Dateline London

Dateline London is a weekly BBC News discussion programme. A panel of four leading journalists, lecturers, and foreign correspondents discussed top news stories from an international perspective. The last episode made was on 15 October 2022.
Production
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dateline London was recorded live on Saturday at 11.30am on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. It always featured four guests in a round-table discussion of the weeks' main stories.
When the pandemic curtailed all in-person activities, only three guests participated in the programme. Two foreign correspondents from other news agencies or papers joined the programme virtually, with an in-studio guest usually being a relevant BBC correspondent with previous background to the stories being covered. In mid-2022, the virtual guests were stopped as they were accommodated in the studio, and on occasion a BBC correspondent would participate. Additionally, the programme moved to being recorded live every Friday at 7:30pm, with repeats continuing as normal over the weekend. If significant news stories occurred during the day, the programme was able to be recorded earlier or later on the Friday.
In mid-2022, at the same time as axing virtual guests, the BBC announced its decision to axe the programme later that year. The final episode was broadcast on 15 October 2022.
Hosts
Dateline London was first hosted by Charles Wheeler, and subsequently by Gavin Esler. Shaun Ley and Maxine Mawhinney served as stand-in hosts during Esler's tenure.
Esler hosted his final edition on 25 March 2017, and Mawhinney on 8 April 2017. Since 15 April 2017, Dateline London was hosted on rotation by Jane Hill or Shaun Ley, while Carrie Gracie and Tim Willcox provided occasional cover.
Carrie Gracie had presented Dateline London following her return from paid leave in mid-2018. After 33years with the BBC, Carrie Gracie left in August 2020. Since then, either Shaun Ley or Geeta Guru-Murthy has presented the programme. On 21 May 2021, Martine Croxall presented Dateline London for the first time.
As of October 2021, Shaun Ley was the main presenter of Dateline London. Other presenters occasionally seen hosting the show are Martine Croxall, Ben Brown and Geeta Guru-Murthy.
Regular panelists
Lyse Doucet chief international correspondent and presenter BBC News
David Aaronovitch is an Orwell Prize winning journalist
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is an Orwell Prize winning journalist
Mina Al-Oraibi is editor-in-chief at The National
Abdel Bari Atwan of Rai-al-Youm
Stephanie Baker of Bloomberg
Stefanie Bolzen of Die Welt
Henry Chu of Variety
Janet Daley of The Daily Telegraph
Alex Deane is a political commentator
John Fisher Burns is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist
Eunice Goes is a Portuguese writer and lecturer
Michael Goldfarb is a journalist and author
Johan Hari is a journalist
Owen Jones is a journalist, author, and commentator
Mustapha Karkouti is a freelance journalist
Gregory Katz of Associated Press
Thomas Kielinger is a Theodor Wolff Prize winning journalist and the London correspondent for Die Welt
Jeffrey Kofman is an Emmy Award winning journalist and lecturer
Laura Lynch is a Canadian writer and broadcaster
Suzanne Lynch of The Irish Times
Vincent Magombe is a journalist and analyst
Nesrine Malik is a Sudanese writer
Maria Margaronis of The Nation
Iain Martin is a journalist and author
Jef McAllister is a journalist and lawyer
Stryker McGuire of Bloomberg
Alexander Nekrassov is a Russian journalist
Brian O'Connell is a journalist and communications advisor
Annalisa Piras is an Italian writer and film maker
Agnès Poirier is a journalist, writer, and broadcaster
Nabila Ramdani is a journalist, writer, and broadcaster
Steve Richards is a political writer and broadcaster
Marc Roche of Le Monde
Jonathan Sacerdoti is a journalist, political commentator and foreign correspondent
Shahed Sadullah is the former editor of the Pakistani daily The News in London
Rachel Shabi is a journalist and author
Ned Temko is a political commentator
Polly Toynbee is an Orwell Prize winning journalist at The Guardian
Isabel Hilton, editor of Chinadialogue
Nazenin Ansari, Iranian exile journalist
Clive Myrie, BBC News Presenter and foreign correspondent
Celia Hatton, BBC News Asia Editor and presenter
References
1996 British television series debuts
2022 British television series endings
2000s British television series
2010s British television series
2020s British television series
BBC television news shows
BBC World News shows