''The 7 O'Clock News'' is a British news programme. It was the main news programme broadcast each weekday at 7:00 pm, on

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

digital television channel

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

between 10 February 2003 to 2 December 2005. Originally called ''The News Show'' from its launch on 10 February 2003, the night after the launch of

, it was rebranded later in the year, though retaining the same presentation team.

History

Pre-launch

As a condition of approval for the launch of BBC Three, the station had to carry an early evening nightly news programme, in addition to the existing '' 60 Seconds'' bulletins and '' Liquid News'' that had been carried on

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first United Kingdom, British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in Digital television, digital format, as well as t ...

, the channel's predecessor. ''The News Show'' was first revealed as the programme title in September 2002, and the primary presenter was confirmed in January 2003 as

Julian Worricker Julian Gordon Worricker (born 6 January 1963 in Woking, Surrey) is an English journalist, currently working as one of the main presenters of ''Weekend'' on the BBC World Service, as stand-in presenter of '' Any Answers'' on BBC Radio 4, and as a ...

, who had joined from

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

's breakfast show which he had left the month prior. Alongside him were to be Tazeen Ahmad and Sangita Myska. It was also announced the programme would broadcast on weeknights at 7:45 pm.

''The News Show''

The programme was broadcast for the first time on 10 February 2003, the second night of BBC Three's transmissions, with Julian Worricker and Tazeen Ahmad presenting the first edition. Julian Worricker was replaced on the programme in April by Ben McCarthy with Worricker returning to 5 Live in July, this time as the mid-morning presenter. Just two months into the programme's existence, it found itself in a difficult situation as it was reported ratings for ''The News Show'' were so low that

BARB Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to: People * Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves * The Barbs, a band Places * Barb, ...

registered the programme as having 0 viewers during the Iraq war.

''The 7 O'Clock News''

As part of a schedule reshuffle on 7 July 2003, the programme was moved to the 7:00 pm timeslot and rebranded as ''The 7 O'Clock News'', now becoming the first programme to broadcast on BBC Three each evening after handing over from the

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

channel. ''Liquid News'' was moved to 8:00 pm on the same evening, having previously run in said timeslot. It was announced in January 2004 that ''The 7 O'Clock News'' would be revamped sometime that year as a half-hour programme intended to become BBC Three's early evening equivalent to ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 10:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also avail ...

'', the late evening current affairs programme broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

. It was announced in March 2004 that PM presenter Eddie Mair would front the revamped programme. The relaunched version of ''The 7 O'Clock News'' with Mair was launched on 10 May 2004. In addition to the new presenter and extended runtime, there was also a new logo and a larger studio set. A report into the BBC's digital output authored by Professor Patrick Barwise released in October 2004 was highly critical of the programme, saying that it "achieves nothing and attracts tiny audiences" and that it should be replaced by new science, current affairs and business programmes. For two weeks starting on 14 March 2005, ''The 7 O'Clock News'' was moved to a new timeslot, 8:30 pm, and was temporarily rebranded as ''BBC3 News''. This was to make way for the satirical show ''The Comic Side of 7 Days'' and episodes of ''Liquid Assets'' (a spin-off from the by-then defunct ''Liquid News'') which filled the 7:00 pm slot during the two-week period. After this period was over, the programme returned to 7:00 pm and regained its previous title.

Axing

The BBC announced on 21 October 2005 that ''The 7 O'Clock News'' had been axed and would broadcast its final edition at the end of the year. This was caused by the heavy criticism of the programme in the Barwise report and the BBC's own research undertaken earlier that year. Stuart Murphy, the BBC Three controller said the show had "fought its corner" against "intense competition". He stood down from the role of BBC Three controller the day before the programme was axed. The last edition of ''The 7 O'Clock News'' was broadcast on 2 December 2005, and would be replaced by "high quality factual programming" for 2006. BBC Three continued to provide news output with '' 60 Seconds'' which continued until the linear channel closed down in February 2016. Since its return to linear television in 2022, BBC Three's news output is made up of a short-form youth-oriented bulletin known as '' The Catch Up''.

Format

Compared to the rest of the

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

output, ''The 7 O'Clock News'' had a completely different image and style of presentation, with a turquoise colour scheme in contrast to the standard red and black. When the programme was launched as ''The News Show'' in 2003, it was presented as a straight news bulletin with a fast-paced 15-minute format, and could be compared to ''

Newsbeat ''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for young people.

'' on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. This format was retained when the programme was rebranded later in the year. The May 2004 relaunch of ''The 7 O'Clock News'' took the programme in a different direction. It was now noticeably more relaxed and even satirical than the previous version, and was comparable to the then-recently axed ''Liquid News''. This could be because of Mair's role as chief presenter, whose offbeat style had been popular on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's '' PM''. Presenters began bulletins standing but ended seated, reviewing the newspapers towards the end of the programme.

Presenters

(2003)BBC THREE News and Current Affairs programmes
BBC Press Office, 23 January 2003 * Sangita Myska (2003–2004) * Tazeen Ahmad (2003–2005) * Eddie Mair (2004–2005) *Sevan Bastajian (2003–2005)BBC3 gets serious with promise of hard news show
''The Independent'', 3 January 2004 *Ben McCarthy (2003–2005)New arrival for The News Show on BBC THREE
BBC Press Office, 8 April 2003 * James Dagwell (2003–2005) *

Paddy O'Connell Guy Patrick "Paddy" O'Connell (born 11 March 1966, in Guildford, Surrey) is an English television and radio presenter. He presents BBC Radio 4's '' Broadcasting House'' programme and '' Newsnight''. He is also an occasional presenter of the '' ...

(2004–2005)Paddy O'Connell named as new presenter of Broadcasting House
BBC Press Office, 30 August 2006 Cover presenters for the programme included Susannah Streeter, Chris Eakin and Guto Harri.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:7 O'Clock News BBC television news shows 2003 British television series debuts 2005 British television series endings