Sky News Sunrise



Sunrise is the breakfast time programme on Sky News between 6:00am and 9:00am on weekdays and 6:00am to 10:00am on weekends. It was first aired in February 1989. Since February 2007, the weekday episodes of the show have been called Sunrise with Eamonn Holmes, as Holmes now presents the show largely on his own, aided with news updates with Charlotte Hawkins. The editions broadcast from Friday to Sunday are branded Sunrise with Stephen Dixon.

History
At its start in February 1989 the programme ran from 5am-9:30am. In 1991 it became one of only two shows across Sky's 20 year history to have its own individual graphics, the other being flagship bulletin Live at Five. These graphics were swiftly withdrawn after viewers and staff alike deemed them too gawdy. The show has used the channel's graphics ever since. It is common however for Sunrise to use a slight variation of some elements, such as in 1997 when Sunrise had its own variation on the then title sequence, and in 2005 when Sunrise used an individual variation of the Sky News globe. During 1995 and 1996, reporters such as Tim Marshall and weather presenter Jo Wheeler became regular stand-ins.

At the channel's relaunch on 24 October 2005, Eamonn Holmes and Lorna Dunkley became the regular presenters of the weekday editions of the show, with Steve Gaisford and Emma Crosby fronting the weekend edition of the programme. Jacquie Beltrao provided sports updates during the week.

In January 2007, Sky News moved to single-headed presentation, with Eamonn Holmes made sole presenter of Sunrise and Lorna Dunkley moved to the channel's weekend coverage. Charlotte Hawkins joined Sunrise to present news summaries, rather than co-anchoring the show. Previously, the Friday editions were co-presented by Mark Longhurst and Emma Crosby, the Saturday editions by Longhurst and Helen Fospero and the Sunday editions by Longhurst and Samantha Simmonds; however, in 2007 Mark Longhurst became the sole presenter. From October 2007 Gillian Joseph provides news summaries in Fridays, with Charlie Thomas continuing to present the channel's sports updates. In 2012, Stephen Dixon became the new Friday - Sunday presenter, with Mark Longhurst transferring over to be the presenter of the Friday - Sunday Evening shift.

Ratings
It has been noted that since Eamonn Holmes started to present the show solo, ratings have increased, as Sky would have hoped when they took him from rivals, GMTV. Ironically, what is now GMTV, was originally going to be called Sunrise. However, Sky objected due to their programme of the same name already existing, and the name of the new ITV Breakfast Channel was changed just before its launch in 1993.

Studio
On Wednesday 5 February 2009 at 6am, Sunrise began presenting from a new "multi-purpose" area of the Sky News Centre, formally known as the "shoebox". This coincides with the 20th anniversary of Sky News and a revamp for the main studio.

From Monday 10 December 2012, Sunrise's studio was refreshed. A new blue lit desk and red sofa were introduced. The programme also received a new logo, although strangely, it only appears on the plasma screen in the studio. No Sunrise logo is seen elsewhere during the programme.

Broadcasts
For a short while at the start of 2007, Sunrise was simulcast on Sky1 Monday – Friday. It was also on Channel 5 in 2003-2006 before Milkshake!.