BBC News at One


The BBC News at One is the afternoon/lunchtime news bulletin from the BBC. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel Monday to Friday at 1:00pm. The programme is currently presented by Simon McCoy or Jane Hill.
The BBC News at One achieved an average reach of 2.7 million viewers per bulletin in 2007, making it the most watched programme on UK daytime television. During the 2019-20 COVID-19 pandemic, audiences reached 4.2 million viewers.

History

The One O'Clock News launched on 27 October, 1986 together with the daytime television service on BBC1, serving as a replacement to the BBC's News After Noon programme, which had a two-person presentation team of Richard Whitmore and either Moira Stuart or Frances Coverdale. Martyn Lewis, who had joined the BBC from rival ITN, was the original presenter of the new One O'Clock News, in a single-presenter format. Philip Hayton acted as the main relief presenter, and took over as main anchor in 1987 when Lewis left to present the Nine O'Clock News. Lewis and Michael Buerk, the main anchors of the Nine, acted as relief presenters during this period.
A unified look across BBC news output was introduced in 13 April 1993 from N2, and the programme, while retaining the One O'Clock News title, adopted the Silicone graphics computer look, which distorted the image into Virtual Reality, a real studio did exist with changeable panels behind the newsreaders, dependent upon the bulletins, made up of three one metre, three 1.5 metre, and three x three metre panels, these being kept in storage racks in N2. The programme still kept some of its individuality, such as a reworked version of the theme music, again by George Fenton, with the newer version being performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra at Abbey Road studios. John Tusa and Edward Stourton took over as main presenters at this tim. Tusa left the bulletin in 1996, with Stourton taking over as main presenter, and Justin Webb becoming deputy presenter a year later. Anna Ford, who would later become lead anchor of the programme, would also occasionally stand in as presenter.
According to the TV studio history website, N1, was the former World Service studio next door to N2, were both closed around 1998/1999 when the new News Centre opened in Stage 6, understanding - becoming the 'property' of BBC Resources, who renamed them N1 to TC10 and N2 to TC11, and that Recourses could not afford to refurbish them. Both studios were unused for a couple of years.
A new look across all of BBC News television output on 10 May 1999 meant that for the first time all the main bulletins on BBC One had the same look, the only exception being the title of the programme. At this time Anna Ford took over as the main presenter of the bulletin in 1999, staying until her retirement from news reading in April 2006. George Alagiah became deputy presenter at the same time, with Darren Jordon taking over this role in 2003 when Alagiah became main anchor of the Six O'Clock News. Following Ford's retirement, Sophie Raworth became lead anchor.
On 22 January 2007 the programme titles were relaunched, along with the rest of the BBC television output, to give an identical series of titles across news programming on all BBC channels.
On 4 February 2008, the programme temporarily moved studios, from N6 to N8, as part of restructuring across BBC News. On 21 April 2008 the programme underwent a graphical refresh and returned to the refurbished N6 as well as changing its name to the BBC News at One.
On 5 November 2010, during the National Union of Journalists strike action, former Sky News and GMTV presenter Emma Crosby presented the programme whilst the regular presenters were absent. Further strike dates occurred on 15 July 2011 and 1 August 2011 plus on the 28 March 2013. Gavin Grey presented on these days in addition to BBC News Channel.
On 18 March 2013, the programme moved to Broadcasting House, along with the BBC News channel and the other BBC One bulletins, and began broadcasting in high-definition. The programme was the first to be broadcast from the new studio.
Between January and June 2015, the bulletin was extended to 40 minutes due to the length of the English regional bulletins being reduced to 5 minutes during the general election campaign period. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland retained the original 30 minute broadcast length and aired their regular 15 minute bulletins.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Simon McCoy and Jane Hill were the main presenters of the programme with Simon fronting the bulletin on Monday and Tuesday and Jane on Thursday and Friday, alternating the Wednesday programme. The presenters continued on the BBC News Channel until 16:00.

Presenters

Current presenters

In addition, Huw Edwards often presents in the event of a major news story.

Former presenters

Presenters below are occasional or relief presenters unless indicated otherwise.
Within the last few minutes of each programme, a full national weather forecast is presented within the studio.

One O'Clock News Hour

The BBC News at One has been shown on the BBC News channel since April 2006, making up the first half-hour of the BBC News at One. During the headlines and 'coming up' section, BBC One viewers see a preview of the stories to come from their region, while BBC News viewers see sports headlines. Between 12:45 and 13:30 BBC News has a service providing in-vision British Sign Language for viewers with hearing difficulties.
Between 2006 and 2017, significant differences could be seen between the two halves of the programme, as the second half was originally presented by the Duty News Channel presenter. Since 2017, coinciding with schedule changes on the BBC News channel, the presenter of the BBC News at One has fronted the full one-hour slot.It also features an extended Sport Today and World Business Report.