''ITV News Granada Reports'' is a British television regional news service, produced by

ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

and serving the North West of England.

Overview

''Granada Reports'' is produced and broadcast from studios in the Orange Tower at

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

Salford Quays Salford Quays is an area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Previously the site of Manchester Docks, it faces Trafford across the canal. History Built by the Manchester Ship Canal Company, Sal ...

. Before this, the news service was based at Granada's Quay Street studios in Manchester city centre. Reporters are also based at newsrooms in the

Royal Liver Building The Royal Liver Building is a Grade I listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's '' Three Graces'', which line th ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

and on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. News staff were also based at district offices in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

and

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, until they were closed in 2005. Most of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

is served by '' ITV News Lookaround'' that broadcasts from

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

but southern parts of the county, such as

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

, are still served by ''Granada Reports''. Western

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

(

Settle Settle or SETTLE may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an in ...

), northern

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

(

Biddulph Biddulph is a town in Staffordshire, England, north of Stoke-on-Trent and south-east of Congleton, Cheshire. Origin of the name Biddulph's name may come from Old English language, Anglo-Saxon/Old English ''bī dylfe'' = "beside the pit or q ...

and

Kidsgrove Kidsgrove is a town in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, on the Cheshire border. It is part of the Potteries Urban Area, along with Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. It has a population of 26,276 (2019 census) ...

) and northwest of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

(

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the borough of High Peak (borough), High Peak, Derbyshire, England, east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock. Near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Mancheste ...

, New Miils and

Chapel-en-le-Frith Chapel-en-le-Frith () is a town and civil parish, in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It has been dubbed the "Capital of the Peak", in reference to the Peak District, historically the highland areas between the Saxon lands (below ...

) get their signals from the Winter Hill TV transmitter that broadcasts ''Granada Reports'' rather than the neighbouring regions of '' ITV News Calendar'' and '' ITV News Central''.

History

When Granada began broadcasting in May 1956, coverage of regional news and sport featured regularly within its programming, including the station's ''Travelling Eye'' outside broadcasts. Within a year, Granada established its first regular bulletin - ''Northern Newscast'' - followed by a topical magazine programme, ''People and Places'', noted for featuring some of the earliest television appearances by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

. In 1958, Granada broke further ground with three ''Travelling Eye'' programmes covering the Rochdale by-election. Up until 1962, the station was also producing topical output in the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

, primarily for Welsh-speaking viewers in North Wales, including daily news bulletins and a magazine programme, ''Dewch i Mewn'' (''Do Come In''). ''People and Places'' was succeeded in January 1963 by the nightly ''Scene at 6.30''. The programme was the first on British television to break news of the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onas ...

, following a tip-off to the Granada newsroom from

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

. Granada continued to experiment with its regional news coverage, including late night editions of ''Scene'', and from 1964, a new strand known as ''Granada in the North'' (later ''On Air''), which replaced continuity junctions with national and local news summaries, features and programming previews. Following changes to the company's franchise, including a new brief to solely cover the North West, ''Scene'' was axed in 1968 and replaced by six self-contained regional programmes, preceded by a short ''Granada News'' bulletin. Granada reverted back to a nightly magazine programme, under the name of ''Six-O-One'', and latterly ''Newsday'', until settling on the ''Granada Reports'' brand in 1973. During its early years, the programme spawned a number of spin-offs, including the social action series ''Reports Action'' and the North West political programme ''Reports Politics''. On 20 September 1978,

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

made their television debut on by performing ''Shadowplay'' during the programme’s "What's On" segment. In April 1986, most of Granada's regional news operation was relocated from Manchester to a computerised news centre at the former Traffic Office building in Liverpool's Albert Dock, eight years after the company had first established a news base in the city, based at

Exchange Flags Exchange Flags is a Grade II listed building in Liverpool, England. It is laid out in a 'U' shape, with Walker House situated on the west side and Horton House on the east side. Walker House (formerly known as Derby House) was adapted during it ...

. The flagship evening programme was relaunched as ''Granada Tonight'' in January 1990, before returning to the Manchester headquarters in 1992. The Albert Dock news centre continued to produce and broadcast bulletins until 1998 – the studios were finally closed in July 2006. For much of its run, ''Granada Tonight'' placed a greater emphasis on non-news features and entertainment content, with its studio set consisting of sofas and armchairs. On 1 October 2001, the main evening programme reverted back to the ''Granada Reports'' brand, while short bulletins continued to air as ''Granada News''. As of 2013, most bulletins now air under the joint branding of ''ITV News'' and ''Granada Reports'' with breakfast updates entitled ''Good Morning Granada''. The programme was unaffected by cutbacks to ITV regional news in early 2009. The only major change saw ITV Granada take over coverage of the Isle of Man from

ITV Tyne Tees & Border ITV Tyne Tees & Border is the producer of regional programming for the ITV Tyne Tees and ITV Border franchises. Between 2009 and 2013, the two regions were merged into a single region (although still with two franchises). Since 2013, each region r ...

on 16 July 2009. On 27 September 2012, it was announced technical staff had been invited to volunteer for redundancy as part of national job losses affecting ITV News services. The timing coincided with production moving from

Granada Studios Granada Studios was a television studio complex and events venue on Quay Street in Manchester, England, with the facility to broadcast live and recorded television programmes. The studios were the headquarters of Granada Television from 1956 to ...

. The first bulletin from Salford Quays, presented by Tony Morris, aired on Sunday 24 March 2013. Long-serving main anchor Lucy Meacock presented her final edition of ''Granada Reports'' on 1 August 2024, after 36 years working for

Current notable on air team

* Mel Barham *

Gamal Fahnbulleh Gamal Fahnbulleh (born April 1982) is a British broadcast journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITV Granada. He presents Granada Reports, an evening news programme for North West England and the Isle of Man. He also is now a relief ...

* Mike Hall * Tori Lacey * Elaine Willcox *Katie Walderman

Awards

* BAFTA Television Awards **Best News Coverage: 2007, 2013 *

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

**Best News Coverage in the Nations and Regions: 2007, 2008 **Best Regional News Programme – North West: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 **Best Regional Story – North West: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 **Best Regional on Screen Talent – North West: 2011 (Rob Smith), 2012 ( Clare Fallon) **Best Innovation in Multimedia – North West: 2012 ( Adam McClean)

References

External links