BBC News at Six

The BBC News at Six is the evening news programme broadcast each night on British television channel BBC One and the BBC News channel at 18:00. For a long period the News at Six was the most watched news programme in the UK but since 2006 it has been over taken by the BBC News at Ten. On average it pulls in 4 million viewers.

George Alagiah is currently the main presenter, presenting Monday to Thursday, while Fiona Bruce is its Friday presenter. Other BBC News presenters, including Sophie Raworth, Mishal Husain and Sian Williams also appear.

In late 2007 the length of the programme was shortened from 30 minutes to 28 minutes to allow for a news summary being shown on BBC 1 at 7:58pm.

History
The programme launched on 3 September 1984, replacing early evening news magazine Sixty Minutes and was originally presented by Sue Lawley and Nicholas Witchell. Both presenters have since moved on to other positions within BBC News and the BBC itself. Jeremy Paxman, who went on to present Newsnight in 1989, was relief newsreader from 10 September.

In 1988, the Six O'Clock News studio was famously invaded during a live broadcast by a female group protesting against Britain's Section 28 (a law against the promotion of homosexuality in schools). Witchell famously grappled with the protesters and is said to have sat on one woman, provoking the memorable front-page headline in the Daily Mirror, Beeb man sits on lesbian.

1993-1999
In April 1993, the bulletin was relaunched with a more coherent look that was adopted across all BBC newcasts on the same day.

1999-2004
On 10 May 1999, the bulletin was relaunched again, along with the rest of the BBC News programme and the new presenter was Huw Edwards with Fiona Bruce as the deputy presenter. Both Edwards and Bruce left the Six O'Clock News on 19 January 2003. On 20 January 2003, as George Alagiah and Sophie Raworth took over, the bulletin was relaunched along with the rest of BBC One's news bulletins. During Raworth's first maternity leave in 2004, Sian Williams stood in for her for over the six months. However, during Raworth's second maternity leave at the end of 2005, Natasha Kaplinsky stood in, originally as a temporary measure. As part of a presenter reshuffle in April 2006, Kaplinsky was confirmed as the new full-time presenter. Sophie Raworth was later named as the main presenter of the BBC News at One. Raworth is now a regular presenter on the News at Six and BBC News at Ten, covering for main presenters during their absences.

2004-2008
Since April 2005, the programme has formed the first half hour of the Six O'Clock Newshour on the BBC News Channel. The subsequent half hour consists of business and sport updates presented from within the News channel studio by one of the News Channel presenters. As before, the bulletin still completes at 18:30 before splitting off to regional news programmes on BBC One.

On 5 October 2007 it was announced that Natasha Kaplinsky was leaving the BBC to replace Kirsty Young on Five News, taking up her new role on 18 February 2008 presenting two half-hour evening bulletins. She left at the end of the Six O'Clock News on the same day.

For a while Sian Williams filled in as co-presenter, but on 3 December 2007, the programme went single-headed, with George Alagiah as main presenter, and Sian Williams as deputy presenter. A few months into the new arrangement Fiona Bruce took over from Sian as the main Friday presenter.

2008 onwards
In 28 January 2008, the programme moved studios, from N6 to TC7, as part of a restructuring across BBC News. On 21 April 2008 the programmes, along with the rest of BBC News, underwent a refresh, taking on new titles and a new set.

Weekends
At the weekend there is an early evening bulletin of BBC Weekend News.

Former presenters
If there is no position before the years of being a presenter, then this newsreader was either a relief presenter or occasional guest stand-in presenter.
 * Jeremy Paxman (1984–1987)
 * Sue Lawley (Main presenter, 1984–1989)
 * Nicholas Witchell (Main presenter, 1984–1989)
 * Andrew Harvey (Main presenter, 1984–1996)
 * Philip Hayton (Main presenter, 1987–1994)
 * Chris Lowe (Main co-presenter, 1988–1994)
 * John Humphrys (Main presenter, 1989–1991)
 * Peter Sissons (Main presenter, 1989–1994)
 * Moira Stuart (Main co-presenter, 1989–1999)
 * Jill Dando (1989–1999)
 * Anna Ford (Main presenter, 1989–1999)
 * Mike Smartt (Main co-presenter, late-1980s)
 * Laurie Mayer (Main co-presenter, late-1980s)
 * Jennie Bond (1990–1999)
 * Justin Webb (Main co-presenter, 1992–1999)
 * Martyn Lewis (Main presenter, 1994–1999)
 * Fiona Bruce (Main Friday presenter, 1999–2003)
 * Huw Edwards (Main Monday-Thursday presenter, 1999–2003; Relief Presenter, 2008-2011)
 * Bill Turnbull (2003–2006)
 * Dermot Murnaghan (2004–2007)
 * Jane Hill (2005–2007)
 * Natasha Kaplinsky (Main co-presenter 2005–2007)
 * Ben Brown (2006–2007)
 * Jon Sopel (2006–2007)

Presentation
Unlike the other BBC News bulletins, which are broadcast from the BBC News Channel (Studio N6), the BBC News at Six is broadcast from TC7 of BBC Television Centre, also the home of Newsnight, Newsround, The Politics Show and The Andrew Marr Show. The current design of set was introduced in May 2006, the latest design of titles in April 2008. The programme is occasionally broadcast from the BBC News Channel Studio (N6).

Within the last few minutes of each bulletin, a full national weather forecast is presented by Laura Tobin, Helen Willetts, Susan Powell or Louise Lear of the BBC Weather Centre.

Criticism
The bulletin has been accused of being an example of the BBC 'dumbing-down' with more consumer led reports and dynamic presentation. In particular, in 2006 the then Leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw berated the show's presenters for "prancing around the studio".

The BBC defend the format as they believe that the body language and integration of presenter and graphics increases the viewer's understanding of the news.

The bulletin has also been accused of having an English perspective on the news in terms of items covered and priority each news item is given. There have been calls in Scotland for a separate Scottish Six that would combine Scottish, British and international news items to create a news programme from a Scottish perspective. The idea was rejected by the BBC in 2003 after a series of public meetings and a poll showed that 38% favoured the idea, as opposed to the 45% that wanted no change. However, the SNP have continued to call for the change.