''The Nine'' (and ''The Seven'') is a Scottish television news programme which was produced by

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

for the

channel, covering Scottish, UK and international news. From February 2019 to December 2024, it was broadcast weekdays at 9:00 pm as ''The Nine'' and weekends at 7:00 pm as ''The Seven''.

Broadcast

Produced by

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 ...

Scotland, the 60-minute programme was broadcast on BBC Scotland at 9:00 p.m. from Monday to Thursday nights. On Fridays, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, a shortened edition was broadcast at 7:00 p.m. (half an hour on Fridays and 15 minutes on Saturdays & Sundays), likewise retitled ''The Seven''.

History

"Scottish Six" and inception

Plans for a "Scottish Six", a news programme which would see ''

BBC Reporting Scotland ''BBC Reporting Scotland'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland in Pacific Quay, Glasgow. The programme usually followed after the nationwide bulletin f ...

'' and Scotland's airing of ''

BBC News at Six The ''BBC News at Six'' is the BBC's evening news programme on British television channels BBC One and BBC News (British TV channel), BBC News (UK feed), broadcast weeknights at 6:00pm and produced by BBC News. It is normally broadcast for 30 ...

'' be scrapped in favour of an hour-long Scottish news programme, was proposed as part of trials at BBC Pacific Quay in 2017. Despite there being a significant amount of support in having an hour-long news programme, plans for a "Scottish Six" news programme were scrapped in favour of a news programme which would be aired at a 9:00 pm time slot. STV News had tested the format on their

STV2 STV2 was a British local television network in Scotland, operating five city-based TV licences serving Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Ayr. It was owned and operated by STV Group plc. Initially broadcast as two separate stations � ...

channel with '' STV News Tonight'', which began airing in April 2017 and would later be axed in 2018 as part of the channel's closure. Following the scrapped proposal for a "Scottish Six" news programme, BBC Scotland announced in February 2017, plans to have the same format proposed be used for a news programme that would air at 9:00 pm on a brand new BBC Scotland TV channel that was launched in February 2019. In November 2018, BBC Scotland announced details of the programme, including the identity of the show and the presenters. The first episode of ''The Nine'' aired on 25 February 2019, a day after the launch of the BBC Scotland channel.

Cancellation and proposed cutbacks

In February 2024,

announced plans to axe ''The Nine'', along with weekly review programme ''Seven Days'' and the showbiz news programme ''The Edit'' as part of cutbacks to the channel's news output. The plans were approved by broadcast regulator

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

in August 2024 and confirmed by the corporation in December 2024. These changes took place after low viewing figures attracted from

’s news output had been the subject of frequent criticism. According to newspaper reports in January 2024, one edition of ''The Nine'' attracted an audience of 1,700 viewers while an edition of ''The Seven'' was watched by just 200 viewers. On the day before the programme's axing was announced, ''The Nine'' was watched by 6,000 viewers, officially recording a zero share of viewing. Other investments made by

, using the money saved by cutting ''The Nine,'' include the expansion of the

Debate Night Debate Night is BBC Scotland's flagship current affairs debate show, hosted by Stephen Jardine, which airs on Wednesdays nights. History Stephen Jardine was named as the host on 15 February 2019 ahead of the launch of the new BBC Scotland chan ...

series, increased investment in online news and the launch of a new topical current affairs visualised podcast series called ''Scotcast''. ''The Nine'' was replaced with a new half-hour news programme called ''Reporting Scotland: News at Seven''. It began airing on BBC Scotland directly after its sister programme ''

Reporting Scotland ''BBC Reporting Scotland'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland in Pacific Quay, Glasgow. The programme usually followed after the nationwide bulletin ...

'' on

BBC One Scotland BBC One Scotland is a Scottish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Scotland. It is the Scottish variation of the UK-wide BBC One network and is broadcast from Pacific Quay in Glasgow. History The BBC Television Service sta ...

from 6 January 2025.

Presenters

The programme had a fifteen-strong team of presenters and reporters, who presented Scottish, UK, and international news from a Scottish perspective. It originally was presented by Rebecca Curran and Martin Geissler from Monday to Thursday and Laura Miller and John Beattie on Fridays. Weekends were hosted by the ''

'' team. Amy Irons and her brother Lewis Irons were the main sports presenters since 2022, with original sport news presenter Laura McGhie currently presenting on 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 ...

News and World News channels.

BBC Scotland team

References

External links

* * 2019 Scottish television series debuts 2024 Scottish television series endings 2020s Scottish television series BBC Regional News shows BBC Scotland television shows Scottish television news shows {{BBC-tv-prog-stub