''The Six O'Clock Show'' was a regional television magazine show broadcast in the Greater London area and produced by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

between 1982 and 1988. The Friday evening programme was launched on Friday 8 January 1982 and presented in front of a live studio audience by

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', ''Give Us a Clue'', '' This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...

with co-hosts

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fam ...

, Andy Price and

Janet Street-Porter Janet Vera Street-Porter (''née'' Bull; born 27 December 1946) is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and media personality. She began her career as a fashion writer and columnist at the ''Daily Mail'' and was later appointed fashion e ...

. Later co-hosts included

Paula Yates Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1959 – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer. Yates is best known for her work on two television programmes, '' The Tube'' and ''The Big Breakfast''. She was the girlfriend of musicia ...

, Shyama Perera, former

Page 3 Page 3, or Page Three, was a British newspaper convention of publishing a large image of a topless female glamour model (known as a Page 3 girl) on the third page of mainstream red-top tabloids. '' The Sun'' introduced the feature, publishing ...

model

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from East London. She rose to public attention aged 16, when her mother entered her photographs in an amateur modelling contest run by ''The Sunday Peopl ...

Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant, (born 10 October 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. He presented the ITV (TV network), ITV children's television show ''Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and the game show ''Who Wa ...

Emma Freud Emma Vallencey Freud (born 25 January 1962) is an English broadcaster and cultural commentator. Early life Freud was born in London on 25 January 1962 and is the daughter of politician and broadcaster Sir Clement Freud (1924–2009) and June ...

and ''

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...

'' champion

Fred Housego Fred Housego (born 25 October 1944, Dundee, Scotland) is a former London taxi driver who became a television and radio personality and presenter after winning the BBC television quiz ''Mastermind'' in 1980. He did not give up his taxi licence when ...

. Devised by

Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...

and intended as a light-hearted introduction to the weekend, the programme included a 15-minute news bulletin ('' Thames Weekend News'') produced by

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

alongside current affairs, features and entertainment. There was also a short-lived Saturday edition of the programme, which ran for six weeks during May and June 1985. ''The Six O'Clock Show'' went on to become one of the most watched regional TV programmes in Britain. One of the programme's first researchers,

Paul Ross Paul Ross (born 31 December 1956) is an English television and radio presenter, journalist and media personality. He is the son of Martha Ross and the elder brother of Jonathan Ross. Early life Growing up in outer east London, Ross was educa ...

, later took over from Dyke as the show's editor. Concern from the Independent Broadcasting Authority about the lack of a proper local news service at weekends forced LWT to introduce its own service of ''LWT News'' bulletins throughout the weekend in 1988 (the bulletins were produced originally by the news agency 'Screen News'). ''The Six O'Clock Show'' aired its final edition on Friday 15 July 1988 and was replaced by a smaller scale magazine show entitled ''Friday Now''. This in turn was replaced a year later by ''Six O'Clock Live'',BFI entry - Six O'Clock Live
/ref> presented by

Frank Bough Francis Joseph Bough (; 15 January 1933 – 21 October 2020) was an English television presenter. He was best known as the former host of BBC sports and current affairs shows including ''Grandstand'', '' Nationwide'' and '' Breakfast Time'', whi ...

with reporters Danny Baker, Jo Sheldon and

Nick Owen Nicholas Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme ''TV-am'' and the BBC's local news show ''Midlands Today'' since 1997. He was also the chairman of Luton ...

. ''Six O'Clock Live'' was axed towards the end of 1992 in preparation for the launch of a new seven days a week news service jointly run by LWT and

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

, which became known as

London News Network London News Network (or LNN) was a television news, production and facilities organisation in London. It was created in 1992 as a joint operation between London's two ITV contractors, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television, with each ...

. ''

LWT News ''LWT News'' was a regional news service provided by London Weekend Television, serving the Greater London area in various formats between January 1982 and 3 January 1993. History On Friday 1 January 1982, LWT began extending its broadcasting ...

'' was also axed at the end of 1992 to make way for ''

London Tonight ''ITV News London'' is a British television news service broadcast on both ITV London and the ITV Hub. It is produced by ITN. History London News Network The programme launched on Monday 4 January 1993 as ''London Tonight'', after Carlton Te ...

''.

References

1982 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings English-language television shows ITV regional news shows London Weekend Television shows {{UK-tv-prog-stub