''Thames News'' was the flagship regional news programme of

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

, serving the Thames ITV region and broadcast on weekdays from 12 September 1977 to 31 December 1992. The news service was produced and broadcast from Thames TV's headquarters at

Euston Road Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to Kings Cross, London, King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston ...

in north-west London and, during its last few years in operation, from district newsrooms in

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

History

Today and launch of Thames News

Prior to ''Thames News'', the station opted not to provide a conventional local news service in spite of requests from the Independent Television Authority to improve on Rediffusion's scant levels of regional output. Instead, Thames produced ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'', a local current affairs magazine show presented chiefly on alternating nights by

Bob Holness Robert Wentworth John Holness (12 November 1928 – 6 January 2012) was an English-South African radio and television presenter and occasional actor. He presented the British version of '' Blockbusters''. Early life Holness was born in Vryheid, ...

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ ...

and

Bill Grundy William Grundy (18 May 1923 – 9 February 1993) was an English journalist and broadcaster. As the host of ''Today'', a regional magazine programme on Thames Television in London, he gained national attention for an interview with the Se ...

. The programme was axed in the summer of 1977, several months after Grundy's infamous on-air interview with

The Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

. ''Today'' was replaced on Monday, 12 September 1977 by ''Thames at Six'', a more conventional news magazine programme, presented by former ITN newscaster Andrew Gardner. The following year saw Thames establish a full strength newsroom, enabling daily coverage of London-specific news for the first time in ITV's history. A lunchtime ''Thames News'' bulletin, presented by

Robin Houston Robin Houston (born London, 1947) is a British voiceover artist and former announcer, radio and television newsreader and quiz show host. After starting his career as an announcer and stage manager, he became one of the pioneers of commercial ra ...

, was launched on Tuesday 5 September 1978. A late night bulletin, broadcast after '' News at Ten'', was due to launch on the same day, but was held back until Monday 28 April 1980 because of union problems. During 1979, the main evening programme was renamed as ''Thames News''.Thames at Six titles 1977.
youtube.com, 4 December 2013.

Thames Weekend News

On New Year's Day – Friday, 1 January 1982 – Thames and its weekend counterpart

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

(LWT) began new franchise periods, and at the same time, the weekly handover from Thames to LWT was brought forward from 7pm to 5.15pm on Friday nights. Prior to the change, Thames aired a full Friday evening edition of ''Thames News'' at 6pm, followed by ''Thames Sport'' at 6:30pm, but after the franchise renewals, LWT was reluctant to start a weekend news service, despite pressure from the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

, which had also suggested introducing a single seven-day service co-produced by both companies. LWT director of programmes,

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth (born 8 March 1943) is an English Media proprietor, television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive ...

, described the idea as "impractical for various reasons". Therefore, Thames produced special ''Thames Weekend News'' bulletins for broadcast on Friday evenings, including a 15-minute round-up during LWT's light-hearted magazine programme ''

The Six O'Clock Show ''The Six O'Clock Show'' was a regional television magazine show broadcast in the Greater London area and produced by London Weekend Television between 1982 and 1988. The Friday evening programme was launched on Friday 8 January 1982 and prese ...

''. LWT paid Thames a reported £500,000 (£1.8 million in 2024) a year to provide 16 minutes of local news on Friday evenings. The arrangement ended in January 1988 when LWT launched a full strength local news service, provided by Screen News and later, Chrysalis Television.

Goodbye from Thames News

On Wednesday, 16 October 1991, Thames Television learned it would lose its ITV franchise to serve London during the weekdays to

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Tele ...

, which joined up with

to form

London News Network London News Network (or LNN) was a television news, production and facilities organisation in London. It was created in 1992 as a joint operation between London's two ITV contractors, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television, with eac ...

, a new seven-day news service for the capital. ''Thames News'' produced its final full-length programme on Wednesday, 23 December 1992, presented by Steve Clarke (a former presenter of the BBC's rival ''

BBC London Plus ''BBC London Plus'' was the name of the BBC's regional news programme for southeastern England. Launched on Monday 3 September 1984, the programme represented the BBC's attempt to boost regional news service for the South East. Prior to the launc ...

'' programme) and Gytha Hutton (a reporter based in Thames' Guildford newsroom). The very last bulletin was broadcast on New Year's Eve, Thursday, 31 December 1992 and presented by regular sports anchor Graham Miller. The bulletin closed with the

town crier A town crier, also called a bellman, is an officer of a royal court or public authority who makes public pronouncements as required. Duties and functions The town crier was used to make public announcements in the streets. Criers often dre ...

of London, Peter Moore, announcing the end of ''Thames News'' after 15 years.

Thames News on-air team

* John Andrew (reporter/presenter, late 1980s) * Rita Carter (reporter/presenter, 1978–1986) * Lindsay Charlton (reporter/presenter, mid–late 1980s) *

Steve Clarke Stephen Clarke (born 29 August 1963) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Scotland national team. Clarke played for St Mirren, Chelsea and the Scotland national team, winning three majo ...

(presenter, 1990–1992) * Teresa Driscoll (reporter/presenter, late 1980s–1990) *Richard Edgar (weather presenter, 1988 & 1989) * Tim Ewart (reporter, 1980 & 1981) * Andrew Gardner (presenter, 1977–92) * Paul Greene (reporter/presenter, mid-1980s–1992) *

(presenter, 1978–1992) *

Gytha Hutton ''Eilica'' is a genus of ground spiders that was first described by Eugen von Keyserling in 1891. Species it contains twenty-eight species: *'' Eilica albopunctata'' ( Hogg, 1896) – Australia (South Australia, Queensland) *'' Eilica amamba ...

(reporter/presenter, 1990–1992) *

Tricia Ingrams Tricia Ingrams (28 March 1946 – 26 October 1996) was a journalist and interviewer best known as a reporter and presenter of Thames Television's regional news programme ''Thames News''. She was born Patricia Ann Geaney in Edgware, Middlesex and ...

(reporter/presenter, early 1980s–1992) * Tina Jenkins (reporter/presenter, 1983–1986) *Graham Miller (sports presenter/relief newsreader, late 1980s–1992) *Liz Pike (reporter/presenter, 1989–1992) * Marcus Powell (reporter/presenter, 1986–1988) * Jack Scott (weather presenter, 1983–1988) *

Penny Smith Penelope Jane Smith (born 21 September 1958) is an English author, television presenter, newsreader and radio presenter. She has presented for Sky News, GMTV, Classic FM, BBC Radio London, Talkradio and Magic Classical. Early life and edu ...

(reporter/presenter, 1988 & 1989) * Kerry Swain (reporter/presenter, 1989–1992) *

Marc Wadsworth Marc Wadsworth is a British black rights campaigner, broadcast and print journalist and BBC filmmaker and radio producer. He founded the Anti-Racist Alliance in 1991 and two years later, also helped set up the justice campaign for murdered b ...

(reporter/presenter, 1982–1992) * Francis Wilson (weather presenter, 1978–1983)

References

{{ITV Local News 1977 British television series debuts 1970s British television series 1980s British television series 1992 British television series endings ITV regional news shows Television news in London Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows produced by Thames Television British English-language television shows