''BBC South East Today'' is the

BBC South East BBC South East is the BBC English region serving Kent, East Sussex, most parts of West Sussex and southern parts of Surrey. The BBC region was created in September 2001 by the joining of the Heathfield transmitter (formerly part of the BB ...

regional television news programme, serving

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

, part of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

and a small part of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. Prior to its launch on 3 September 2001, most of the viewers in the region received ''

Newsroom South East ''Newsroom South East'' was the BBC's regional news programme aired on BBC One in the South East. It was launched on Tuesday 28 March 1989 as the successor to ''London Plus'', the South East's previous news programme. In 1992, ''South Today' ...

'', though some had been receiving '' South Today''. ''South East Today'' is produced and broadcast live from the BBC's South East Regional Production Centre in

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks ...

with district reporters covering

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, Chatham,

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

and

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Overview

Launched on 3 September 2001, ''South East Today'' airs with short programmes and bulletins at varying times. The programme can be watched in any part of the UK (and Europe) on

digital satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

on the BBC UK regional TV on satellite service. Launched with a sole main presenter Laurie Mayer, the programme was briefly the centre of a minor BBC scandal, after Mayer resigned amid accusations of management bullying. Mayer lost his case, but the managers concerned have since moved on. The show then became double-headed, with Beverley Thompson (formerly the programme's health correspondent) and

Giles Dilnot Giles Tristan John Dilnot (born 7 January 1971), is a former BBC television presenter and reporter. He is now the Director of Communications and External Affairs for the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England. Early life Dilnot was b ...

presenting. In 2004, Geoff Clark joined the programme . Clark and Thompson presented the programme together for five years until their departure in September 2009. Long-serving weather presenter Kaddy Lee-Preston, who had been with South East Today since its launch left the programme in March 2012. The main presenter is Natalie Graham with weather presenters

Nina Ridge Nina Ridge is a British weather forecaster on the BBC. Early life Ridge was born Nina Humphries. Her great-grandmother was Sylvia Payne. Ridge grew up in the west of Kent, and went to a girls' grammar school. She studied Mathematics with Managem ...

and Sara Thornton. The programme's editor is Quentin Smith and the sports producer is Ben Moore. Rob Smith left the programme in November 2020. The main transmitters that carry the regional news are Heathfield, Bluebell Hill and Dover, with associated relays including Hastings, Tunbridge Wells and Whitehawk Hill. As of 7 March 2012 (following

digital switchover The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...

), the Whitehawk Hill relay transmitter (which serves the

Brighton & Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton a ...

area) now carries

output instead of BBC South, and the region extends as far west as

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

. In 2020, the weekday lunchtime bulletin of South East Today merged with that of BBC London News to join forces with the latest on COVID-19 as

BBC London and South East ''BBC London and South East'' was a pan-regional weekday lunchtime television news bulletin which was broadcast on BBC One in the London and South East regions between March and September 2020. The programme was produced and broadcast live fro ...

, hosted by the South East Today team in Tunbridge Wells. All other bulletins remain separate between the two regions.

Presenters

News

Caroline Feraday Caroline Feraday (born 25 May 1977) is an English television and radio broadcaster currently living and working in Los Angeles. Radio In 1995 at the age of 18, Feraday joined London radio station Capital FM, after studying journalism and earl ...

(newsreader) * Claudia Sermbezis (newsreader) *

Ellie Crisell Ellen Jane Crisell (born 19 July 1976) is an English journalist and television presenter working for the BBC. Crisell has presented the BBC One 8:00 pm news summary, and is a relief presenter on the BBC News Channel. She was formerly the ...

(newsreader/cover presenter)

Weather

* Georgina Burnett (

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 ...

) * John Hammond (freelance) *

Former presenters

* Christopher Blanchett ( Reporting Scotland) *

(

Daily Politics ''Daily Politics'' was a BBC Television programme which aired between 6 January, 2003 and 24 July, 2018, presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. ''Daily Politics'' took an in-depth review of the daily events in both Westminster and other areas ...

) * Polly EvansThe reason BBC South East news presenter Polly Evans has not been seen on TV recently
Surrey Mirror, 15 March 2017 *

Michael Fish Michael Fish, (born 27 April 1944 in Eastbourne, Sussex) is a British weather forecaster. From 1974 to 2004, he was a television presenter for BBC Weather. Career Educated at Eastbourne College and City University London, Fish was the lon ...

* Kaye Forster * Nazaneen Ghaffar (

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 he ...

) * Rachel Mackley *

Tomasz Schafernaker Tomasz Schafernaker (born 8 January 1979) is a Polish-British meteorologist who currently works for BBC Weather. Early life Tomasz Schafernaker was born on 8 January 1979 in Gdańsk, Poland, and attended school both in his native Poland and i ...

( BBC Weather) * Rob Smith (journalist)

References

External links

* {{BBC Local TV BBC Regional News shows Mass media in Kent Mass media in Sussex 2010s British television series 2020s British television series 2001 British television series debuts Television news in England