''Sportsnight'' was a midweek

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

sports programme that ran from 1968 until 1997.

Sportsview

''Sportsnight'' was a successor to ''Sportsview'' which started on 8 April 1954. ''Sportsview'' was devised by Paul Fox, later Controller of BBC1 and

Peter Dimmock Peter Harold Dimmock, Royal Victorian Order, CVO, Order of the British Empire, CBE (6 December 1920 – 20 November 2015) was a British sports broadcaster and senior television executive during the formative years of the medium in the 1950s. He w ...

was the original host for a decade (and did host occasional editions from 1964 to 1968). The

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been i ...

award evolved as a spin-off from ''Sportsview'' when the last show of its inception year featured the ''Sports Review of 1954''. Frank Bough took over as main host in 1964 and ''Sportsview'' was replaced by ''Sportsnight with Coleman'' from 12 September 1968. A junior version of ''Sportsview'' also ran from 1956 to 1962.

''Sportsnight''

Sportsnight was originally shown on Thursday nights. The original presenter was

David Coleman David Robert Coleman OBE (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven Summer Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000 and six FIFA World Cups from ...

and the programme was billed as ''Sportsnight with Coleman''. It moved to Wednesdays in 1973. The theme tune was composed by

Tony Hatch Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer. Early life and early career Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his mus ...

. The show broadcast many sports and acted as a midweek version of ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

'', although almost all of its coverage was in highlights form, often featuring midweek football action, particularly international matches and FA Cup replays. The exception to this was boxing, which featured prominently in the programme from its inception, throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s. Typically, the top-of-the-bill fight from Wembley Arena or the Royal Albert Hall would be shown live shortly after the programme came on air at 9:30pm. If the fight's duration was short, highlights of the undercard would be shown following the live fight. If the top-of-the-bill live fight went the distance, or close to the distance, highlights of the undercard would be shown on Grandstand the following Saturday. Other occasional live action included greyhound racing, namely the TV Trophy race each year, and on at least one occasion in the late 1970s or early 80s, live coverage of a darts match involving Jocky Wilson from the

BDO World Darts Championship The WDF World Darts Championship is a world championship competition in darts, organised by the World Darts Federation. It would previously organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO), who held it 43 times from 1978 to 2020. The champio ...

was shown one January when the night's scheduled FA Cup football match highlights were postponed due to bad weather. Pre-recorded features were also part of the programme. In the final few years, the ''Sportsnight'' brand was used when the BBC was showing live European football. The programme was not broadcast during the summer months, airing from September until the following April. The final edition of ''Sportsnight'' was broadcast on 14 May 1997, with live coverage of that year's UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final.

Regular hosts

(Sportsview, 1954–1968) (occasional host from 1964 to 1968) * Frank Bough (Sportsview, 1964–1968) *

(1968–1972) *

Tony Gubba David Anthony Gubba (23 September 1943 – 11 March 2013) was an English journalist and television sports commentator. Life and career Born in Manchester, Gubba was educated at Blackpool Grammar School in North West England. He began work as ...

(1972–1975) *

Harry Carpenter Harry Leonard Carpenter, OBE (17 October 1925 – 20 March 2010) was a British BBC sports commentator broadcasting from the early 1950s until his retirement in 1994. His speciality was boxing. He was presenter of programmes such as ''Sportsnig ...

(1975–1985) * Steve Rider (1985–1991) * Desmond Lynam (1991–1997)

References

{{reflist BBC Television shows 1960s British sports television series 1970s British sports television series 1980s British sports television series 1990s British sports television series 1968 British television series debuts 1997 British television series endings BBC Sport