BBC News at Nine (PatrZDZ's vision)

The **BBC News at Nine**, also known as the **BBC Nine O'Clock News** or the **Nine O'Clock News**, is the flagship evening news programme for British television channel BBC One. It was launched on 14 September 1970 and is broadcast on weekdays and Sundays at 9:00 pm for 30 minutes, except on bank holidays when it may be shorter. Fiona Bruce is the lead presenter for the bulletin on weekdays. The Sunday edition of the bulletin is presented by Mishal Husain or Clive Myrie and is listed as BBC Weekend News on TV guide and BBC iPlayer. The programme may not air as BBC News at Nine on Sunday, however, if it does not start at exactly 9:00 pm.

## History

The Nine O'Clock News is the BBC's flagship TV news bulletin throughout its run but the format changed significantly over its 50 years.

The time of the bulletin was significant though coincidental—during World War II the Nine O'Clock News on the BBC Home Service was hugely important.

The first week of the TV bulletin was presented by Robert Dougall, followed by Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall, each presenting five consecutive nightly bulletins. The choice of these three was significant, echoing the original BBC television bulletins of 1955, which they had also presented.

Between 13 November 1972 to 5 March 1976 and again between 2 September 1985 to 30 October 1988, the programme had two presenters.

In 1981, traditional BBC "newsreaders" such as Richard Baker stopped presenting the Nine O'Clock News regularly and were replaced by journalists—initially John Humphrys and John Simpson. However, the two most significant revamps happened on 2 September 1985 and 30 October 1988.

As well as changes to presentation, the 1985 relaunch gave the bulletin its own signature tune—distinct from that of other BBC News bulletins. Computer graphics were also introduced.

The 31 October 1988 revamp was about content as well as style. An increasing emphasis was placed on analysis and specialist journalism. At the same time the programme reverted to a single presenter. At this point in time, the programme was typically 28 minutes long.

The Nine O'Clock News replaced The Main News at 8:45pm, in a response to the launch by ITN of the News at Ten. It was the first bulletin to have a closing set of music; other bulletins would show weather forecasts at the end instead. The set used by the bulletin was designed to differentiate from the day's bulletins; an example of this was on 7 September 1981, where the Nine O'Clock bulletin had a wooden effect whereas other bulletins used a plain blue background instead.

On 13 April 1993, all the BBC News bulletins were relaunched with a more uniform look. This programme and some others were given a darker set and a stereo orchestral version of the previous mono title music. A more comprehensive relaunch of all the BBC News output came on 10 May 1999, after which this programme once again shared a common theme and set with its daytime counterpart.

Since 10 May 1999, the programme is advertised as the BBC News at Nine.

Buerk and Sissons left the Nine O'Clock News on 19 January 2003 to make way for presenters Huw Edwards and Fiona Bruce. To mark this presenter reshuffle, on Monday 20 January 2003 as Edwards and Bruce took over, the bulletin and the rest of BBC One news bulletins were relaunched with a new studio.

On 21 April 2008, the programme, along with the rest of BBC News, underwent a graphical refresh and moved into a refurbished studio (N6).

The programme, along with the BBC News and the others BBC One bulletins, moved to Broadcasting House and began broadcasting in high-definition on 18 March 2013.

Following a five-month trial during the run-up to the 2015 general election, it was announced that the programme would be permanently extended to 45 minutes on Mondays through Thursdays from January 2016 (with the Friday-night edition retaining its original length).

On 13 June 2022, the BBC News at 9 broadcast their first edition from the new studio set, which is a much larger studio than before with different sized screens which can be interacted with by reporters and the presenter. A new semi-circle desk has also been introduced, as well as a spiral staircase in a nod to the previous studio which showed the spiral staircase in the newsroom. The BBC News at 1 and BBC News at 6 broadcast their first editions from the new studio a day later.

## Format

From 4 February 2015, the programme has a 45-minute format, with a half-hour segment focusing on British national and international news (with an emphasis on the latter), a 11 and a half-minute segment of local news from the BBC's regions around the country, and concluding with a brief recap of the headlines and the national weather forecast.