Central Tonight is the main news programme on ITV Central. Since Monday 24th July 2006, the regular 6pm programme has been entitled Central Tonight, replacing the old name of Central News at Six to come in line with other ITV regional news programmes with "... Tonight" at the end. Although Central East and Central West have altered their names, Central South have retained the name Central News at Six for their main programme.
| ITV News Central | |
|---|---|
| File:ITVCentralTonight.jpg | |
| Created by | ITV Central |
| Starring | West: Bob Warman Llewella Bailey Joanne Malin East: Steve Clamp Sameena Ali-Khan Lucy Kite South: Wesley Smith Hannah Shellswell |
| Production | |
| Running time | Central Tonight: 30 Minutes Central News: Varies |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV1 Central |
| Release | (as Central Tonight) July 24th 2006 – present |
Central News West
Central News West is the regional news programme for the western part of the region, broadcast from ITV Central's headquarters in Gas Street, Birmingham. It went on air on 1 January 1982. The area served by the programme is considered to roughly equate to the counties of the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. The programme also covered stories from Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, northern Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and southern Northamptonshire until 1989, when the new Central South sub-region was formed.
The main programme at 6pm is presented by Bob Warman and Joanne Malin, whilst Llewella Bailey anchors the lunchtime bulletin, presenting Central Tonight when either of the regular presenters is absent.
Other presenters include:
- Sarah-Jane Mee
- Matt Teale
- Philippa Tomson
- Arti Halai
- Yvonne Gaskill
- Lucy Gribble
- Mark Gough
- Julian Druker
- Rohit Kachroo
- Sarah Moore
- Chris James
- James Wright
Central News East
The East sub-region was launched on 5 March 1984. The original intent had been to launch Central News East on 1 January 1982, but problems with the then-powerful broadcasting unions prevented its launch for over two years. Even when the first broadcast took place it was disrupted by a strike of ITV techinicans and so it was broadcast from the studios of Central West in Birmingham. Central East News was moved to Central West's Gas Street, Birmingham studios after ITV shut the Central East studios in Nottingham were 2004 as a result of a costcutting project across the ITV Network. News Gathering for Central East is still based in Nottingham at Terry Lloyd House which opened in February 2005. Terry Lloyd House is named after the former Central News reporter Terry Lloyd, who was killed in Iraq whilst covering the Iraq war for ITV/ITN in 2004.
Presenters include:
- Sameena Ali-Khan
- Steve Clamp
- Louisa James
- Rajiv Popat
- Lucy Kite
- Gareth Owen
- Helen Finch
- James Wright
Central News South
Central News South was first aired on 9th January 1989 with Wesley Smith & Anne Dawson and with special guest Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards. The first edition is well remembered for being dogged completely with technical problems. Unlike Central West & East, Central South are based at, and broadcast from studios in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
Presenters include:
- Wesley Smith
- Hannah Shellswell (nee. Stewart-Jones)
- Alex Forrest
- Sally Mules
- Tim Hurst
- Graham Purches
- Christopher Peacock
- Mark Lipscomb
It was announced on 6th June 2006 that Central News South was to end after 17 years and merge with other ITV news regions. Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Swindon would merge with the existing Meridian West region to form a new ITV Thames Valley region (expected to be named Thames Valley Tonight). Gloucestershire will be part of the ITV West (formally HTV West) region broadcast from Bristol. And Herefordshire will re-join Central News West from Birmingham. This brings 40 job cuts to the ITV Regional Network. These changes are expected to happen in December.
Weather
Weather is presented by:
On Air
Central Tonight & Central News air on ITV1 Central seven days a week:
Weekdays
- Approx. 6.35am, 7.05am & 8.05am during GMTV (pan-regional)
- 10.55 - 11.00 (During This Morning)
- 13.10 - 13.25 (During ITV Lunchtime News)
- 18.00 - 18.30 (Before ITV Evening News)
- 22.50 - 22.55 (During ITV News at 10.30)
Weekends
Central News West & East has a pan-regional bulletin with Weekend presenter James Wright. Central News South continues to have its own Weekend News bulletin presented by Mark Lipscomb.