BBC News: Presenters & Rotas

George only started to appear on BBC World when the news programme "The World" was launched. It was a joint simulcast on BBC World and BBC 4 in the UK, IIRC.

Therafter, his only real main appearances on BBC World were when he started anchoring GMT. (Or when World would occassionally simulcast with News 24 from a disaster or big story location).

Nicholas Witchell: I would actually like to see him behind the newsdesk again. I always thought he was rather good.

Technically it was 2007 he started having regular slots on BBC World News when he started 'World News Today', which was effectively GMT just under a different name.

Yea, you're right actually. My mistake.

Just a few inaccuracies to clear up in what's been discussed today:

1) Stephen Cole has never been a regular network news presenter. He did it once during the 2005 strike, but he was always part of BBC World's team of presenters.

2) George Alagiah most certainly stood in for Sissons and Buerk on both the Nine and Ten during the 1999-2002 period. In fact, he was the regular stand-in for Sissons and Buerk at that time. The likes of Huw and Fiona didn't appear on the Nine/Ten at all until the 2003 revamp.

3) I'm fairly sure George didn't appear on the Six during the 1999-2002 era. He mainly did the One, Nine/Ten and weekends. He left to go to BBC Four News in 2002 (btw, just for accuracy, "The World" didn't exist as such then. From 2002 until 2004 it was just called "BBC Four News" or "BBC World News" on BBC World. By the time it was renamed "The World" in 2004, George had gone back to network news and Kirsty Lang had taken over on BBC4) and was replaced on BBC1 by Darren Jordon, who had been the main deputy on Breakfast from 2000-2002 alongside Sian Williams.

4) Bill Turnbull regularly presented the co-Six during 2003/4, it certainly didn't happen just once or twice. He used to stand in for George, as well as appearing on Breakfast at weekends. Both George and Bill would present the Six with Sophie Raworth, and eventually Natasha Kaplinsky once she left Breakfast. Bill started out his presenting career on News 24, where he used to do overnights and then the afternoon shift with Valerie Sanderson.

5) I too remember Nicholas Witchell standing in on the new-look BBC News at weekends and on the Six and Nine (and possibly Ten) for a couple of years after it launched in May 1999. However, I don't think this was his first time back on the main network bulletins for almost a decade. I recall him presenting weekends and the Nine during the 1990s virtual era, especially towards the end, 1998-ish.

6) On the topic of prior presenting experience, I've a feeling that George might have presented during the flags era News 24, but can't be sure. It's just a distant memory/feeling now. I don't think they'd just have promoted him instantly to network bulletins. Huw, as has been said, did news summaries during the virtual era, as did Fiona Bruce and Sian Williams. Huw also did the One/Six during the virtual era, and Sian did News 24. Fiona I think used to sometimes present on Breakfast News.

It might make it easier to see if I put it like this. This is for the 1999/2000-2003 period.

Breakfast (2000-2003)
Mains: Jeremy Bowen & Sophie Raworth; Dermot Murnaghan & Natasha Kaplinsky
Reliefs: Darren Jordon, Sarah Montague, Sian Williams, Bill Turnbull, Michael Peschardt, Tanya Beckett

One O'Clock News
Main: Anna Ford
Reliefs: George Alagiah, Darren Jordon

Six O'Clock News
Main: Huw Edwards
Reliefs: Fiona Bruce, Sian Williams, Darren Jordon, Nicholas Witchell (occasionally)

Nine/Ten O'Clock News
Mains: Peter Sissons, Michael Buerk
Reliefs: George Alagiah (regular), Nicholas Witchell

Weekends
Sian Williams, George Alagiah, Peter Sissons, Nicholas Witchell, Darren Jordon, Fiona Bruce, Sophie Raworth, Jane Hill, Matthew Amroliwala, Sarah Montague

After the 2003 revamp it becomes a lot more difficult to remember, as News 24 presenters started crossing over and programmes kept being shaken up every couple of years. Suffice it to say the One remained as Anna Ford or Darren Jordon. The Six became George Alagiah & Sophie Raworth, and the Ten was Huw Edwards or Fiona Bruce. But weekends increasingly became unpredictable and so did the weekday programmes eventually.

Nicholas Owen is fantastic. Just shaking his head disapprovingly at Boris Johnson stuck on a zip wire. He needs a more regular slot!

She also had a short spell as the regular Saturday evening presenter after Darren Jordan left (and after she left Breakfast)

I noticed at the end of the weather on the Six that George said to Susan Powell ''Well done Helen''. Anyone else think this sounded a bit patronising? Plus he got her name wrong!

* 1000th post!! *

I think it was meant sincerely as well done in coping with the wind, but I know what you mean.

Ellie Crisell putting in an appearance on the News Channel this afternoon. Quite unusual to see her on there nowadays.

I think George might have gone straight to network bulletins, certainly I remember him being interviewed in the Radio Times not long after he started and he said he was still learning on the job. Fiona sometimes presented the Six O'Clock News in the years before she took over full time, although in the last few years of the double-headed Six they went through dozens of presenters, people like Diana Madill and Jon Sopel would turn up on the odd occasion.

Also as well in the summer of 1997, Huw Edwards and Gavin Esler took it in turns to present Newsnight every day for about six weeks - with all the regular presenters absent - to give them practice before News 24 started.

This is going back a bit but before the 1988 revamp, they also went through umpteen presenters on the Nine O'Clock News while that was double headed, as John Humphrys stopped doing full time newsreading and moved to the Today programme in 1987, then a few months later Julia Somerville moved to ITN, so Martyn Lewis and Nicholas Witchell would alternate on the Nine in addition to their other jobs on the One and Six. Although John Humphrys would still read the news occasionally, I think he was contracted to do X days a year and that carried on for years and years, well into the virtual era. I wonder when he stopped doing it, about 1996?

I think she's good on the NC especially when talking about arts and entertainment news, disagree with her being on the 8pm summary