''Today at Wimbledon'' 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 ...

TV show, showing highlights and discussion from the day's play at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

currently hosted by

Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcast journalist and author. She currently presents programmes for BBC Sport and Channel 4, and previously for BT Sport. She also formerly presented ''Good Morning Sunday'' on BBC ...

. The show lasts for 60 minutes and is broadcast on BBC Two at 8:30 pm.

Origins

The BBC (the UK host broadcaster of the Championships) began broadcasting Wimbledon in 1937.

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 ...

hosted the live coverage from 1964 to 1966 and from 1968 to 1969. Harry Carpenter hosted the live coverage in 1967 and from 1970 to 1990 (and in some years also hosted the evening highlights programme).

Des Lynam Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish-born British television and radio presenter. In a broadcasting career spanning more than forty years, he has hosted television coverage of many of the world's major sporting events, pr ...

fronted Wimbledon live coverage on BBC television from 1991 to 1997 and in 1999 ( Steve Rider hosted the live coverage in 1998). After Wimbledon 1999, Lynam moved to ITV and was replaced from 2000 by

Sue Barker Susan Barker (born 19 April 1956) is a British former television presenter and professional tennis player. During her playing career, Barker won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 1976 French Open. She reached a career- ...

who hosted Wimbledon live coverage on BBC television until 2022.

Broadcast history

The evening highlights programme was initially broadcast late evening on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

when the channel launched in 1964 and titled ''Wimbledon: Match of the Day''. It moved to

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

in 1984, in the era when

hosted with Gerald Williams as a studio guest. It was renamed ''Today at Wimbledon'' in 1990 and moved back to

in 1997 when it was allotted a fixed start time of 9.30 pm before moving again to an 8:30 pm slot in 2005 and the following year to an even earlier start time of 8.00 pm to allow BBC2 to schedule non-sports output from 9 pm. As a result, if significant matches last beyond that time the programme was usually cut short, and occasionally, especially in the second week of the tournament, was not shown at all, to allow the live tennis coverage to continue to be shown. Until 2023, it was presented either from the BBC's dedicated studio in the Wimbledon media centre, or from the landscaped garden on the building's roof, adjacent to court 18. From 2023, the show's format was revamped and is now entirely pre-recorded earlier in the day, allowing for the programme to be aired each night during the championships; any nights in which live tennis continues beyond 9:00pm results in the programme being uploaded onto BBC iPlayer instead of being shown on BBC Two. The theme music is from "Sporting Occasion" by Leslie Statham.

Hosts

Wimbledon 2day

In 2015, the programme was rebranded ''Wimbledon 2day'' (a pun on the channel's name).

became the new presenter after long-time host

John Inverdale John Ballantyne Inverdale (born 27 September 1957) is an English broadcaster who works for both the BBC and ITV. During his radio career, he has presented coverage of many major sporting events including the Olympic Games, Wimbledon, the Gran ...

left to join the BBC's Wimbledon commentary team. The opening week was presented from The Gatsby Club – a temporary hospitality venue outside the grounds – with stand-up presentation, handheld cameras, various social media features and a small live audience. The changes prompted many complaints, in particular the reduction in highlights. The BBC tweaked the format in the second week, Balding hosting a more traditional show, without an audience, from the upper floor of Centre Court with views across the grounds. For 2016, the show returned to the ''Today at Wimbledon'' name and format.

References

External links

* 1964 British television series debuts 1960s British sports television series 1970s British sports television series 1980s British sports television series 1990s British sports television series 2000s British sports television series 2010s British sports television series 2020s British sports television series BBC Sport Wimbledon Championships Tennis on television British English-language television shows {{BBC-tv-prog-stub