''ITV News Meridian'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by

ITV Meridian ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...

Overview

The news service is produced and broadcast from ITV Meridian's studios in

Whiteley Whiteley is a community in the county of Hampshire, England, near Fareham. The development straddles the boundary between two council districts: the Borough of Fareham to the south and east, and the city of Winchester to the north and west. L ...

, near Fareham with reporters also based at bureaux in

Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the Historic counties of England, historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is south of Oxford, eas ...

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 ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Currently, the news service transmits to a vast coverage area across three sub-regions in the South and South East of England. * South * South East * Thames Valley The programme is currently EDF Programme of the Year for London and the South East (for coverage of the 70th anniversary of D-Day) and the Royal Television Society's Southern Centre Programme of the Year (for coverage of the Eastbourne Pier fire)

History

January 1993 – December 2006

Meridian's flagship regional news programme was launched as ''Meridian Tonight'' on 4 January 1993 – three days after Meridian replaced TVS. Three sub-regional editions of the programme were broadcast simultaneously, from studios in Southampton, Maidstone, and Newbury. The three original sub-regional services for ''Meridian News/Tonight'' were: *South **(central and eastern

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 (unitary authority), Dors ...

, the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

, the majority 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 ar ...

, the

Brighton and 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 and H ...

coastal conurbation of

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 Su ...

, southern

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

and southern

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

), based in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

before moving to Whiteley in 2004. *East **(

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 ...

, southern

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and parts of

), based in

before moving to an industrial estate near

New Hythe New Hythe is a village in mid-Kent, England on the banks of the River Medway approximately northwest of the county town of Maidstone. It derives its name from the Old English word Hythe, meaning haven or landing place. It is in the parish of E ...

in 1994. The news gathering operation was moved back to The Maidstone Studios in 2004, though studio production moved to Meridian's new

base at the same time. *West **(

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, northern

and parts of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

), based in Newbury. Studio production moved to Southampton in 2001. Meridian's first Controller of News was Jim Raven, who had previously been the Editor for the South East edition of TVS's '' Coast to Coast''. Three regional editors (later heads of news) were appointed to run each of the three news sub-regions: * South: Andy Cooper, former editor of ''Coast to Coast'' South * South East: Mark Southgate, former producer of ''Coast to Coast'' South East * West: Robin Britton was tasked with launching the new Meridian West service forming the Thames Valley, who had been the deputy-editor of the Meridian South programme, the third sub-region was Meridian's trump card, TVS had done a short Thames Valley opt, launched in 1990). The presenting line-up for each news service reflected continuity and change. Meridian South went on air with Fred Dinenage (TVS & Southern) and Debbie Thrower (BBC), the South East anchors were Mike Debens (TVS) and Alison Holloway (Sky, ABC) and in the Thames Valley, Andy Craig (Central) partnered with Mai Davies (TVS). Carl Tyler did the weather for Thames Valley and South and Ron Lobeck was also retained for the South East forecasts. Robin Britton had scope to recruit the best talent not only from TVS, but from the outgoing Thames Television, Channel 4 Daily, TSW and TV-AM as well. These included programme producer Paul Erlam and transport correspondent Mike Pearse (

Thames News ''Thames News'' was the flagship regional news programme of Thames Television, serving the Thames ITV region and broadcast on weekdays from 12 September 1977 to 31 December 1992. The news service was produced and broadcast from Thames TV's headq ...

), along with Alison Black (''Channel 4 Daily'') and Peter Brookes (

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...

). Andy Cooper also took advantage of the franchise changes, hiring the very experienced Nick Myers from TV-am, and moving Steve McDonnell from current affairs at TVS back into the newsroom, this time as a programme producer alongside Myers. Mark Southgate also brought in new recruits, including the journalist Marc Percy – the three new-look programmes were hosted from an original set design was by Eye-Catching Design. All three editions of ''Meridian Tonight'' went onto win the Royal Television Society's Nations and Regions Programme of the Year award – the only time three programmes have tied for the top prize. Presentation for all three services moved to new smaller digital studios at Whiteley, near Fareham on Saturday 4 December 2004; the studios in Southampton and near Maidstone were closed at this time. The Northam studios in Southampton were sold off for a reported £5 million for domestic housing and the studios near Maidstone were closed, the Meridian team in the South East moved back to the Maidstone Studios originally built by TVS and rejected by Meridian when they took over. Newsgathering operations in all areas were retained. In December 2006, the updates during GMTV became pan-regional. Weekend bulletins had become pan-regional across the South Coast and South East only, whilst the West retained its own weekend bulletins right up until 3 December 2006, when ITV Thames Valley was launched.

December 2006 – February 2009

On 4 December 2006, the long expected merger between West and the

ITV Central ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

South sub-region took place, forming the non-franchise ''

ITV Thames Valley ITV Thames Valley was a non-franchise ITV news region covering the Thames Valley area of the United Kingdom from 4 December 2006 until 8 February 2009. It served the south/south-eastern area of the legal Central franchise and the north/north-w ...

'' news service, broadcasting '' Thames Valley Today/Tonight'' from the same studio at Whiteley. The merger saw

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, Oxfordshire and the

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

area being added to the region for news purposes. The former ITV Central South sub-region headquarters at Abingdon was retained as the main news gathering base for ITV Thames Valley, but the studio presentation facility was mothballed. Bulletins during GMTV became pan-regional across the entire combined ITV Meridian and ITV Thames Valley areas, and branded as '' GMTV News''. Weekend bulletins continued to be separate ''Meridian News'' (pan-regional for South Coast and South East) and ''Thames Valley Today/Tonight'' services.

February 2009 – September 2013

At the end of 2008, in light of a restructuring through the ITV regional news network, around 100 staff across the three sub-regional news services in

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

were made redundant. A single edition of ''Meridian Tonight'' for the entire region was launched on 9 February 2009. Within this, two sub-regions created – South/Thames Valley and South East. The then remaining sub-regional elements were: *The opening 15 minutes of the main 6pm programme. *Full late night bulletins on weeknights, following ''

ITV News at Ten ''ITV News at Ten'' (or more commonly ''News at Ten'') is the flagship evening news programme on British television network ITV, produced by ITN and founded by news editor Geoffrey Cox in July 1967. The bulletin was the first permanent 30-mi ...

''. *Localised weather forecasts for South/Thames Valley and South East. Sangeeta Bhabra and

Fred Dinenage Frederick Edgar Dinenage MBE (born 8 June 1942) is an English author and retired broadcaster and television presenter. His television career spanned nearly 60 years, including the long-running children's programme '' How'' and ITV's regional p ...

were announced as lead presenters of the scaled back service. Both sub-regional editions utilise exactly the same presenter(s) and studio/set, therefore one of the two opt-outs – depending on the day's news – is pre-recorded 'as live' shortly before broadcast. In February 2010, 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 ...

's Award for Best Nations & Regions News Coverage. On Monday 14 January 2013, the news service was relaunched and rebranded as ''ITV News Meridian''.

September 2013 – present

On 23 July 2013, proposals for a more localised Channel 3 news service were approved. ''ITV News Meridian'' extended the South and South East opt-out services by an extra five minutes during the half-hour 6pm programme, in addition to separate lunchtime and weekend bulletins for the two regions. A Thames Valley service was also reintroduced, consisting of a ten-minute opt out within the 6pm programme for the South and a late bulletin after ''News at Ten''. The two late night bulletins are retained for the South and the South East, in addition to the new Thames Valley bulletin. The expanded sub-regional service launched on Monday 16 September 2013. The Head of News was Robin Britton. He previously launched ''

Thames Valley Tonight ''Thames Valley Tonight'' was a regional news programme broadcast to part of the ITV Network in the Thames Valley area of southern England. The Thames Valley news region was launched on Monday 4 December 2006 and ceased to exist on 8 February 2 ...

'' and the West edition of ''Meridian Tonight''. In September 2017 he was replaced by Alison Nice, a former content editor for ITV Meridian.

Notable current on air staff

Sangeeta Bhabra Sangeeta Bhabra (born 19 February 1974) is a co-presenter of the regional news programme ''ITV News Meridian''. Life Bhabra was born in 1974, and describes herself as a "child of the 80s" and a lifelong avid fan of George Michael. Bhabra t ...

Matt Teale Matthew James "Matt" Teale (born 7 March 1975 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire) is an English broadcast journalist employed by ITV Meridian. Broadcasting career Matt Teale was with ITV in the Midlands from 1997 until 2022 before becoming one of ...

Notable former on air staff

* Andrea Byrne *

Kate Garraway Kathryn Mary Draper Garraway (born 4 May 1967) is an English broadcaster and journalist. In the 1990s, Garraway was a journalist for ITV News Central and later a co-presenter of ITV News Meridian. From 2000 to 2010, she co-presented GMTV. Cu ...

Charlotte Hawkins Charlotte Mary Hawkins (born 16 May 1975) is an English television and radio presenter, newsreader and journalist. Hawkins joined ITV's ''Meridian Tonight'' in 2003, hosting its main news programme, leaving in 2006 to become co-presenter of ...

Phil Hornby Phil Hornby is a British news reporter who currently works for ITV Meridian ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise for the South and South East England, South East of England. The ...

* Gemma Humphries *

Natasha Kaplinsky Natasha Margaret Kaplinsky (born 9 September 1972)The Donor, News and information for blood donors, Winter 2009, National Blood Service, England, page 55 is an English newsreader, TV presenter and journalist, best known for her roles as a st ...

Debbie Thrower Debbie Thrower (born 17 November 1957 in Nairobi, Kenya) is an English journalist and broadcaster who presented BBC national news bulletins in the 1980s and ITV Meridian's flagship news programme ''Meridian Tonight'' (southern edition) from its ...

Charlene White Charlene Denise White (born 22 June 1980) is a British television broadcaster, journalist and presenter, best known for presenting ''ITV News'' programmes. She has been an anchor on ''Loose Women'' since 2021 translucent In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale (one in which the dimensions a ...

Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

logo flipping over to reveal and yellow and blue map of the region. Accompanied by a trumpeted fanfare the region lights up with several dots, marking Meridian's news-gathering centres, and three pulses marking,

and Newbury: the locations of each of the three programmes. Each respective region would then zoom into their region of the Meridian region before the flipping logo reveals the programme name, separated by a horizontal line, at the end of the sequence. The title sequence and music was changed on 6 May 1996 to a blue and gold background variant, featuring a partly obscured circle displaying news related imagery, before flipping to reveal the centre of the Meridian logo falling back into the centre of the line separating the programme name. The look was changed once again on 4 January 1999 with the new titles featuring a vibrant purple background being changed into yellows and reds to form the Meridian logo. The music remained the same, but was enhanced to be more dramatic with a voiceover at the beginning declaring "This is Meridian Tonight". The programme name now featured the Meridian logo above, or to the side of the programme name and appearing as a

DOG The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

in the bottom left corner of the screen throughout the programme. The last Meridian individual look was introduced on 4 February 2002 and featured two translucent halves of Meridian's logo merging and moving together against a purple backdrop. The end board of the sequence saw to two-halves move closer against a stripe of red and yellow colour against the Meridian Tonight name. Following the merger of

Granada plc Granada plc (previously called Granada Ltd, Granada Group plc, and Granada Media plc) was a British conglomerate best known as the parent from 1954 to 2004 of the Manchester-based Granada Television. The company merged with Carlton Communica ...

and Carlton Communications in 2004 to form

ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on the ...

, Meridian has used generic title sequences adopted across the ITV plc network of ITV stations. On 2 February 2004, this featured a blue and yellow look concentrating on vertical columns of translucent squares displaying images of the Meridian region, before ending with four square ITV logo over a map of the UK made out of squares. On 16 January 2006, this was altered following the change of ITV logo to a sequence showing footage of the region and ending with the name over a light blue and turquoise

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

, and further altered on 15 December 2009 to match the new ITV News style. This latest style featured a yellow and translucent black colour scheme and again focusing on footage of locations within the region.

References

External links

*
ITV Meridian
on

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ITV Meridian
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