ITV News

I've a bit of a soft spot for the car park set as it did hark back to the greys and yellows of the ITN branding of the 80s, plus it was so different and unashamedly virtual, and I like that they introduced a completely new theme tune whilst retaining the hook of the original. It wasn't without it's faults but I loved the ambition of it and I think they pretty much kept everything in place throughout it's run, including those ridiculous opening shots with one presenter up close.

2006-2008 was the low point of ITV News for me - I hated the tweaks "Theatre of News" and just didn't think the rectangular atrium worked well in a round virtual studio. The intro was weaker than what it replaced, and then they just started tinkering with things and it all began to fall apart. That said though the London backdrop was amazing and had they put a bit more effort in to freshening things up when they switched all bulletins to that, using the News at Ten graphics as inspiration, it would have tied it all together nicely.


I think now we all agree the 1995 generic look was superb, but at the time I think I found it a bit boring. It has aged really well though and probably the best they've ever incorporated Big Ben into the look, for both ITN/ITV News in general and for News at Ten.

Probably becaus of what age I was, but I have a soft spot for the Weekend/Morning News look of the late 80s, with those blue and purple virtual backdrops. The 1995 look was also good, and had a nice degree of simplicity about it, which also played into my liking the original ITN News Channel look from 2000. The original "Theatre Of News" from 2004 managed to work well for both the channel and the main bulletins. Don't really feel any look since could actually top those, though the current virtual studio setup is pretty good.

Have they recently updated the voiceovers? They’ve started introducing it as “the ITV Lunchtime News”, I’m sure it was just ITV News previously.

It's been "The ITV Lunchtime News" for a good while now.

Pretty sure it came in at the same time The Evening News went single headed.

I’d say it’s been about four years.

Pretty much spot-on - 2015 was when they reintroduced "Lunchtime" and "Evening". It was also the point at which they adopted the stupid "ITV........News at Ten" VOs they still use. I hate that - it sounds ridiculous having a gap like that. It should either be "ITV News at Ten" or simply "News at Ten".

It's better than the gap they had during the carpark era: "This is the ITV News........................at Ten."

You see to me that sounded better - it was what it said on the tin - the ITV News that was on a 10pm. Whereas the current VO doesn't make sense. Maybe it's the way Gayanne says it, but it sounds like "this is ITV. News at Ten." It doesn't flow properly, nor does it make grammatical sense.

Yes, sounded like they were checking their watch.

Haha yes it did sound a bit like that. I think the only period they actually nailed it was the 2001-2004 incarnation of NAT. It was simply "The ITV News at Ten" which sounded much better. These days they are too concerned about brand identity - is it "ITV News" or "News at Ten". They don't seem to be able to make their minds up. Funnily enough, they don't seem to have a problem with either the Lunchtime or Evening News - those VOs are fine - no gaps anywhere!

It was about the only thing nailed about that particular version of News at Ten, the one which, as I think has been pointed out here very recently, you never quite knew when it would be on. (Add to that the very American style presentation was probably the worst seen from ITV News at any point over the past 25 years, including the yellow and black monstrosity).

Replacing News at Ten with Good Evening Britain would be a nice thing. Something completely different to the BBC News at Ten, in a format similar to the morning version. Make it an hour long, get two short regional bulletins, more interviews with newsmakers and maybe even time for a competition.