''Weekend World'' is a

British television Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transm ...

political series, made by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

(LWT) and broadcast from 1972 to 1988. Created by

John Birt John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944) is a British television executive and businessman. He is a former Director-General (1992–2000) of the BBC. After a successful career in commercial television, initially at Granada Television and ...

, not long after he had joined LWT, the series was broadcast on the ITV network at midday on Sundays. Produced by Nick Elliott and

David Elstein David Keith Elstein (born 14 November 1944) is an executive producer and a former chair of openDemocracy. Early life and career His parents were Polish orphans who were brought to Britain by the Rothschild Foundation, and ran a ladies' outfitter ...

, it was originally modelled on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

's ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'' featuring several stories each week but gradually developed into a Sunday politics programme that featured a forensic interview with a major political figure. A news bulletin from

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

would also be broadcast as part of the program. The original main presenter was Peter Jay from 1972, at the time an Economics Editor for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. The original reporter/presenter staff included

Mary Holland Mary Holland is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Early life Holland was born and raised in Galax, Virginia. Career After graduating from college, she began performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She is a cast member of ...

, Anne Lapping, John Torode, and Julian Mounter, with researchers Yvonne Roberts, Monica Foot,

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...

, Paul Flattery, Mike Englehard, Jane Hewland and Julian Norridge. The team were later joined by Peter Martin and David Cox. Birt (now Lord Birt), later

Director-General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, had the idea of combining directors who had no real current affairs background, but were known for their creative and innovative film/video skills, with strong reporters and presenters recruited from national newspapers. ''Weekend World'' was one of the first UK programmes to recognise the importance of the

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974, in August of that year. It revol ...

break-in, which ultimately led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon. Peter Jay was followed as the series anchor by former Labour MP Brian Walden between 1977 and 1986, after Jay became

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Conservative MP

Matthew Parris Matthew Francis Parris (born 7 August 1949) is a British political writer, broadcaster, and former politician. He served as Member of Parliament for West Derbyshire from 1979 to 1986. Ideologically a liberal conservative, he is a member of t ...

took over in 1986, resigning his seat, and presented the programme until the series ended in 1988. A number of Walden's Weekend World interviews with

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

feature in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

dramatisation Brian and Maggie. The theme music used throughout the series run was the closing bars of " Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)", originally written and recorded by the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

group

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

References

{{Reflist, refs= Mary Holland obituary, by Anne McHardy

''The Guardian'', 9 June 2004.

External links

That was reality TV, that was
an article by Gerard Baker in the ''Financial Times'', 7 October 2002 1972 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings 1970s British television series 1980s British television series British television news shows Current affairs shows British English-language television shows ITV news shows London Weekend Television shows Television series by ITV Studios