''Sixty Minutes'' is a news and current affairs programme which ran each weekday at 5:40 pm from 24 October 1983 to 27 July 1984 on
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
. It replaced '' Nationwide'', and integrated the BBC's main regional news magazines into a single programme, as per its predecessor.
However, the BBC's News department stoutly maintained its independence from their colleagues in Current Affairs, and the first 15 minutes of news was almost a separate entity, followed by around 20 minutes of regional news before the final 25 minutes of national current affairs. Accordingly, the format was unwieldy, with neither the conciseness of a bulletin nor the soft approach of the show's predecessor, ''Nationwide''.
The editor, David Lloyd, poached
Nick Ross
Nicholas David Ross (born 7 August 1947) is a British radio and television presenter. During the 1980s and 1990s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters but is best known for hosting the BBC TV programme ''Crimewatch'', whi ...
from the highly popular '' Breakfast Time'' to front the show, along with
Desmond Wilcox
Desmond John Wilcox (21 May 1931 – 6 September 2000) was a British television producer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and television executive. He worked at the BBC and ITV during his career and was producer of series such as '' This ...
,
Sarah Kennedy
Sarah Mary Kennedy MBE (born 8 July 1950) is a British retired TV and radio broadcaster. She presented her daily early morning radio show, ''The Dawn Patrol'', on BBC Radio 2 from 1993 to 2010.
In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, Kennedy ...
, and Sally Magnusson. Kennedy was unable to join the team at the programme's launch, but eventually began to present ''Sixty Minutes'' after Wilcox was dismissed, just seven weeks into the show's run.
The news bulletins were usually broadcast from a separate studio at
BBC Television Centre
Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for TV production, opera ...
and presented by either
Jan Leeming
Jan Leeming (born Janet Dorothy Atkins; 5 January 1942) is an English TV presenter and newsreader.
Early life and personal life
Leeming was born in Barnehurst, Kent, and educated at the Assumption Convent, Charlton and St Joseph's Convent Gr ...
,
Moira Stuart
Moira Clare Ruby Stuart, (born 2 September 1949) is a British presenter and broadcaster. She was the first female newsreader of Caribbean heritage to appear on British national television, having worked on BBC News since 1981.Richard Whitmore. The opening titles were designed by Terry Hylton and produced by the Computer Film Company.
As with its predecessor ''Nationwide'', ''Sixty Minutes'' was also responsible for the evening regional news output for London and the South East. Whereas all the other BBC regions had their own dedicated news bulletins, ''Sixty Minutes'' presenters would read the latest news for London and the South East, simply titled "South East".http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/mivana/mediaplayer.php?id=8ef8b25fa3fabb1713d924cd26264dfa&media=bbc60minutessoutheast1984&type=mp4
The programme was not well received, and although its ratings eventually began to improve, the final edition aired on Friday 27 July 1984. Throughout August, BBC1 reverted to placing the '' BBC Evening News'' at 5.40 pm followed by the regional news magazines, before launching a new schedule on 3 September 1984 with the '' Six O'clock News''; that programme remains in place as of 2022. Arguably, another legacy of ''Sixty Minutes'' was the eventual integration of the
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...