- BBC Points West
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BBC Points West
Programme titlesFormat Regional news Presented by Chris Vacher
Alex Lovell (Main anchors)Production Producer(s) BBC West Running time Main bulletin:
30 minutesBroadcast Original channel BBC One West Original run 1957 – present BBC Points West (known as News West from June 1991 until May 2000) is the BBC's regional news programme for the West of England, covering Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Produced by BBC West, the programme is produced from the BBC Broadcasting Centre at Whiteladies Road, Bristol with reporters also based at newsrooms in Bath, Taunton, Swindon and Gloucester. The main presenters are Chris Vacher, Alex Lovell, David Garmston and Amanda Parr.
The programme can be watched in any part of the UK via Sky Digital channel 986 and Freesat channel 965 (101 in the West itself). As it is free-to-air, it is also available throughout Europe via a digital satellite system pointed at Astra 2D.The latest edition can be watched again on the Points West website or on BBC iPlayer.
Contents
History
Regional television news in the West of England began in September 1957 with the start of daily short bulletins. Around this time, news bulletins for the West shared a 5-10 minute timeslot with Welsh news bulletins as the Wenvoe transmitter on the western outskirts of Cardiff was serving viewers in both south Wales and the Westcountry. The West's regional bulletins were relaunched in 1962 as Points West but still had to share the new 25-minute timeslot with Wales Today.
The launch of a dedicated BBC Wales television station in February 1964 allowed Points West to become a full-length regional news programme broadcast only to the Westcountry. Between 1991 and 2000, the programme was known as BBC News West.
The team
Currently, the Points West on-air team consists of the following:
Main presenters
- David Garmston (stand-in, also presents The Politics Show West)
- Amanda Parr (stand-in)
Sports presenters
- David Passmore (Sports Editor)
- Alistair Durden
Weather presenters
- Jemma Cooper
Other presenters
- Tony Arnese
- Sally Challoner
- Seb Choudhury
- Will Glennon
- Fiona Lamdin
- Imogen Sellers
- Madeleine Ware
- Lizzie Way
BSL presenters
- Lorna Allsop (lunchtime bulletin)
- Linda Day (lunchtime bulletin)
Reporters
District correspondents
Bristol
- Scott Ellis
- John Maguire
Somerset (Taunton/Bath)
- Clinton Rogers (Taunton)
- Ali Vowles (Bath)
- Lizzie Way (Bath)
Gloucestershire (Gloucester)
- Steve Knibbs
Wiltshire (Swindon)
- TBC
Specialist correspondents
- Steve Brodie (Home Affairs)
- Matthew Hill (Health)
- Dave Harvey (Business)
General reporter
- Andrew Plant (also presenter)
Producers
- Sally Challoner (Tuesday)
- Jude Hollingsworth (Monday/Thursday)
- Andrew Plant (Weekend bulletins)
- Dawn Trevett (Wednesday/Friday)
Past presenters
- Michael Buerk
- Armine Sandford
- Andrew Harvey
- Vivien Creegor (formerly of Sky News)
- Graham Purches (later joined HTV News West)
- Gerald Haycock
- Sue Carpenter (later joined ITN News)
- Brian Roberts
- Mark Puckle
- Lucy Artus
- Annie McKie (now BBC Radio 4 newsreader/continuity announcer)
- Beverley Thompson
- Sheila Young
- Sandi Marshall
- Richard Angwin (now based in Doha as Al Jazeera weather presenter)
- Pete Baker
- Rachel Hicks
- Mike Dornan
- Roy Sheppard
- Tony Target (weatherman)
- Susan Osman
- Nigel Turner (relief sports presenter)(now Producer/Presenter for www.hattonsports.tv)
- Saima Morsin
- Maurice Flynn (now presenting for East Midlands Today)
- Katharine Carpenter (now reporting and presenting for BBC London)
- Jeremy Carrad
- Amanda Theunissen
- John Norman
- Gwyn Richards
- Jon Kay (now BBC National West of England Correspondent)
See also
External links
BBC Nations & Regions Television News English regions Points WestNations Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Categories:- BBC Regional News programmes
- 1950s British television series
- 1960s British television series
- 1970s British television series
- 1980s British television series
- 1990s British television series
- 2000s British television series
- 2010s British television series
- 1957 British television programme debuts
- BBC television programme stubs
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