The Nine (BBC Scotland)
BBC Scotland news programme From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nine (and The Seven) was a Scottish television news programme produced by BBC Scotland for the BBC Scotland channel, covering Scottish, UK and international news. From February 2019 to December 2024, it was broadcast weekdays at 9:00 pm as The Nine and weekends at 7:00 pm as The Seven.
| The Nine | |
|---|---|
| |
| Also known as | The Seven (Fridays, weekends, and bank holidays) |
| Country of origin | Scotland |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 or 30 minutes (weekdays), 15 minutes (weekends) |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Scotland |
| Release | 25 February 2019 – 19 December 2024 |
Broadcast
Produced by BBC News Scotland, the 60-minute programme was broadcast on BBC Scotland at 9:00 p.m. from Monday to Thursday nights.
On Fridays, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, a shortened edition is broadcast at 7:00 p.m. (half an hour on Fridays and 15 minutes on Saturdays & Sundays), likewise retitled The Seven.
History
Summarize
Perspective
"Scottish Six" and inception
Plans for a "Scottish Six", a news programme which would see BBC Reporting Scotland and Scotland's airing of BBC News at Six be scrapped in favour of an hour-long Scottish news programme, was proposed as part of trials at BBC Pacific Quay in 2017. Despite there being a significant amount of support in having an hour-long news programme, plans for a "Scottish Six" news programme were scrapped in favour of a news programme which would be aired at a 9:00 pm time slot. STV News had tested the format on their STV2 channel with STV News Tonight, which began airing in April 2017 and would later be axed in 2018 as part of the channel's closure.[1][2][3]
Following the scrapped proposal for a "Scottish Six" news programme, BBC Scotland announced in February 2017, plans to have the same format proposed be used for a news programme that would air at 9:00 pm on a brand new BBC Scotland TV channel that was launched in February 2019.
In November 2018, BBC Scotland announced details of the programme, including the identity of the show and the presenters.[4] The first episode of The Nine aired on 25 February 2019, a day after the launch of the BBC Scotland channel.
Cancellation and proposed cutbacks
In February 2024, BBC Scotland announced it may axe The Nine, along with weekly review programme Seven Days and the showbiz news programme The Edit as part of cutbacks to the channel's news output.[5] This was approved by broadcast regulator Ofcom in August 2024[6] and confirmed by the corporation in December 2024.[7]
These changes took place after low viewing figures attracted from BBC Scotland’s news output had been the subject of frequent criticism. According to newspaper reports in January 2024, one edition of The Nine attracted an audience of 1,700 viewers while an edition of The Seven was watched by just 200 viewers.[8] On the day before the programme's axing was announced, The Nine was watched by 6,000 viewers, officially recording a zero share of viewing.[9]
Other investments made by BBC Scotland, using the money saved by cutting The Nine, include the expansion of the Debate Night series, increased investment in online news and the launch of a new topical current affairs visualised podcast series called Scotcast.[8][7]
The Nine was replaced with a new half-hour news programme called Reporting Scotland: News at Seven. It began airing on BBC Scotland directly after its sister programme Reporting Scotland on BBC One Scotland[8] from 6 January 2025.[10]
Presenters
The programme had a fifteen-strong team of presenters and reporters, who presented Scottish, UK, and international news from a Scottish perspective. It originally was presented by Rebecca Curran and Martin Geissler from Monday to Thursday[11] and Laura Miller and John Beattie on Fridays. Weekends were hosted by the Reporting Scotland team. Amy Irons and her brother Lewis Irons were the main sports presenters since 2022, with original sport news presenter Laura McGhie currently presenting on the BBC News and World News channels.
BBC Scotland team
| Tenure | Presenter | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2021–2024 | Laura Maciver | Main presenter (Monday–Wednesday) |
| Graham Stewart | Rotational presenters (Monday-Friday) and Relief (Monday–Friday) | |
| 2019–2024 | Laura Goodwin |
| Tenure | Presenter | Position | Programme |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019–2024 | David Farrell | Main presenter | The Edit |
| Fiona Stalker | Seven Days | ||
| 2021–2024 | The Sunday Show | ||
| Martin Geissler |
| Tenure | Presenter | Position | Other roles | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–2024 | Amy Irons | Sports Presenters | Former presenter of The Edit | |
| 2019–2024 | Laura McGhie | BBC Radio 5Live and BBC Sport presenter | Currently on maternity leave | |
| 2021–2024 | David Wallace Lockhart | Political Correspondent | Relief Presenter | |
| Anne McAlpine | Relief rotating Presenters (Monday-Sunday) | Reporting Scotland presenters | ||
| Sarah McMullan | ||||
| Andrew Black | ||||
| 2022–2024 | Louise Cowie | |||
| 2023–2024 | Hope Webb | |||
| 2019-2021 | Rebecca Curran | Former Presenters | Aberdeen news reporter for Reporting Scotland | |
| 2019-2022 | Martin Geissler | The Sunday Show and Good Morning Scotland presenter | ||
| 2022-2023 | Gary Robertson | Good Morning Scotland presenter | ||
| 2019-2023 | John Beattie | BBC Radio Scotland host and Reporting Scotland presenter | ||
| 2019-2024 | Nick Sheridan[12] | Seven Days presenter (2019–2024) | ||
| 2019-2024 | Laura Miller | BBC Reporting Scotland presenter | ||
| 2024 | Julia MacFarlane | Relief presenter | Freelance journalist at BBC Scotland[13] |
References
External links
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