Good Evening Britain?

The big difference in London is that the commute times are longer than the more rural regions. Thousands of people working in town and commuting to the suburbs and beyond won't get home before 6. 6:30 just gave them an extra potential more audience, though the ratings for regional news in London are low considering the size of the population


Home and Away probably did rate better at 6, but also it would have rated better there than the alternative which they showed at 5:10.


The other regional news scheduling thing I remember is that BBC London, and probably some other regions, used to have a massive audience dip at 6:45 because that's when the local weather forecast was*. People used to tune in just for the weather then turn over, move it to the end and people stayed viewing.

Not just London either, the same can be said of any city nowadays. The amount of traffic at peak times in the North West of England is many many times worse than it was a decade ago. Trying to get between Liverpool and Manchester (and anywhere in between) can be an absolute nightmare most days. There are just too many vehicles on the roads for the existing infrastructure to cope with. Like you say, for that reason alone most people won't see TV until 6.30 ish at the earliest. I hardly ever see the BBC Six - the first opportunity I usually get to watch any news is the ITV 6.30 bulletin or even Channel 4 News at 7pm. The TV schedules that worked in the '80s are no longer relevant to today. News at 5.40 would be completely pointless now for the majority of the population.

Ah, the days of Westcountry Live, the theme tune, news from your local area and Ron the weatherman.

How many regional news programmes had nightly signed news summaries for both national and local news like Westcountry Live did at the end of the hour?

And a long form report (Insight), and nightly sports news. Most regions only do full sports bulletins on a Monday and Friday.

STV, Grampian and Central did.

We were lucky in the southwest to have Westcountry Live and Spotlight back in the day

It's not just a case of getting home either. Myself and Mrs MM both get home at 6pm (which is quite good going by modern standards) but are still way too busy with things to watch anything before 7pm. In fact, typically it's 8:30 at the earliest. (And we have grown up children, so it's nothing to do with them !)

I suspect a major factor with the large regional news viewing figures for March 1 and 2nd, was the captive audience that were trapped at home with nothing to do other than watch the telly !

I know working life and family life has changed since the 6pm news hour all kicked off, and many places actually finish up at 5.30pm rather than 5pm these days making it even less likely you'll be home by 6.

It is, however, borderline impossible to get home in London by 6pm, so I understand why the capital's news show is more showbiz and lifestyle. it does jar somewhat when the same stuff reappears in the late bulletin, however.

Didn't London Tonight move back to 6 circa '96 - with the likes of London Bridge, Videotech and Good Stuff airing at 6:30 until the national news moved to that slot in March '99?

As a kid living in Ealing at the time, I remember After 5 - as you say, it was hosted by Fern and later Caron, and also its theme tune was saxophone-based. However, I don't recall it lasting right up until '99 - I seem to recall H&A moving back to 5:10 beforehand.

Unless I'm very much mistaken (copyright Murray Walker)...

You on the money! After 5 was presented by Mary, then Fern and later Caron and got the axe at the end of 1996.

From january 1997, H&W went back to 5.10, London Tonight was at 6pm and Regional shows at 6.30 Not on Fridays... on Friday at 17.10 it was the "Start of the Weekend" or "up close and personal" then H&W at 6pm and then London Tonight at 18.30. Even Stranger this is when Carlton introduce a Lunchtime 30min Edition of London Today at 12.55....( stayed for a good couple of years( Also at 18.30 was "After the news" Friday practice was stopped by early 1998 and H&W moved back to 17.10

Start of the weekend here: https://youtu.be/BoaklsfaTb0?t=319

What was the production company that made “Start the Weekend” airing as it seemed to do at 5:10 on a Friday?