Peter Sissons has died.

From ....

Paul on the passing of childhood friend and broadcast journalist Peter Sissons: https://t.co/9mB45Lv0vS pic.twitter.com/WHsgYEwdf8

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) October 2, 2019

Another memorable bulletin from the day Diana Princess of Wales died:

He also played the newsreader in Spice World: The Movie.

And of course, who can forget the time he was Mr. Blobby?

A great report during the Ten which covered the many big news stories he covered.

Even ended with a near full playout of the 93-99 Nine O' Clock Closing theme.

Am i correct in saying that Sissons never presented any weekend bulletins or the Nine during the 88-93 period?

I think you are right, sticking to the six only until he swapped with Martyn Lewis.

on Afternoon Live today Simon McCoy interviewed Huw Edwards who confirmed Peter liked a long lunch with several bottles of wine where he would quite often comment on certain newsreaders whom he did not think where up to the task. Is it just me that is intrigued by who they may be? 😂

C4 News obit VT.

An utterly splendid newscaster and interviewer. Very saddened to have heard the news of Peter’s passing. Old school and one of a kind.

I recall many of his broadcasts. But there is one particular sign-off of his that I’ll never forget, punctuated with pauses in a way that only Sissons could do. It was on one particular Friday evening, with a huge storm imminently coming to batter the UK over the weekend. (Emphasis and pauses where indicated):

“And THATS the Six O’clock News this Friday evening. From Moira Stuart AND from me........batten....down....the....hatches.....” - stares long and deeply into the camera, well after the shot cut away to a wide shot.

RIP Peter.

Good piece, that. Cough.

He talks about this at great length in his autobiography, about how the original set was horrible - because of the beige carpet everywhere and the world map, it was likened to "the international headquarters of Allied Carpets" - and the first few months were a disaster.

As mentioned, in those days C4 was very much ITV2 and hence Channel 4 News would be plugged at the end of the News at 5.45 and Channel 4 News would plug News at Ten. He also says that David Nicholas at ITN was so pleased to have landed the C4 News contract that he said they'd get Alastair Burnet to present it as their number one anchor, and indeed he did a pilot. But he didn't like it and C4 didn't want him because he was so associated with ITV, and apparently Burnet studiously ignored C4 News for the rest of his time at ITN.

He also says that, a year or so before he moved to the Beeb, John Birt approached him and offered him the job of BBC Political Editor, but this would be a much expanded role that not only included on-screen work but also the role of running the Beeb's entire political operation, including hiring and firing. Sissions thought that sounded a hideous job with far too much responsibility and turned it down - as presumably did everyone else, given that role never happened.

When he did move it was very much for Question Time first and the news second, they offered him a choice of bulletins and he opted for the Six. But it was a very rancorous move from C4 who refused to accept his resignation and intended to send him on gardening leave for months and months, and it took endless legal wrangling to sort it out.



Indeed, Lewis and Buerk were the Nine O'Clock News presenters in that period, a role that also extended to reading the main news at the weekend.

I've said this before, and it is just parroting from his book, but apparently Lewis and Buerk didn't get on, partly because they were required to sort out the rota themselves - they didn't mind what nights they did it, as long as one of them did it - and Buerk was convinced that Lewis was diving in early and booking loads of holiday in advance so Beurk didn't get any choice. He got on better with Sissons, who was more accommodating, and indeed Sissons says that at one point he read the news for 21 consecutive days.