Scotland Today
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Scotland Today'' is a Scottish regional news programme covering Central Scotland, produced by
STV Central 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 ...
(formerly Scottish Television). Despite its name suggesting a national remit, the programme was actually limited to stories around STV's
Central Belt The Central Belt of Scotland is the area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in 2019), including Great ...
franchise. ''
North Tonight ''North Tonight'' is a Scottish nightly regional news programme covering the North of Scotland, produced by STV North (formerly Grampian Television). History During the late 1960s and 1970s, Grampian's regional news service consisted of daily ...
'' covered STV's North Scotland region (from North Fife upwards), until both programmes were renamed '' STV News at Six'' in March 2009.


History


1970s

Based in Glasgow, the programme began on 11 September 1972 in a style very similar to its BBC counterpart ''
Reporting Scotland ''BBC Reporting Scotland'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland at Pacific Quay in Glasgow. History Although BBC Television was established in Scotl ...
'' and co-anchored by
John Toye John Toye (c. 1936 – 28 April 1992) was a presenter and newsreader on Scottish Television for over 20 years, and is best known as the former anchor on its flagship news programme ''Scotland Today''. Life and career Toye was born into a musical ...
and Bill Kerr Elliot. At first, the programme was double headed, but within a year, Toye became its solo presenter and went on to present ''Scotland Today'' for 12 years. During the first six years, it was only on air for ten months of the year, taking a regular summer break and having its timeslot filled by regional magazine programmes including ''Isabel on...'' and ''Watch This Space''. The programme's first editor was Russell Galbraith, then head of news for Scottish Television – he remained in the role until 1982.


1980s

During the early 1980s, the programme experimented with studio presentation from both Glasgow and Edinburgh, featuring news round-ups from the West and the East of the region, albeit broadcast across Central Scotland. It was also one of the first regional news programmes to feature signed headlines for the deaf and hard of hearing. Following John Toye's departure, a major overhaul of ''Scotland Today'' saw the programme relaunched as a feature-led magazine programme on Monday 8 October 1984. New co-presenters
Sheena McDonald Sheena Elizabeth McDonald (born 25 July 1954, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. Early life She was the daughter of Very Rev William J. G. McDonald, minister of Mayfield church in Edinburgh, and Moderator o ...
and Haig Gordon presented on sofas as opposed to desks, with the main regional news of the day confined to short bulletins before and after the programme, co-presented from Glasgow and Edinburgh. The critics were harsh about the new format – one such newspaper critic described it as ''The Goon Show – it's
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...
time but there's not much to laugh at''. The
Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Authorit ...
also criticised the changes to the programme, and in July 1986, the station's head of news David Scott announced ''Scotland Today'' would revert to a harder news format the following Autumn, promising in a newspaper: ''you won't see pot plants, sofas or sculptures – these are nothing but distractions.'' The new look programme, launched on Monday 20 October 1986, saw Haig Gordon replaced by former reporter Malcolm Wilson, while feature elements were moved to a new lunchtime programme, ''Live at One Thirty'', which began a fortnight earlier. In 1983,
Shereen Nanjiani Shereen Nanjiani (born 4 October 1961) is a Scottish radio presenter with BBC Radio Scotland. Before launching her radio career in 2006, Nanjiani was the chief news anchor at STV Central, having presented the news programme, ''Scotland Today' ...
joined the programme as a trainee reporter. Four years later, she presented ''Scotland Today'' for the first time owing to a shortage of staff. Nanjiani would remain as the programme's longest-serving anchor for the next 19 years. Among her co-presenters during that time were ex-''
Reporting Scotland ''BBC Reporting Scotland'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland at Pacific Quay in Glasgow. History Although BBC Television was established in Scotl ...
'' anchor
Viv Lumsden Vivien Dale Victoria Lumsden (born 22 November 1952 in Edinburgh) was a newsreader on the Scottish TV (STV Central) news programme, ''Scotland Today'' for nine years. Before Scottish TV, she worked on BBC Scotland's ''Reporting Scotland'' from 1 ...
, former
Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, the S ...
journalist Angus Simpson, Stephen Jardine, current Al Jazeera English correspondent Alan Fisher and current ''STV News at Six'' anchor John MacKay.


1990s

In January 1993, Scottish Television launched a thirty-minute lunchtime edition of ''Scotland Today'', presented by Angus Simpson and
Kirsty Young Kirsty Jackson Young (born 23 November 1968) is a Scottish television and radio presenter. From 2006 to 2018 she was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's ''Desert Island Discs''. She presented ''Crimewatch'' on BBC One from 2008 to 2015. Early ...
. It was axed in the Autumn of 2004 although some elements of the lunchtime news were revived with the launch of ''
The Five Thirty Show ''The Five Thirty Show'' is a Scottish topical magazine show, which began broadcasting in Northern and Central Scotland on STV on Monday 28 January 2008. The programme was aired live from STV's Pacific Quay studios in Glasgow, with live link-u ...
'' in January 2008. ] Scottish Television's news service was expanded further in November 1996 with the launch of
Sky Scottish Sky Scottish was a short-lived satellite television channel operating on the analogue service broadcasts between 6.00pm and 8.00pm. History The service was a joint venture between British Sky Broadcasting and ITV franchise Scottish Televisio ...
, a satellite channel set up as a joint venture with
British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
. Special mid-evening editions of ''Scotland Today'' were produced for the channel and presented by John MacKay and Andrea Brymer until the channel's closure in May 1998, owing to low ratings. During its 37 years on air, ''Scotland Today'' covered major Scottish news stories such as the
Dunblane massacre The Dunblane massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School in Dunblane, near Stirling, Scotland, on 13 March 1996, when Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 pupils and one teacher, and injured 15 others, before killing himself. It remains the deadlie ...
, the
Lockerbie bombing Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by ''Clipper Maid of the Seas'', a Boe ...
, the Argyll priest scandal of the 1990s, the referendum and subsequent set-up of the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
, the Glasgow International Airport attack in 2007 and the
2008 Glasgow East by-election The 2008 Glasgow East by-election was a by-election for the UK Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliamentary constituency of Glasgow East (UK Parliament constituency), Glasgow East which was held on 24 July 2008. The election was triggered whe ...
. In 2000, the programme won the
Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
award for ''Best Regional Daily News Magazine''.


2000s

''Scotland Today'' faced major changes in 2006 as a result of mass redundancies within the news and technical support divisions at Scottish TV. Main anchor
Shereen Nanjiani Shereen Nanjiani (born 4 October 1961) is a Scottish radio presenter with BBC Radio Scotland. Before launching her radio career in 2006, Nanjiani was the chief news anchor at STV Central, having presented the news programme, ''Scotland Today' ...
signed off from the programme for the last time on 5 May 2006 –
Sarah Heaney Sarah Heaney (born 19 May 1970) is a former Scottish television presenter. Life and career She began her TV career with Live TV as a news reporter, then went on to front ''S2 Live'' on the now defunct SMG digital channel S2. In early 2000 ...
and sports presenter Jane Lewis also took voluntary redundancy. Several reporters also left the programme including Matt Bingham, Becky Hunter, Alan Saunby, Iona Scott and Roddy Scott. A few months later, the programme was relaunched to tie-in with the newly rebranded STV and the move to new purpose-built, smaller studios at
Pacific Quay Pacific Quay is an area south of the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. It is located at the former Plantation Quay and Princes' Dock Basin. The Princes' Dock Basin was the largest on the River Clyde when it was opened by the Clyde Navigation T ...
. The relaunch also saw John MacKay being made its chief solo anchor. On 8 January 2007, ''Scotland Today'' launched a sub-regional news service, allowing viewers in the west and the east of central Scotland to receive a dedicated bulletin within the main 6pm programme. In the west, the programme covered from Tobermory to
Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...
, with the presenter based in the main ''Scotland Today'' studio in Glasgow. Meanwhile, the east opt-out reported from
Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther ...
to
Dunbar Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...
and was presented & produced at STV's Edinburgh's studios. The East opt-out was directed from a technical gallery in Glasgow. The opt-outs continued under the current ''STV News at Six'' branding until separate 6pm programmes and late night bulletins for the two sub regions were launched in May 2011. On 7 April 2007, it was revealed that
GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...
had not renewed STV's contract to supply early morning regional news bulletins. The contract was awarded to the Belfast-based
Macmillan Media Macmillan Media is a multimedia company covering the UK and Ireland, working in Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Manchester and London, and owned by former BBC and ITN foreign correspondent Michael Macmillan. ''Daybreak'' regional news Until January 2 ...
, which has offices in London and Glasgow, and already provides regional GMTV News in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. GMTV Scotland began on 3 December 2007. STV had supplied GMTV with ''Scotland Today'' bulletins since the breakfast channel took over from TV-am in 1993. The contract to provide regional
ITV Breakfast ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited (previously known as GMTV Limited) is the national ITV breakfast television licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. The breakfast license r ...
in Central and the North of Scotland returned to STV in 2013. On 4 June 2007, the programme launched '' The Real MacKay'', a supplementary series of video blogs, presented and produced by John MacKay for stv.tv. Its success led to the introduction of video blogs for the STV North region (''Northern Exposure'') and a spin-off Friday edition presented by Louise White entitled ''White Not MacKay''. On 18 March 2009, it was announced that the ''Scotland Today'' branding would be phased out as part of a major station revamp. On Monday 23 March 2009, the nightly news programme was relaunched and renamed as '' STV News at Six''. The name is also used in the STV North region as a replacement for ''
North Tonight ''North Tonight'' is a Scottish nightly regional news programme covering the North of Scotland, produced by STV North (formerly Grampian Television). History During the late 1960s and 1970s, Grampian's regional news service consisted of daily ...
''.


Past presenters and reporters

*
Kaye Adams Kaye Adams (born 28 December 1962) is a Scottish television presenter and journalist. She was an anchor on ITV topical discussion show ''Loose Women'' from 1999 to 2006 and again from 2013 and was a regular panellist on Channel 5's daily mor ...
(late 1980s – early 1990s) *
Raman Bhardwaj Raman Bhardwaj is a Scottish broadcast journalist, television presenter and producer. He is currently the Sports Editor & presenter for the Central Scotland edition of ''STV News at Six''. Bhardwaj's work entails presenting the sports section of ...
(2001–2009) * Andrea Brymer (1994–2002) *
Martin Geissler Martin Geissler (born 1971) is a Scottish news reader, broadcast journalist and correspondent for BBC Scotland News. Career Geissler joined the Scottish bureau of the then-recently launched Sky News in 1991. Later he joined Grampian Televisi ...
(1994–1998, 2000–2002) *
Sarah Heaney Sarah Heaney (born 19 May 1970) is a former Scottish television presenter. Life and career She began her TV career with Live TV as a news reporter, then went on to front ''S2 Live'' on the now defunct SMG digital channel S2. In early 2000 ...
(1999–2006) *
Stephen Jardine Stephen Jardine (born 1963) is a Scottish journalist, broadcaster and presenter. He has worked for the BBC, Scottish Television, GMTV and Radio Tay. Early years Born in Dumfries, Jardine is the son of the late Bill Jardine, a former chairman ...
(1993–2007) * Jane Lewis (1999–2006) *
Viv Lumsden Vivien Dale Victoria Lumsden (born 22 November 1952 in Edinburgh) was a newsreader on the Scottish TV (STV Central) news programme, ''Scotland Today'' for nine years. Before Scottish TV, she worked on BBC Scotland's ''Reporting Scotland'' from 1 ...
(1989–1998) * John MacKay (1994–2009) *
Rob Maclean Robin "Rob" Maclean (born 1958 in Invergordon) is a Scottish television presenter, football commentator and sports writer. He currently works for BBC Scotland and BT Sport. Maclean began his career with the Highland News Group in Inverness before ...
(1988–1990) * Bill McFarlan (1982–1985, 1996–1999) *
Sheena McDonald Sheena Elizabeth McDonald (born 25 July 1954, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. Early life She was the daughter of Very Rev William J. G. McDonald, minister of Mayfield church in Edinburgh, and Moderator o ...
(1984–1987) *
Shereen Nanjiani Shereen Nanjiani (born 4 October 1961) is a Scottish radio presenter with BBC Radio Scotland. Before launching her radio career in 2006, Nanjiani was the chief news anchor at STV Central, having presented the news programme, ''Scotland Today' ...
(1983–2006; now at
BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 197 ...
) * Craig Oliver (1992–1993) * Fiona Ross (early 1980s – 2000) * Angus Simpson (1986–2003) * Heather Simpson *
John Toye John Toye (c. 1936 – 28 April 1992) was a presenter and newsreader on Scottish Television for over 20 years, and is best known as the former anchor on its flagship news programme ''Scotland Today''. Life and career Toye was born into a musical ...
(1972–1984) * Jim White (1979–1988) *
Kirsty Young Kirsty Jackson Young (born 23 November 1968) is a Scottish television and radio presenter. From 2006 to 2018 she was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's ''Desert Island Discs''. She presented ''Crimewatch'' on BBC One from 2008 to 2015. Early ...
(1992–1995)


References


External links

* {{STV Group 1972 Scottish television series debuts 1970s Scottish television series 1980s Scottish television series 1990s Scottish television series 2000s Scottish television series 2009 Scottish television series endings ITV regional news shows Scottish television news shows STV News