The ''BBC Nine O'Clock News'' was the flagship

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

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 News at Ten'' formerly known as the ''BBC Ten O'Clock News'' or the ''Ten O'Clock News'' is the flagship evening news programme for the BBC News channel and British television channel BBC One on weekdays and Sundays at 10:00pm. Huw Ed ...

''.

History

The ''Nine O'Clock News'' was the BBC's flagship TV news bulletin throughout its run but the format changed significantly over its 30 years. The time of the bulletin was significant though coincidental—during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the ''Nine O'Clock News'' on the BBC Home Service was hugely important. The first week of the TV bulletin was presented by

Robert Dougall Robert Dougall, MBE (27 November 1913 – 18 December 1999) was an English broadcaster and ornithologist, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer. Early life and radio broadcasting Dougall was born and educated in Croydon, Surrey. He at ...

, followed by Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall, each presenting five consecutive nightly bulletins. The choice of these three was significant, echoing the original BBC television bulletins of 1955, which they had also presented. Other notable presenters included John Edmunds, Peter Woods,

Richard Whitmore Richard Whitmore (born 22 December 1933 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire) is a broadcaster, writer and actor. Whitmore is best known for his work as a BBC newsreader in the 1970s and 1980s and occasional work as a reporter. He was educated at the form ...

Angela Rippon Angela May Rippon (born 12 October 1944)"Angela Rippon," ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Detroit: Gale, (2008) ''Gale Biography In Context'' is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and tele ...

Jan Leeming Jan Leeming (born Janet Dorothy Atkins; 5 January 1942) is an English TV presenter and newsreader. Early life and personal life Leeming was born in Barnehurst, Kent, and educated at the Assumption Convent, Charlton and St Joseph's Convent Gr ...

John Humphrys Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter for the '' Nine O'Clock News'', the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until 2019 he presented on the BBC Radio 4 ...

, John Simpson,

Sue Lawley Susan Lawley (born 14 July 1946) is a retired English television and radio broadcaster. Her main broadcasting background involved television news and current affairs. From 1988–2006, Lawley was the presenter of '' Desert Island Discs'' on BBC ...

Julia Somerville Julia Mary Fownes Somerville, (born 14 July 1947) is an English television news reader and reporter who has worked for the BBC and ITN. Early life and education Somerville was born in Wells, Somerset, the granddaughter of Admiral of the Fleet ...

, Andrew Harvey, Moira Stuart, Nicholas Witchell, Martyn Lewis,

Michael Buerk Michael Duncan Buerk (born 18 February 1946) is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's '' The Moral Maze'' since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama ...

Peter Sissons Peter George Sissons (17 July 1942 – 1 October 2019) 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

George Alagiah George Maxwell Alagiah ( born 22 November 1955) is a British newsreader, journalist and television news presenter. Since 3 December 2007, he has been the presenter of the ''BBC News at Six'' and was previously the main presenter of '' GMT'' o ...

. Between 13 November 1972 to 5 March 1976 and again between 2 September 1985 to 30 October 1988, the programme had two presenters. In 1981, traditional BBC "newsreaders" such as Richard Baker stopped presenting the ''Nine O'Clock News'' regularly and were replaced by journalists—initially John Humphries and John Simpson. However, the two most significant revamps happened on 2 September 1985 and 30 October 1988. As well as changes to presentation, the 1985 relaunch gave the bulletin its own signature tune—distinct from that of other BBC News bulletins. Computer graphics were also introduced. The 31 October 1988 revamp was about content as well as style. An increasing emphasis was placed on analysis and specialist journalism. At the same time the programme reverted to a single presenter. At this point in time, the programme was typically 28 minutes long. The programme moved to ten o'clock on 16 October 2000 but in other respects changed little. The ''Nine O'Clock News'' replaced ''The Main News'' at 8:45pm, in a response to the launch by ITN of the '' News at Ten''. It was the first bulletin to have a closing set of music; other bulletins would show weather forecasts at the end instead. The set used by the bulletin was designed to differentiate from the day's bulletins; an example of this was on 7 September 1981, where the ''Nine O'Clock'' bulletin had a wooden effect whereas other bulletins used a plain blue background instead. On 13 April 1993, all the

bulletins were relaunched with a more uniform look. This programme and some others were given a darker set and a stereo orchestral version of the previous mono title music. A more comprehensive relaunch of all the BBC News output came on 10 May 1999, after which this programme once again shared a common theme and set with its daytime counterpart. Between 10 May 1999 to 13 October 2000, the programme was advertised as the ''BBC News at Nine''. The final bulletin, before the transition to the ''

'' (2000–present), was presented by George Alagiah in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and Peter Sissons in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The programme was broadcast on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

and inspired a

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

comedy show running in the same time slot, ''

Not the Nine O'Clock News ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show which was broadcast on BBC2 from 1979 to 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, it features satirical sketches on then-cur ...

''.

External links

* {{BBC News 1970 British television series debuts 1970s British television series 1980s British television series 1990s British television series 2000 British television series endings Lost BBC episodes BBC television news shows Flagship evening news shows