''Westcountry Live'' was the flagship regional news programme of

ITV Westcountry ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the ITV franchise holder for the south west of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset. The com ...

, serving

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...

History

The programme was first broadcast on Monday 4 January 1993 - four days after Westcountry Television took over the ITV regional franchise from

Television South West Television South West (TSW) was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from studios at Derry's Cross in Plymouth, Devon. History Origins and Launch On 28 December ...

. From December 1993 until early 2009, Westcountry ran four sub-regional services, each providing short opt-out bulletins for their area during ''Westcountry Live'' and the late night bulletins on weekdays. Westcountry was the first and only ITV company to produce four opt-outs for their region The opt-outs were broadcast from Westcountry's district studios in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

(covering North

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

(serving East Devon & parts of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

and west

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

(South Devon and parts of East

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

), and

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

(Central and West Cornwall & the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

). Reporter and camera crews were also based at district newsrooms in

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Torbay Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme ...

and Weymouth. The programme ended on Friday 13 February 2009.

Merger

Following ITV Westcountry's merger with

ITV West ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV (TV network), ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, ...

to form

ITV West & Westcountry ITV West Country is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the South West England franchise area on the ITV network. Previously, between 2009 and 2013, the area was a non-franchise region, branded with the same ...

, the new pan-regional programme ''

The West Country Tonight ''ITV News West Country'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV West Country. Overview ''ITV News West Country'' is broadcast from studios in Brislington, Bristol, with district reporters and camera crews based in ...

'' launched on Monday 16 February 2009. A 20-minute opt-out for the current Westcountry region is featured within the 6pm programme alongside fully separate short bulletins and localised weather forecasts seven days a week. The news service was renamed ''

ITV News West Country ''ITV News West Country'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV West Country. Overview ''ITV News West Country'' is broadcast from studios in Brislington, Bristol, with district reporters and camera crews based in ...

'' on 14 January 2013. Depending on the day's news, either the West or Westcountry bulletins are pre-recorded. The service is presented from Bristol with newsrooms in Plymouth, Truro and Exeter covering the Westcountry region. Former ''Westcountry Live'' presenters Richard Bath, Alexis Bowater and Jemma Woodman were made redundant. Bath and Woodman presented the final main edition of the programme on Friday 13 February 2009, which featured a special highlights compilation with contributions from presenters, reporters and production staff. Westcountry's main Plymouth studios were closed along with the district newsrooms in Barnstaple, Penzance, Torbay and Weymouth. A new, smaller Plymouth newsroom opened at the offices of independent production company

Twofour Twofour is a British television and digital media group founded in 1989 by Charles Wace, a former BBC news producer, and Christopher Slade, a BBC presenter. With its headquarters in Plymouth, Twofour has offices in London and Los Angeles. In J ...

.ITV Westcountry opens new Plymouth office at Twofour
Twofour Broadcast, 22 January 2009

Former on air team

*John Andrews (''

'') *Richard Bath *Ron Bendell *Ed Boyle (Powergame) * Alexis Bowater *Neil Bradford (''

BBC Look East ''BBC Look East'' is the name of two separate BBC regional television news programmes for the East of England made by BBC East. History The first BBC television news bulletins for the East of England began on 5 October 1959. These bulletins ...

'') *Paul Brennan *Bob Crampton *Vanessa Cuddeford *Bob Cruwys (''ITV News West Country'') *Martyn Dean (deceased) *Dan Downs (

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

with ''

Spotlight Spotlight or spot light may refer to: Lighting * Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps * Spotlight (theatre lighting) * Spotlight, a searchlight * Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types Art, entertainment, an ...

'') *

Lorna Dunkley Lorna Dunkley (born 23 February 1972 in Cirencester) is an English newsreader, television presenter and journalist. Until July 2016, she was a news anchor for '' Sky News'', Sky's 24-hour television news network and hosted the weekend afternoon ...

(

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

) *Julie Fisher *David Foster (original presenter) *Debbie Geraghty (Powergame) *Jonathan Gibson (''ITV News West Country'') *Sharon Goble *Tony Gray *Peter Griffin (freelance with ''ITV News West Country'') *Katie Haswell (original presenter) *Kate Haskell (née Reeves; freelance with ''ITV News West Country'') *Alison Johns (''Spotlight'') *Sam Joseph *Richard Lawrence (''ITV News West Country'') *Claire Manning (''ITV News West Country'') *Philippa Mina *

Helen Pearson Helen Pearson (born 16 November 1959) is a British actress who has been in three major soap operas, ''EastEnders'' (during 1990 as April McIntosh), ''Emmerdale'' (from 2000 to 2001 as Carol Wareing), and as Frankie Osborne in ''Hollyoaks'' fro ...

('' Daybreak'') *John Ray (Powergame) *Shelley Roberts (''ITV News West Country'') *Tiffany Royce (''Daybreak'') *Allen Sinclair (now at BBC South Today) *Graham Smith (Powergame) *Emma Snowdon *Jonathan Swain (''Daybreak'') *

Philippa Tomson Philippa "Pip" Tomson (born 30 August 1977) is an English journalist and presenter. She is a news correspondent for '' Good Morning Britain'' on ITV Breakfast. Career At the age of 18 she trained as a journalist and later became the chief repor ...

*Mark Tyler *Jeff Welch (''ITV News West Country'') *Jemma Woodman ('' Inside Out South West'')

References

{{ITV Local News 1993 British television series debuts 2009 British television series endings ITV regional news shows Mass media in Dorset Television news in England