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''Politics Now'' is a Scottish political programme produced and broadcast by STV in northern and central Scotland, between 2004 and 2011. The programme, broadcast for 40 weeks of the year, on a Thursday evenings after the late ''
STV News ''STV News'' is a Scottish news service produced by STV. The news department produces two regional services covering STV's Channel 3 franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland. STV's news programmes are produced from studios in Glasgow ...
'' bulletin, covered all of the big Political developments in Westminster, Brussels and Holyrood in detail. The programme was presented by STV's political editor
Bernard Ponsonby Bernard Ponsonby is a Scottish broadcast journalist for regional news and current affairs programming for STV. He joined the station in 1990 and was appointed political editor in 2000, following the retirement of longstanding political editor F ...
with features reports and contributions from the rest of STV's political unit - Westminster correspondent Harry Smith, political correspondent Jamie Livingstone and freelance reporter David Torrance. The programme was originally presented by former political correspondent Michael Crow until his departure from the station in January 2009. The series was replaced in 2011 by ''
Scotland Tonight ''Scotland Tonight'' is a Scottish news and current affairs programme, covering the two STV franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland, produced by STV News. The programme is presented by ''STV News at Six'' Central anchor John MacKay on ...
'', which broadcast Mondays to Thursdays on STV covering current affairs and politics.


History

Prior to the creation of ''Politics Now'', the political programmes were: * Platform: Scottish Television Flagship political programme presented
Bernard Ponsonby Bernard Ponsonby is a Scottish broadcast journalist for regional news and current affairs programming for STV. He joined the station in 1990 and was appointed political editor in 2000, following the retirement of longstanding political editor F ...
and Michael Crow. The series started in June 1996 as a replacement for Scottish Questions * Crossfire: Grampain Television Flagship political programmes, which started in 1984, presented by Anne Makenzie (1984–96), John Ingram (1996–99), Michael Crow (1999-2003) In June 1997,
Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...
acquired
Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and now named STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isles, Western Isles, Highlands (except Fort William and ...
, and from 1999, it was decided to broadcast both series on Scottish and Grampian, with ''Platform'' covering the first six months of the year, with ''Crossfire'' covering rest of the year. STV believed this would ensure viewers in both the central belt and the north of Scotland being aware of the issues which affect each part of Scotland. In addition ''The Week in Politics'', a weekly digest of the events of the Scottish Parliament which focuses on the work of the radical committee system in the Scottish Parliament, was introduced in 1999, to complement the two programmes. Both achieved strong ratings, regularly attracting double the number of viewers of ''Newsnight Scotland''.


Creation

During 2003, it became clear the Scottish political landscape had changed both fundamentally and dramatically. To better reflect the changes it was decided to overhaul the stations' political programming into a single flagship series broadcasting 40 weeks a year in a 45-minute slot, with production bases in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and correspondents in London and Brussels. For 22 weeks of the year the programme came from Grampian TV's new studio in Aberdeen. A Grampian TV spokesperson said "Our existing programmes, ''Crossfire'' and ''The Week in Politics'' have served us well and have given Grampian TV significant profile in the political community. However we believe we are now in a position to offer our viewers an even better service. ''Politics Now'' will be a brand new political programme." The head of News and Current Affairs at Scottish TV, Paul McKinney, said: "''Politics Now'' will aim to bring a fresh perspective on political developments across Scotland as well as tackling issues of significance at Westminster and inside the European Union. This is an exciting development for Scottish and Grampian TV. The new programme demonstrates our commitment to in depth political coverage. We hope that ''Politics Now'' will become essential viewing for anyone interested in the politics and future of our country. We also hope to bring new viewers to political programming with an innovative and accessible approach to the reporting and discussion of all the big political stories that matter across Scotland."


Axing

On 25 August 2011, STV announced plans to introduce a 30-minute current affairs programme, ''
Scotland Tonight ''Scotland Tonight'' is a Scottish news and current affairs programme, covering the two STV franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland, produced by STV News. The programme is presented by ''STV News at Six'' Central anchor John MacKay on ...
'', on Monday through Thursday nights at 10:30 pm. The pan-regional programme, incorporating late news bulletins for STV's regions, began on Monday 24 October 2011, replacing ''Politics Now'' in its Thursday night slot. ''Politics Now'' was broadcast from STV's headquarters at Pacific Quay in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, sharing the same set as the west opt-out on '' STV News at Six''. Prior to 2005, the programme was broadcast from STV's former headquarters at
Cowcaddens Cowcaddens ( sco, Coucaddens, gd, Coille Challtainn)
...
, Glasgow, and the studios of
Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and now named STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isles, Western Isles, Highlands (except Fort William and ...
(now ''STV North'') in
West Tullos Tullos is an area of Aberdeen, Scotland. The area takes its name from the Vale of Tullos, which lies between Tullos Hill and Torry Hill. Tullos derived its name from a corruption of the Gaelic ‘Tulach’ meaning a hill. In this extract from ...
, Aberdeen.


References


External links

* {{stv.tv, id=politics, title=STV News - Politics 2004 Scottish television series debuts 2011 Scottish television series endings Politics of Scotland Scottish television shows STV News