''BBC Look East'' is a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

regional

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

service for the

East of England East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact ...

, produced by BBC East.

History

The first BBC television news bulletins for the East of England began at 6.05pm on 5 October 1959. These new bulletins, launched three weeks ahead of the launch of regional ITV station

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

were initially ten minutes long. The bulletin was extended to twenty minutes in September 1962 and renamed ''East Anglia at Six'', and then a year later renamed ''East at Six Ten'' due to a change in timeslot. Another change in timeslot saw it renamed as ''Look East'' from 28 September 1964, although that evening's programme failed to go out due to a breakdown and ''Look East'' instead began on September 29. ''Look East'' is broadcast from BBC East's headquarters at The Forum,

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

. Prior to 29 September 2003, the programme aired from studios in St Catherine's Close, Norwich. The programme can be watched in any part of the UK (and Europe) on Sky Digital channel 961 "east" and channel 962 for the "west" sub-regional service from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, or

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Everyone TV (itself owned by all of the four UK Public broadcasting, public service broadcasters, BBC, ...

channels 953 (East) and 954 (West), on the BBC UK regional TV on satellite service. The services were added to the Sky Digital platform on 29 July 2003 and were available on Freesat from launch. Some areas that are well covered by ''Look East'' receive better television signals from other transmitters in other regions on

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

. Most of

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

and parts of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

and

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

receive better television signals from the Crystal Palace transmitter which broadcast '' London News'' and viewers in King’s Lynn,

Hunstanton Hunstanton (sometimes pronounced ) is a seaside resort, seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash. Hunstanton lies 102 miles (164 km) north-north-east of London an ...

and

Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea is a port town on the north coast of Norfolk, England. The civil parish has an area of and in 2001 had a population of 2,451,Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household c ...

get better signals from the Belmont TV transmitter that broadcast ''

Look North ''BBC Look North'' is a name used by the BBC for its regional news programmes in three regions in the North of England: * ''BBC Look North (North East and Cumbria), BBC Look North'' for the BBC North East and Cumbria region * ''BBC Look North (Y ...

''. However, those areas are given ''Look East'' on Channel 101 through satellite television such as

as default via the towns' postcodes. The southeastern fringes of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

around

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, close to the border with Northamptonshire. The population was 24,779 at the United Kingdom census, 2021, 2021 census. It is the ad ...

receive ''Look East'' on

as local news meaning the town receive better signals from the Sandy Heath transmitter rather than Waltham transmitter. In 1997, ''BBC Look East'' launched the sub-regional service, ''Close Up'', for viewers covered by the Sandy Heath transmitting station and its relays. The opt-out allowed the two sub-regions to provide, during the main evening programme, around 10 minutes of news relevant to their area. From 2018 to 2022, there were two separate editions of ''BBC Look East'', for the main programme and the late news bulletin on weeknights: *''BBC Look East - East'' which covered Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex *''BBC Look East - West'' which covered Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), Northamptonshire, parts of Hertfordshire. At the end of the 18:30 programme on 30 September 2021, Stewart White announced his retirement from the BBC after 37 years as a main presenter of ''Look East''. The West edition was broadcast from Cambridge, originally at the existing Hills Road studios for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire near the city centre and railway station, then from 2009 at the new BBC Cambridgeshire building at Cambridge Business Park near

Cambridge North railway station Cambridge North railway station is a railway station located in northern Cambridge, immediately adjacent to the suburb of Chesterton, Cambridge, Chesterton, close to Cambridge Science Park. The station is on the Fen Line, which runs from Cambr ...

. On 26 May 2022 it was announced that following BBC cost-cutting measures the separate West edition of the programme would end, which it did in December 2022. The Cambridge TV studio closed, with all broadcasts from that point returning to their pre-1997 region-wide format, broadcast from the existing studios in Norwich. The

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

edition of ''

South Today ''BBC South Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the south of England, covering Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, West Sussex, much of Dorset and parts of Surrey and Wiltshire. The service is produced and bro ...

'' was also scrapped.

Broadcast times

On weekdays, ''BBC Look East'' broadcasts six three-minute opt-outs during ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...

'' at 27 and 57 minutes past each hour. A fifteen-minute lunchtime programme follows at 13:30 before the main 27-minute edition at 18:30. A seven-minute late update is shown at 22:30, following the '' BBC News at Ten''. ''BBC Look East'' also airs three bulletins during the weekend: two early evening bulletins on Saturday and Sunday and a late night bulletin on Sundays, following the ''BBC News at Ten''. The times of these bulletins usually vary.

Historical

From 2008 until 2018, the BBC One 8pm News Summary was a bulletin derived from the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

'' 60 Seconds'' format, delivered across all BBC regions including ''BBC Look East'' with a separate set of paired presenters. It was significant for younger audiences according to the BBC: "For 1.7 million viewers the 8pm summary was the only BBC TV News they saw in that week with nearly 600,000 in the 16-34 year old bracket." The regular 8pm presenters included Janine Machin, Claudia Liza-Armah, and Mike Cartwright, with the last 8pm broadcast from Cambridge and all BBC regions on Wednesday 30 May 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Look East 1964 British television series debuts 1960s British television series 1970s British television series 1980s British television series 1990s British television series 2000s British television series 2010s British television series 2020s British television series BBC Regional News shows East of England British English-language television shows Television news in England

History

Broadcast times

Historical

See also

References

External links