BBC News - Virtual Era

I noticed some off-topic discussion going on in a thread in the TV Home Forum about the BBC Six O'Clock News during the 1990s, and rather than drag up that thread, I thought I'd create one here.

The discussion was about how there was always a lead presenter and a second presenter on the Six O'Clock News and the way the second presenter would sit there like a lemon until after the first report. I only have a vague memory of the Virtual Era so I wanted to ask if anyone can remember if there were some presenters who were always the main presenter on the Six and if others were always the second presenter? It seems a bit of a strange way of doing it. Why not just have them as equal co-presenters?

Well I think Anna Ford was THE main presenter of the six o'clock news during that era.

The main presenter would normally sit on the left. Anna was almost always the main presenter if she was doing the bulletin, as was Martyn Lewis. Jill Dando, Andrew Harvey and occasionally Huw Edwards and Moira Stuart were normally the secondary presenters. I think Jennie Bond would alternate, but if she was doing it with Anna, then she would be the secondary presenter.

IIRC, John Tusa and Edward Sturton, as single on-screen presenters, used to present the 1 o'clock news more often than anyone else.

I don't ever recall two newscasters on the One.

The still to come part at 18:15, unlike the main headlines, was equally shared by both presenters.

Six o'clock news - 6:15

True. Jennie Bond was also the second presenter if on with Martyn Lewis too but would be main presenter if presenting with Moira or Jill Dando.

Thanks for your replies, guys. So Anna Ford and Martyn Lewis could be said to be the main presenters while Moira Stuart, Jennie Bond, Jill Dando, Andrew Harvey were second presenters. I seem to recall Justin Webb doing the Six - was he a main or second?

Thanks for that clip, Joe. So it seems they shared the half-way promo. I must say that the music they used for that sequence was excellent. What BBC News uses now seems poor compared to that.

I downloaded a clip of the closing of the Six from The TV Room. It was presented by Martyn Lewis and Huw Edwards but Martyn did all the closing headlines and Huw was reduced to saying half of the goodbye.

I've a feeling that Justin was occasionally the lead anchor, when Anna of Martin weren't on.

And wasn't Justin the main anchor on the One when Ed Stourton left for 'Today' in early '99, just before the relaunch?

Not the virtual era I know, but I certainly remember that Sue Lawley was definitely number one to Nick Witchell's number two in their era. She always sat to his right and always got the lead headline.

There was reputedly a dispute between Martyn Lewis and Anna Ford over who should be the lead anchor. The result was that the two did not appear together.

John Humphries also made a return round about this time for a few months. This was in addition to Today and On The Record.