''Tonight'' (often referred to as ''The Tonight Programme'' and formerly known as ''Tonight with Trevor McDonald'') is a British current affairs programme, produced by

ITV Studios ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...

(formerly

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

and Multistory Media for the ITV network, replacing the long-running investigative series ''

World in Action ''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its product ...

'' on 8 April 1999. Previously airing twice-weekly, on Monday and Friday evenings at 8.00pm ( ITV Wales, STV and UTV would often air the programme at different times or different days, to make way for regional programming), the show runs the gamut from human interest-led current affairs to

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

. ''Tonight'' has conducted interviews with a plethora of political and public figures, including

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

and former U.S First Lady

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

. From 1999 to 2007, the programme was known as ''Tonight with Trevor McDonald''. The programme currently airs in the Thursday night timeslot, usually at 8.30pm on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

and 10.45pm on STV, with Paul Brand as host from March 2022.

Format

The format of ''Tonight'' consists of a long-form news story which present an angle on a major development, often following up on an investigation instigated by a national newspaper or news network. Many topics centre on allegations of wrongdoing and corruption on the part of corporations, politicians, and other public officials. The show also features profiles. The profiles are occasionally of celebrities and offer a biography of the figure, followed by a sit-down interview. Rather than offering a simple publicity platform, a celebrity will often feature after a period of intense media scrutiny, such was the case when the model Naomi Campbell appeared after there were claims she had a

substance abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definition ...

problem. Non-celebrity profiles usually feature a person who has accomplished an heroic action. The programme's format differs significantly to the BBC's newsmagazine ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

'' as it often remains focused on human interest-led agenda, rather than political or world affairs. Many of the topics are follow-ups to stories from tabloid newspapers, chosen for their level of public interest. The show gained greater public attention for its high-profile interviews, such as with the parents of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor, the five suspects in the Stephen Lawrence murder case and Trevor Rees-Jones, the sole survivor of the crash which killed Princess Diana. Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 2001, the show shifted its focus to more "heavyweight" topics such as the impending war and featured numerous reports from

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 Washington respectively, with Trevor McDonald interviewing U.S. Secretary of State

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...

in December of the same year. In an emotionally charged and highly controversial episode, airing on 30 October 2001, Martin Bashir interviewed the television star

Michael Barrymore Michael Ciaran Parker (born 4 May 1952), known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is an English comedian, influencer and television presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s, 1990s and 200 ...

for the first time about the events that led to a man dying in the swimming pool at his home. The entertainer said he felt remorse and responsibility, igniting a tabloid backlash. The edition was the most-watched in ''Tonight's'' history. ''Tonight'' will often react to major news stories as they happen, with scheduled ITV shows pre-empted. Notable major events in recent times have been "''Terror in London – A Tonight Special''" after the terrorist attack in London ( 2017 Westminster attack) and "''The Manchester Attack – A Tonight Special''" after the

Manchester Arena bombing The Manchester Arena bombing, or Manchester Arena attack, was an Islamic terrorism in Europe, Islamic terrorist suicide bombing of Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, on 22 May 2017, following Dangerous Woman Tour, a concert by the Americ ...

. Reacting to the shock announcement of the

2017 United Kingdom general election The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the 2015 United Kingdom general election, previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 United Kingdom general election, 1992 to be held ...

two months earlier, ''Tonight'' programmed special "Leader Interview" specials – which gave each of the major political parties their own respective programmes via an interview with

Julie Etchingham Julie Anne Etchingham (born 21 August 1969) is an English journalist who works as a television newsreader with ITV News. A graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge, Etchingham joined the BBC as a trainee after completing her studies, and went on ...

. Family and friends of the party leaders were also interviewed. It was after "''The Leader Interviews: Theresa May''" programme when the Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

went viral for revealing the naughtiest thing she had ever done was "running through fields of wheat" as a child in her interview with Etchingham. On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. ''War in Europe - A Tonight Special'' was broadcast across the

ITV network ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is b ...

on the same night, reacting to the developing story. Julie Etchingham presented the live programme from the ITV News studio, with reports from correspondents in Ukraine, Russia and in the studio. In 2024, an edition with new host Paul Brand interviewing

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

during the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

campaign aired, for which Sunak had controversially left the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

early. During the interview, he appeared to suggest that there were "many things I would have wanted as a kid that I couldn't have", including Sky TV, in an effort to suggest he understood the problems facing ordinary people. Sunak was widely mocked for the remark, and the interview received significant coverage and attracted memes after ITV released parts of the interview a week prior to broadcast.

Controversies

While the show often features interviews with global newsmakers, ''Tonight'' sometimes makes global headlines itself. ;'' Living with Michael Jackson'' :A 3 February 2003 episode featuring

Martin Bashir Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British former journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's '' Panorama'' programme, for which he gained an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales under fal ...

interviewing

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

led to the singer being charged for sexual molestation. An interview with Jackson was very special, for it had been extremely rare for Jackson to allow such access to his personal life, or indeed to talk so freely about his childhood. The special two-hour episode was heavily criticised, with numerous claims that the documentary had presented the singer in an unfavourable light. After the episode aired on U.S. network ABC, a follow-up "rebuttal" interview with Jackson was broadcast, featuring a surplus of material Bashir had omitted from his film. ;Charles Ingram (''Major Fraud'') :In the same year (21 April 2003), the magazine aired segments from the 2001 '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' episode in which Major Charles Ingram was accused of cheating. It was the first time outside of court that the clips had aired and the edition was heavily promoted throughout the week, airing immediately after a highly rated episode of ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

''. Again, the programme was criticised for its bias, with Charles Ingram claiming in an interview with

Diane Sawyer Lila Diane Sawyer (; born December 22, 1945) is an American television broadcast journalist known for anchoring major programs on two networks including ''ABC World News Tonight'', ''Good Morning America'', ''20/20 (U.S. TV series), 20/20'', and ...

for US network ABC that ''Tonight'' refused to allow him to defend the allegations on air. This episode would later air in the US as a special episode of '' Primetime Thursday with Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer'' on 8 May 2003, using some of the footage from this episode. While Bashir hosted this episode from the set in London, in place of McDonald, Sawyer solely hosted this episode, also from the set in London, upon

Charles Gibson Charles deWolf Gibson (born March 9, 1943) is an American Terrestrial television, broadcast television news presenter, anchor, journalist, and podcaster. Gibson was a host of ''Good Morning America'' from 1987 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2006, ...

's night off. The above episodes attracted 15.32 and 16.1 million viewers respectively.

On-air team

Presenters

Sir Trevor McDonald presented links for the programme. During this time the programme was known as ''Tonight with Trevor McDonald''. He left in late 2007, with the return of '' News at Ten'' on Monday, 14 January 2008, which McDonald co-presented, along with

, until 30 October 2008. However, on 6 November 2008 McDonald presented links again for the programme, though this is thought to be a one-off as it was a high-profile 9pm slot. Trevor will stay with the programme, to report on high-profile stories. When he was not presenting links, he was an interviewer talking to people in some places. In October 2009, it was announced that Etchingham would present the relaunched programme on 7 January 2010 – with the show airing once a week on Thursdays at 7:30pm, or later in some regions. Julie presented the programme for the final time on 3 February 2022, announcing that she would now be reporting for the show. On 9 March 2022, Paul Brand was confirmed to be the new presenter of the programme.

Reporters

The programme's reporters have included: * Fiona Foster * Martin Lewis * Jonathan Maitland (1999—) * Aasmah Mir * Adam Shaw * Ranvir Singh (2014–2016, 2018) * Helen Skelton (2016, 2018—) *

* Ginny Buckley * Chris Choi (2017—) * Vanessa Collingridge * Laura Kuenssberg * Michael Nicholson * Melissa Porter * Chris Rogers * Geraint Vincent * Quentin Willson * Kirsty Young

Guest reporters

* Joel Hills (2014; 1 episode) * Mark Austin (2014; 1 episode) * Charlene White (2014, 2016; 2 episodes) * Catherine Tyldesley (2015–2017; 3 episodes) * Alex Beresford (2015–2016; 2 episodes) * Robert Moore (2016–2017; 3 episodes) * Janet Street-Porter (2016; 1 episode) *

Robert Peston Robert James Kenneth Peston (born 25 April 1960) is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show '' Peston'' (previously '' Peston on Sunday'') alongsid ...

(2016; 2 episodes) * Tom Bradby (2016; 1 episode) * Rageh Omaar (2017; 1 episode) * Kylie Pentelow (2017; 1 episode) * Georgie Barrat (2017; 1 episode) * Noreena Hertz (2017; 2 episodes) * Hayley Hassall (2017; 1 episode) * Dan Clark-Neal (2017; 1 episode) * Ruth Dodsworth (2022; 1 episode) * Susanna Reid (2023; 1 episode)

References

External links

* * {{ITV News 1999 British television series debuts 1990s British television series 2000s British television series 2010s British television series 2020s British television series British television news shows Current affairs shows British English-language television shows ITV news shows Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television