Peter 'Jimmy' Greaves is an English former football player, England's third highest international goalscorer, the highest goalscorer in the history of Tottenham Hotspur football club, the highest goalscorer in the history of English top flight football and more recently a television pundit -...
, Terry Thomas, Terry Biddlecombe,
Nick OwenNicholas "Nick" Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme TV-am and the BBC's local news show Midlands Today since 1997...
and ATV head of sport Billy Wright.
External links