''Weekend World'' is a

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 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 ...

political series, made by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

(LWT) and broadcast from 1972 to 1988. Created by

John Birt John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944) is a British television executive and businessman. He is a former Director-General (1992–2000) of the BBC. After a successful career in commercial television, initially at Granada Television an ...

, not long after he had joined LWT, the series was broadcast on the ITV network at midday on Sundays. Produced by Nick Elliott and David Elstein, it was originally modelled on CBS's ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...

'' featuring several stories each week but gradually developed into a Sunday politics programme that featured a forensic interview with a major political figure. A news bulletin from ITN would also be broadcast as part of the program. The original main presenter was Peter Jay from 1972, at the time an Economics Editor for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

''. The original reporter/presenter staff included Mary Holland, Anne Lapping, John Torode, and Julian Mounter, with researchers Yvonne Roberts, Monica Foot,

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

, Paul Flattery, Mike Englehard, Jane Hewland and Julian Norridge. The team were later joined by Peter Martin and David Cox. Birt (now Lord Birt), later

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

of the BBC, had the idea of combining directors who had no real current affairs background, but were known for their creative and innovative film/video skills, with strong reporters and presenters recruited from national newspapers. ''Weekend World'' was one of the first UK programmes to recognise the importance of the

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continu ...

break-in, which ultimately led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon. Peter Jay was followed as the series anchor by former Labour MP Brian Walden between 1977 and 1986, after Jay became

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Conservative MP

Matthew Parris Matthew Francis Parris (born 7 August 1949) is a British political writer and broadcaster, formerly a Conservative Member of Parliament. He was born in South Africa to British parents. Early life and family Parris is the eldest of six childre ...

took over in 1986, resigning his seat, and presented the programme until the series ended in 1988. The theme music used throughout the series run was the closing bars of " Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)", originally written and recorded by the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

group

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

References

{{Reflist, refs= Mary Holland obituary, by Anne McHardy

''The Guardian'', 9 June 2004.

External links

That was reality TV, that was
an article by Gerard Baker in the ''Financial Times'', 7 October 2002 British television news shows 1972 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings 1970s British television series 1980s British television series London Weekend Television shows Television series by ITV Studios