''BBC Spotlight'' is the BBC's regional TV news programme for the South West of England, covering

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

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. Devo ...

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 th ...

, southern and western

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 , lor ...

, western

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. Covering an area of , ...

and the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. There is also a special version of the programme for viewers in the Channel Islands. It launched on 20 April 1961. The main version of the programme broadcasts between 18:30 and 19:00 on weekdays, with shorter bulletins at other times. The programme can be viewed anywhere in the UK (and Europe) on Sky channel 967/968 on the BBC UK regional TV on satellite service. Its main competitors are

ITV West Country 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 sa ...

's main evening programme ''

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 i ...

'' in Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset; and

ITV Channel Television ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programme for insertion into the ...

's main evening programme '' ITV News Channel TV'' in the Channel Islands. ''BBC Spotlight'' broadcasts from the BBC Broadcasting House in Seymour Road,

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, 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 headquarters of

BBC South West BBC South West is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region serving Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, West Somerset, West Dorset and Channel Islands. Services Television ''BBC South Wests television service (broadcast on BBC One South West) con ...

. There are smaller studios in

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 ...

and

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

History

Although local radio had been broadcast from Plymouth as station 2PY between 1924 and 1934, the first regional television programme was not broadcast until 20 April 1961, just nine days before the rival ITV service from Westward Television began broadcasting. At first a ten-minute bulletin called ''News from the South West'' was read by Tom Salmon, but in under a year it had doubled in length and had been renamed as ''South West at Six'', hosted by Sheila Tracy. The name ''BBC Spotlight'' was adopted on 30 September 1963. Those early radio broadcasts had been made from the Athenaeum Chambers in Athenaeum Lane in Plymouth (next to what became Westward and TSW's headquarters), but just before the Second World War the BBC started looking for alternative premises. A Victorian villa named ''Ingledene'' in Seymour Road was bought from the Douglass family and this building has, as of 2012, remained the BBC's headquarters in the South West. It has been considerably extended over the years, including the addition of a new and larger television studio in 1974 in preparation for the conversion of ''BBC Spotlight'' to colour the following year. A replacement purpose-built broadcasting centre on the opposite side of Sutton Harbour from the Barbican has been under construction since 2008 and was due to open in mid-2011, though it has since stalled due to the effect of the recession on the construction industry and a change in the original plans. In late 2012, the owner of the harbour expressed fears the move may never happen and admitted other parties had expressed an interest in moving to the site earmarked for the BBC. In 2013, the BBC confirmed that it was not moving to Sutton Harbour, and instead was refurbishing its existing Plymouth headquarters. A lighthouse motif has been in use within the programme's title sequences for many years until May 2000, when BBC Spotlight adopted the generic BBC regional news design. The motif returned in May 2006, and the use of a lighthouse in the titles continued until the latest relaunch in June 2015.

Presenters

Victoria Graham presents the 6.30pm programme. Another longstanding presenter is Natalie Cornah, who also presents the main programme.

News

* Victoria Graham * Natalie Cornah Channel Islands- Alison Moss

Weather

* David Braine * Emily Wood

Former on-air team members

* Kally Adderkin-Hall *

Kate Adie Kathryn Adie (born 19 September 1945) is an English journalist. She was Chief News Correspondent for BBC News between 1989 and 2003, during which time she reported from war zones around the world. She retired from the BBC in early 2003 and ...

Fern Britton Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English author and television presenter. She co-presented '' Breakfast Time'' in the 1980s, coming to mainstream national attention when hosting cookery game show ''Ready Steady Cook'' between 1994 and 200 ...

* Amy Cole * Jill Dando (deceased) * Chris Denham * Teresa Driscoll * Dave Gibbins * Simon Hall * Will Hanrahan *

Jon Kay Jonathan Francis Kay (born 8 November 1969 in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire) is an English television presenter, newsreader, and journalist based in the West of England known for his work on BBC News. Early life Kay was born on 8 November 19 ...

* Sue King * Russell Labey * Justin Leigh *

Sue Lawley Susan Lawley (born 14 July 1946) is a retired English television and radio broadcaster. Her main broadcasting background involved television news and current affairs. From 1988–2006, Lawley was the presenter of '' Desert Island Discs'' on BBC ...

* Carole Madge * Hamish Marshall * Gillian Miles *

Juliet Morris Juliet Morris (born 26 April 1965) is a British television presenter. Early life Morris was educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School, an independent school for girls in Hampton in West London, where she recalled the difficulties of being left-han ...

* Kawser Quamer (weather presenter) * Craig Rich (weather presenter) *

Angela Rippon Angela May Rippon (born 12 October 1944)"Angela Rippon," ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Detroit: Gale, (2008) ''Gale Biography In Context'' is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and tele ...

* Hugh Scully (deceased) * Christopher Slade * Sheila Tracy (deceased)

BBC Channel Islands

''BBC Channel Islands'' is the dedicated opt-out service for the

. Local news broadcasts for the Islands began in the 1990s, when a short bulletin aired following the '' BBC Nine O'Clock News''. Since October 2000, two evening bulletins have been broadcast at 6:30pm and 10:30pm. Originally broadcast from a studio at the Fremont Point transmitter, the news service is now entirely based at the studios of BBC Radio Jersey in St Helier. The opt-outs are usually presented by Charlie McArdle and produced by a team of multi-skilling journalists who write, film and edit their own stories, as well as producing and directing the bulletins on weekdays. The main opt takes up the first 12 minutes of the nightly 6:30pm programme with a full opt at 10:30pm. No opt-outs are broadcast during the day and at weekends, except for special occasions such as local elections or major sporting events such as the

Island Games The Island Games (currently known as the NatWest International Island Games for sponsorship reasons) are biennial international multi-sports events organised by the International Island Games Association (IIGA). Competitor teams each represent d ...

. Like other BBC enterprises in the Channel Islands, funding comes primarily from

television licence A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence ...

fees collected within the Islands.

References

External links

* * {{BBC Local TV 1961 British television series debuts 1960s British television series 1970s British television series 1980s British television series 1990s British television series 2000s British television series 2010s British television series 2020s British television series BBC Regional News shows Mass media in Cornwall Mass media in Dorset Mass media in Jersey Television news in England Television news in Jersey Television news in Guernsey Television news program articles using incorrect naming style