''BBC South Today'' is the

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 ...

's regional television news service for the south of England, covering

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, much of

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

and parts of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. The service is produced and broadcast from the BBC South's Broadcasting House on Havelock Road in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

with district newsrooms based in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, Dorchester,

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

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 ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, and

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

. From 2000 to 2022, an opt-out of the main programme also covered

, parts of

, small parts of eastern

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, western

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

and southern

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

. The same geographical area continues to be served by ITV Meridian News for the Thames Valley.

Overview

When the BBC introduced regional television news on 30 September 1957, viewers in the South were initially served by a five-minute bulletin from Bristol shared with what would become the BBC West and BBC South West regions. For geographical reasons, the timeslot for regional news initially had to be shared with a bulletin for Wales, before being replaced by a separate bulletin devoted to news from the South of England at the start of 1958.Southampton Television Studio: Opening by Director General Sir Ian Jacob
bbcrewind.co.uk On 30 July 1958, the BBC's director general Ian Jacob officially opened the corporation's new Southampton television studio, initially based at the city's

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

– the first regional studio to be based outside the main centres. The opening occurred a month before the launch of the rival ITV service provided by

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

. By January 1961, BBC South had been split off from the West Region and began to provide longer regional bulletins of its own – four months before the launch of Southern's rival news magazine ''Day by Day''. Television operations in Southampton soon moved to the BBC studios at South Western House, the former Cunard shipping line headquarters near the city's docks. On 17 September 1962, an extended 20-minute timeslot for regional news saw the launch of ''South at Six'', before it was renamed during the 1960s as ''South Today''. The programme went onto form part of '' Nationwide'' in 1969 and its short-lived successor '' Sixty Minutes'' in 1983. In September 1991, BBC South moved its Southampton headquarters to a new purpose-built broadcasting centre in Havelock Road. ''South at Sixs presenter was Martin Muncaster. Bruce Parker joined ''South Today'' in 1967 and remained as the main anchor until 1992, continuing to present and contribute as Political Editor until 2003. The current main presenter, Sally Taylor, started co-presenting the programme in 1987 (replacing Debbie Thrower), initially alongside Parker and then successively with Paddy Haycocks, Mark Longhurst, Harry Gration, Andrew Harvey and Roger Finn, but in recent years she has been the regular solo presenter of the main programme. Currently, BBC South Today produces 11 bulletins each weekday: six bulletins in the morning during BBC Breakfast, a 15-minute programme at 13:30, the half-hour main programme at 18:30 and a late night bulletin (Monday to Thursday at 22:30. Weekend news bulletins are also broadcast. These include 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. Prior to September 2001, BBC South Today's region included areas served by the Heathfield transmitter and its relays which covered eastern

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

and southern

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. These areas are now covered by the BBC's '' South East Today'' from studios in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

. Following digital switchover on 7 March 2012, the Whitehawk Hill transmitter which primarily serves

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...

switched from broadcasting BBC South Today to broadcasting the neighbouring '' South East Today''. However the transmitter still continues to provide the ITV1 Meridian news service for the western part of the region, based in Southampton.

Oxford opt-out

Between 16 October 2000 and 16 December 2022, BBC South produced a distinct news service for the area served by the Oxford transmitter. Previously, the area was covered by ''

Newsroom South East ''BBC Newsroom South East'' was the BBC's regional news programme aired on BBC One in the South East. It was launched on Tuesday 28 March 1989 as the successor to '' BBC London Plus'', the South East's previous news programme. In 1992, '' S ...

'', which also served

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

and the south east. As part of a three-tier restructure of regional coverage, the Oxford transmitter area was transferred to the BBC South region and began dedicated opt-out bulletins within ''BBC South Today''. A year later, London and the south east split into two distinct regions: BBC London and BBC South East. Originally, ''BBC South Today Oxford'' was broadcast from BBC South's Studio B in

. Studio production of the bulletins was transferred in 2004 to the reception area at Radio Oxford while a new television studio and production gallery was built. The programme was produced and broadcast from Oxford from October 2005 until December 2022. Geraldine Peers presented the programme from May 2001 until the programme ended on 16 December 2022. On 21 April 2008, the ''BBC South Today Oxford'' opt-out service was renamed as ''BBC Oxford News'' (referred to on-screen as ''BBC Oxford''). New titles and graphics were introduced as part of an on-screen overhaul across the BBC's national, international and regional news services. From 29 October 2012, this was re-branded back to ''BBC South Today''.

Weekday bulletins

The Oxford sub-opt covered the first 10–15 minutes of the main evening ''BBC South Today'' at 18:30, before joining Sally Taylor for the latter part of the Southampton edition of the programme. Until April 2013, a full 30-minute Oxford edition was produced every Friday evening, but this was scaled back to 10–15 minutes. Special half-hour Oxford editions were still occasionally broadcast if there was a major news story in the sub-region. Viewers in these areas also received dedicated bulletins after the '' BBC News at Ten'', but saw pan-regional bulletins from Southampton at breakfast and lunchtime and on weekends. The 30 second update at 8pm was produced and presented from Oxford for the entirety of its run. From 2007 there was also at 1520 (later 1500) a short regional update which was also produced and presented from Oxford until the bulletin was ended. On 26 May 2022, it was announced that the BBC proposed to close the Oxford opt (and the equivalent produced in Cambridge). The final programme, a half hour special aired at 6.30pm on 16 December 2022.

Coverage area

The programme still continue to broadcast across

, much of

and parts of

and

(including

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

and

), small parts of eastern

, western

and southern

. Freeview viewers in

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

, Henley and

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

receive better television signals from the Crystal Palace transmitter which broadcast '' London News'' and viewers in parts of

including Weymouth and

Isle of Portland The Isle of Portland is a tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. The southern tip, Portland Bill, lies south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier ...

receive '' Spotlight'' from the Stockland Hill transmitter. Most of

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

receive its television signals from the Whitehawk Hill transmitter that broadcast '' South East Today. However, those areas are given ''South Today'' on Channel 101 through satellite television such as

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, ...

as default via the towns' postcodes. South east of

such as

and parts of the Salisbury Plains is covered by ''South Today'' from the Hannington transmitter and the Salisbury relay transmitter which is transmitted via the Rowridge transmitter. Most of

is covered by '' Points West'' with their television signals receive from the Mendip transmitter, some eastern parts of the town cannot receive signals from the Mendip transmitter but can receive the

transmitter which broadcast ''South Today''.

Presenters

There are a range of returning reporters to the show, however, the following are the most reoccurring presenters:

Alexis Green

Green first joined

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

as a runner in 2004, before then going to work as a floor manager at

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

and a camera operator at Channel 5 News. Green then moved to presenting on the radio in 2006, being a presenter for local BBC radio, as well as commercial radio. She then joined ITV London/

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

and

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

, presenting the traffic and travel. It was during this time that she trained as a journalist, joining South Today in 2008. As of 2023, she presents the weather.

Allen Sinclair

Sinclair had worked for South Today as a presenter since 1997, presenting the early-evening news and other news bulletins. He has covered the war in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, natural disasters in Asia and Africa and major sporting events in Europe and China. He has skills in self-filming and self-editing journalism which led to covering the major news events.

David Allard

Allard started working for the BBC as a newsreader and sports reporter for BBC Radio Solent. He started presenting the news in 2000, as well as having experience having presented and produced network news on major national stories.

Edward Sault

Sault was born and raised in the Channel Islands. He presents and reports for South Today, either filming and editing himself or working with camera crews.

Jo Kent

Kent started as a radio presenter for the BBC in Guernsey, before her first TV presenting role in Norwich for the regional BBC news programme. She has also worked for BBC Radio 5 Live,

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 broad ...

and BBC Sport. She joined South Today as a presenter in 2004.

Anjana Gadgil

BBC South Today reporter Anjana Gadgil from Portsmouth

Lewis Coombes

Coombes started at BBC Radio Solent in 2007, working a variety of roles, predominantly the producer of the breakfast show. In 2013, he started as a presenter on South Today, specialising in sport. He has covered Wimbledon, the Olympics, Wembley cup finals and the Women's Euros. He has previously been named RTC Regional Journalist of the Year and Sports Presenter of the Year.

Tony Husband

Husband is the sports editor for South Today and has worked for the BBC since 1998, covering some of the south's biggest sporting events. Between 2000 and 2007, he was the Southampton commentator for BBC Radio Solent.

Notable presenters & alumni

* Sally Taylor MBE presented South Today, since 1987. She retired from the programme on 20 March 2025 after 38 years. * Mark Longhurst – Most recently presented the news for

GB News GB News is a British free-to-air, editorial, opinion-orientated television and radio news channel. The channel is available on Freeview (UK), Freeview, Freesat, Sky UK, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet on Samsung TV Plus, LG web ...

, until October 2023. * Roger Johnson – Now presents the news for BBC North West Tonight. * Dani Sinha – Now a regular presenter of

5 News ''5 News'' is the flagship news programme of British broadcaster 5. It is produced by ITN from its main newsroom on London's Gray's Inn Road, and has been broadcast since Channel 5's launch in March 1997. History ''5 News'' was one of the n ...

. *

Reham Khan Reham Nayyar Khan (Urdu/Pashto: ; born 3 April 1973) is a British-Pakistani journalist, author, and filmmaker from Baffa, Pakistan. She is a former wife of Imran Khan, who later became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018. The publication of ...

– Former weather presenter who went on to marry former Pakistan President

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

. * Alex Forsyth – Former presenter and home affairs correspondent who now presents Radio 4's ''

Any Questions? ''Any Questions?'' is a British topical discussion programme "in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media, and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience". It is typically broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Fridays at 20: ...

'' *

Jenni Murray Dame Jennifer Susan Murray, (''née'' Bailey; born 12 May 1950) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known for presenting BBC Radio 4's '' Woman's Hour'' from 1987 to 2020. Early life Murray was born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yo ...

– reporter and presenter for South Today in the 1970s before ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...

References

External links

* {{BBC Local TV BBC Regional News shows Mass media in Dorset Mass media in Hampshire Mass media in Oxford Mass media in Sussex Mass media in Wiltshire Mass media of the Isle of Wight 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 1961 British television series debuts Television news in England