The ITN Nostalgia Thread

Interesting too that before the 1972 lifting of the restrictions on broadcasting hours which led to the creation of a proper lunchtime news, ITN did produce a short lunchtime news summary on a Saturday in the 1960s to lead into the start of their Saturday afternoon sport and a later afternoon summary on a Sunday. Also on bank holidays ITN always provided a short lunchtime news before the sporting coverage.


BBC News also provided a Lunchtime News summary from 1960 onward - they were always 5 to 10 minutes maximum due to the cheese sparing approach to broadcasting hours set by the Postmaster General back in that era. Very strict limits per day on what "regular" programming both BBC and ITV could air.

Not during the week. Apart from the morning Schools’ output and occasional afternoon racing, most regions didn’t schedule programmes until mid to late afternoon, prior to the autumn of 1972.
The extension of the ITV daytime service from week commencing Monday 16 October 1972 saw the start of First Report at 12:40 and new afternoon series including Emmerdale Farm, Crown Court, General Hospital and Good Afternoon.

Was the regional news on the itv lunchtime news always 3 minutes

I'm struggling to remember any lunchtime regional news on ITV in the 70s and 80s. I don't think there was any 'tight' gap in the network schedule for it, so it probably varied between zero and 20 minutes depending upon the region?

So I wonder when did ITN introduce nationwide news summaries in the mornings and afternoons?

IIRC, it coincided with the launch of the atrium studio and John Suchet at the helm of the EEN. I’m not sure if that was also in or around the launch of a revised ITV Daytime schedule, including the launch of This Morning etc.

As Marky mentioned above, in Scotland, John Suchet would be interviewed by the Scotland Today presenters in Glasgow to establish what stories were coming up later on the 540. That chat was contained within the Lunchtime Scotland Today programme, usually before they recapped the main news again.

Therefore, in Scotland, I don’t think the mid afternoon ITN update was shown, but local News was.

Scotland did receive the mid morning ITN summary which was embodied within This Morning.

People now in 2020 don't realise how strict the government was in allowing broadcasting of regular programming before October 1972.


The Postmaster General was the one who set down the hours, and they were gradually increased. In 1966 for example, it was a 50 hour weekly provision split as 7 hours per day Monday to Friday, with 15 hours split over Sat and Sun at 7.5 hours each.

If the BBC or ITV wanted to air anything else outside of these hours, it had to be "exempted programming" - schools, adult education, Welsh language programming, religious programmes, state occasions and then there was an "outside broadcasting quota" provided, to ensure sporting coverage, and in 1966 it was set at 300 hours per year for both the BBC and ITV, with the quota increased in 1968 to 350 hours and then in 1970 to near 400 hours.

I do know ITV liked adult education, as it filled the gaps between the exempted programming and regular programming. For example in 1970, schools programmes would air on ITV from 11.00am - 12.00pm and 1.40pm - 2.45pm - Thames would start their regular programming at 4.15pm, so to fill the 90 minute gap, adult education was used to ensure a full broadcasting day from 1.40pm to after midnight.

The lunchtime news at 12:30 was good. Would it be a good idea to revert it back or keep it at 1:30?. either way it wouldn’t collide with the bbc news at one

I always felt ITV moving Lunchtime to 1:30 was a mistake, I'm guessing it was to allow Loose Women to follow on from This Morning, which makes sense in a way, but my Grandmother always watched ITN (then ITV) Lunchtime News at 12:30 because it was on first, and while she still occasionally watched BBC News afterwards (she preferred BBC's local news after she moved from Glasgow to Nottingham). After the switch to 1:30, I don't remember her ever watching it again in favour of BBC (or occasionally Five News at 11:30 or whatever time it was on at that point).

I think having the hour long Lunchtime News was a mistake, I watched it fairly often during the summer holiday but it felt bloated and drawn out. I vaguely remember they had a phone in at some point which seemed weird for a news bulletin.

Yes, nobody is getting nostalgic for The Pulse.

From 14 October 1974, ITV introduced a lunchtime local opt from 13:20 to 13:30 (between First Report and Emmerdale Farm/Crown Court etc) where most regional companies scheduled a short news bulletin of around 5 minutes. In some regions, these bulletins were produced through the Presentation control room, involving the Transmission Controllers and announcers as well as the local newsroom team.

Are you sure it wasn't earlier than that, James? This page has some examples of mid-morning bulletins from 1988/89: https://www.tvark.org/?page=1931. And this video suggests the mid-afternoon bulletin existed by 1990:



Were these still regional at that point, then?