''Spotlight'' is a

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

weekly current affairs programme. It debuted in 1973. The programme is aired on BBC1 Northern Ireland at 10:35pm (and sometimes early) on Tuesday evenings, with a repeat on BBC2. It is available to UK viewers outside of Northern Ireland on BBC

iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

for a week after the programme. The format usually consists of a half-hour report presented on a rotating basis by a small number of presenters and reporters. At present, these are Mandy McAuley, Lyndsey Telford, Conor Spackman, Julian O'Neill, Stephen Dempster, Jennifer O'Leary, Alan Haslam. Occasionally, the programme consists of a studio format with various reports and panel discussions. ''Spotlight'' is well known for its hard-hitting investigations and in 2008 won a

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 Mandy McAuley's dog-fighting investigation. It has launched the careers of a number of high-profile broadcasters, including

Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English former broadcaster, journalist and author, born in Yorkshire. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate ...

, Alex Thomson and

Gavin Esler Gavin William James Esler (born 27 February 1953) is a Scottish people, Scottish journalist, television presenter and author. He was a main presenter on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, ''Newsnight'', from January 2003 until Jan ...

''Spotlight at 40''

On 22 October 2013, ''Spotlight'' celebrated its 40th anniversary with an hour-long special show dubbed ''Spotlight at 40''. The show featured interviews with

, Roisin McAuley, Alex Thomson and

and took a look back at the show's 40-year run including its most controversial shows.

References

External links

*
''Spotlight at 40''''Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History''
* BBC Northern Ireland television shows Current affairs shows 1973 British television series debuts 1970s television series from Northern Ireland 1980s television series from Northern Ireland 1990s television series from Northern Ireland 2000s television series from Northern Ireland 2010s television series from Northern Ireland 2020s television series from Northern Ireland {{NorthernIreland-media-stub