ITV News at 6:30

The ITV News at 6:30 is the evening news bulletin on the British television network ITV. It is produced by ITN.

The 30-minute programme, presented by Mary Nightingale and Alastair Stewart covers British national and international news stories and broadcasts at 6:30pm from Monday to Friday. In the event of a major news story, one of the programme's presenters will front the first ten to fifteen minutes of the programme from the scene of the story. The other newscaster will remain in the studio and read the day's other news.

On Bank Holidays, the main evening bulletin usually airs at either 6:15pm or 6:45pm, running for 15 minutes.

History
When ITN was formed on 22 September 1955, there were initially evening news bulletins on the ITV network. Originally ITN News at 5:50 broadcast was screened in the evening, presented by Gordon Honeycombe; this simple bulletin made use of a light blue background with a single camera, and was intended as a round-up of the day's headlines and looking at stories to be covered in more length by that evening's edition of News at Ten.

This changed On Monday 30th August 1976 with a new longer bulletin News at 545. This was in conjunction with ITV restrictions on its broadcast hours being removed by the government, which allowed ITV to extend its operational hours and introduced of a daytime television schedule; three weeks later on 16 October. The 545 marked a major departure in presentational style from the ITN News that had preceded it. Initially, the bulletins were broadcast from the Police Five studio, which enabled the producers to make extensive use of chromakey to display images behind the newscaster, several studio cameras, interviews with correspondents in the studio and on a TV monitor, and wide screen shots of the studio set at the beginning and end of the programme, and when handing over to correspondents.

Alastair Burnet was the original host of the News at 545. Michael Nicholson presented the bulletin on Fridays, and was also a relief presenter. Immediately after the visual 'roll' and electronic audio at the beginning, the announcer intoned in a hushed tone: "The news at 5:45, with Alastair Burnett/Michael Nicholson". Other relief newscasters in the late 1970s included Leonard Parkin, who at the time also regularly hosted the News at One, and Martyn Lewis. In March 1980, when Burnett departed the 545 to present News at Ten, Nicholson replaced him as main anchor, with Carol Barnes taking over as relief presenter. In September 1986, Nicholson left the 545 to return to war reporting, and was replaced by Alastair Stewart.

In April 1988 the News at 545 underwent some cosmetic changes, with the visual 'roll' logo and electronic audio being dropped in favour of a new computer-generated opening sequence and a more contemporary theme tune; the studio images were still inlaid using chromakey, although these were now also generated by computer. The programme was moved to the main newsroom within the ITN headquarters building, and full-length reports were now featured as part of the programme. ITN dispensed with the "main" presenter and relief host format, and instead a "team" of newscasters - Alastair Stewart, Fiona Armstrong, Nicholas Owen, Trevor McDonald and Carol Barnes - began presenting the show on a "rotation" basis. ON 13 February 1989, the introduction of a national weather forecast at the end of the programme led to the bulletin's timeslot starting earlier at 5:40pm, being extended in length and the title being changed to News at 540.

Due to the Gulf Crisis of 1991, ITN were temporarily granted a full half-hour slot each evening; the continual change of time (and length) of the bulletin around this time led to the News at 540 being known simply as the ITN News, although the theme tune and set stayed the same with the 540 logo removed from the titles until the bulletin returned to the 5:40pm after the Gulf War ending.

By March 1992, the 540 was dropped, and re-launched as the ITN Early Evening News, though the bulletin remained at 5:40pm and kept the Early Evening News name. The "team" of presenters was scrapped, and John Suchet took over as the programme's main newscaster until the Early Evening News was axed on 5 March 1999.

The 8 March 1999 saw major changes to the scheduling of news programmes on ITV. ITN's Early Evening News programme was moved from 5:40pm to 6:30pm, was renamed the ITV Evening News and was extended to become a 30 minute programme. The bulletin was to become the channels flagship news programme as News at Ten was also axed at this time. Initially, the programme was anchored by Trevor McDonald. At the time the axing of News at Ten caused outcry from politicians and the general public and ratings for ITV news programmes fell. The following year McDonald left to present the short-lived ITV News at Ten. Following McDonald's departure from the ITV Evening News on 22 January 2001, Dermot Murnaghan and Mary Nightingale became the programme's main newscasters. Mark Austin replaced Murnaghan following the latter presenter's defection to BBC News in 2002. The period from 1999 to 2001 also saw the gradual removal of the ITN brand from ITV news programmes, initially from the programme titles in 1999 and from reporter checks and voiceovers in late 2001.

In August 2009, it was announced that after 16 years co-hosting London Tonight, Alastair Stewart was to leave the regional news programme to become main co-anchor of the ITV Evening News. Mark Austin, as the channel's lead news anchor, co-presents the ITV News at Ten but continues as a stand-in anchor for the 6.30pm bulletin.

In September 2011, it was announced that ITV is to pilot a new hour-long 6pm news programme that integrates its early evening regional and national news bulletins. It will also be in direct competition with the BBC News at Six. But this is only a pilot and if it proves to be unsuccessful the news at 6.30 will be re-introduced to the ITV schedules. No date has yet been set for the pilot too air.

Former newscasters

 * Fiona Armstrong - presenter, 1985–1989
 * Carol Barnes - relief presenter, 1982–1994
 * Felicity Barr - relief presenter, 2001–2005
 * Sue Carpenter - relief presenter, 1990
 * Andrea Catherwood - relief presenter, 2003–2006
 * Katie Derham - relief presenter, 2002–2010
 * Shiulie Ghosh - relief presenter, 1998–2006
 * Trevor McDonald - relief presenter, 1983–2001
 * Lucy Meacock - relief presenter, 2007–2009


 * Dermot Murnaghan - relief presenter, 1989–2002
 * Bill Neely - relief presenter, 2006–2008
 * Michael Nicholson - presenter, 1976–1986
 * Lucy Owen - relief presenter, 2004–2006
 * Nicholas Owen - relief presenter, 1990–2007
 * Leonard Parkin - relief presenter, 1976–1987
 * John Suchet - presenter, 1991–1999
 * Geraint Vincent - relief presenter, 2006–2009
 * Kirsty Young - presenter, 2000–2002

Guest presenters
Between 19 September and 23 September 2005, former ITN newscasters returned to present the ITV Evening News alongside either Mark Austin or Mary Nightingale as part of ITV and ITN's 50th birthday celebrations:
 * Julia Somerville - presenter of News at One and News at Ten, 1987–2001
 * Martyn Lewis - presenter of ITN News at 545 and News at Ten, 1976–1986
 * Selina Scott - presenter of News at Ten, 1977–1982
 * Gordon Honeycombe - presenter of ITN bulletins, 1965–1977
 * Anna Ford - presenter of News at Ten, 1975–1981