''Sportsnight'' was a midweek

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

sports programme that ran from 1968 until 1997.

Sportsview

''Sportsnight'' was a successor to ''Sportsview'' which started on 8 April 1954. ''Sportsview'' was devised by Paul Fox, later Controller of BBC1 and

Peter Dimmock Peter Harold Moss Dimmock (6 December 1920 – 20 November 2015) was a British sports broadcaster, television producer and television executive for the BBC. He began his career as a racing correspondent for the PA Media, Press Association bef ...

was the original host for a decade (and did host occasional editions from 1964 to 1968). The

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just a single award of the same name. Several new awards have been introduced, and cu ...

award evolved as a spin-off from ''Sportsview'' when the last show of its inception year featured the ''Sports Review of 1954''.

Frank Bough Francis Joseph Bough (; 15 January 1933 – 21 October 2020) was an English television presenter. He was best known as the host of BBC sports and current affairs shows including '' Grandstand'', '' Nationwide'' and '' Breakfast Time'', which he l ...

took over as main host in 1964 and ''Sportsview'' was replaced by ''Sportsnight with Coleman'' from 12 September 1968. A junior version of ''Sportsview'' also ran from 1956 to 1962.

''Sportsnight''

Sportsnight was originally shown on Thursday nights. The original presenter was

David Coleman David Robert Coleman (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven Summer Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000 and six FIFA World Cups from 196 ...

and the programme was billed as ''Sportsnight with Coleman''. It moved to Wednesdays in 1973. The theme tune was composed by

Tony Hatch Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer. Early life and early career Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his mu ...

. The show broadcast many sports and acted as a midweek version of ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

'', although it was only aired during the winter months. Almost all of its coverage was in highlights form, often focussing on midweek football action. The exception to this was boxing, which featured prominently in the programme from its inception until the early 1990s, when the top-of-the-bill fight from

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...

or the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

would be shown live shortly after the programme came on air. If the fight's duration was short, highlights of the undercard would then be shown but if the top-of-the-bill live fight went the distance, or close to the distance, highlights of the undercard would be shown on ''Grandstand'' the following Saturday. Other occasional live action included greyhound racing, namely the TV Trophy race each year, and on at least one occasion in the late 1970s or early 80s, live coverage of a darts match from the

BDO World Darts Championship The BDO World Darts Championship was a professional darts tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and held annually from 1978 to 2020. The championship was first held at the Heart of the Midlands Nightclub in the Englis ...

was shown when the night's scheduled FA Cup football match highlights were postponed due to bad weather. Pre-recorded features were also part of the programme. The programme usually began after 10pm but in the final few years, the ''Sportsnight'' brand was used when the BBC was showing live European football during the peak viewing period. The final edition of ''Sportsnight'' was broadcast on 14 May 1997, with live coverage of that year's UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final.

Regular hosts

(1968–1972) *

Tony Gubba David Anthony Gubba (23 September 1943 – 11 March 2013) was an English journalist and television sports commentator. Life and career Born in Manchester, Gubba was educated at Blackpool Grammar School. He began work as a local newspaper repor ...

(1972–1975) *

Harry Carpenter Harry Leonard Carpenter, OBE (17 October 1925 – 20 March 2010) was a British BBC sports commentator broadcasting from the early 1950s until his retirement in 1994. His speciality was boxing. He was presenter of programmes such as ''Sportsnigh ...

(1975–1985) *

Steve Rider Stephen Rider (born 28 April 1950) is an English sports presenter. Between 1985 and 2005, Rider presented a variety of BBC Sport programmes including ''Sportsnight'', '' Rally Report'' and ''Grandstand''. He was the anchorman of ITV's football ...

(1985–1991) * Desmond Lynam (1991–1997)

References

{{reflist BBC One original programming 1960s British sports television series 1970s British sports television series 1980s British sports television series 1990s British sports television series 1968 British television series debuts 1997 British television series endings BBC Sport British English-language television shows