Making the News at Ten: Behind the Scenes of ITN's Flagship Programme (1983)

[@skeelo69]

News at Ten was the one time before social media when families gathered around the one TV in the living room to be informed of UK news and beyond...it also signalled for me when I was a young lad when 10:30 pm arrived......bed time😢 .... and finally.....ITN.....you legends....you certainly delivered....thank you 👍👍👍

[@johnking5174]

For anyone who would be interested, in 1983 ITN were based in Well Stree, London & operated two television studios. Studio 1 was their largest studio at 2,000 Sq Ft & was home to News at One, News at 5.45 & News at Ten, along with weekend news. Studio 2 was their smaller studio at 700 Sq Ft & was used by Channel 4 News & other news programmes such as summaries.

[@ajs41]

Interesting information, thanks. I'd always wondered where they were based.

[@johnnyballenatl]

But by 1991 (and with Sky News just two years old), ITN had already outgrew their Wells Street HQ and would gradually move to their current (and rather spacious) digs at 200 Gray’s Inn Road.

[@johnking5174]

@@johnnyballenatl That is right, but there was a long period of 22 years where they remained at Wells St. ITN at Grays Inn Road at the start was good. Studios 1 and 2 their largest studios are based in the basement, which are still used today. Studio 3 is based in the main newsroom floor, with a new studio based in the other newsroom floor and called Studio 4 for the launch of the new look News at Ten in November 1992. Studio 5 opened in 1997 to house 5 News and Studio 6 opened in 1999 as the new home of Channel 4 News. Today only Studios 1, 2 and 6 remain, with a very small newsroom based studio.

[@johnnyballenatl]

@@johnking5174 And by the time ITN settled in at Gray’s Inn Road, NBC News would replace ABC as their new U.S. partners, which lasted until the Sky UK properties - including Sky News - were sold to Comcast…who happens to own NBCUniversal!!!

[@dean200993]

This is great archive material from ITN. More please.

[@josephd.2725]

I grew up with the iconic News at Ten with its thunderous intro music and bong headlines. It's so classic, and this behind the scenes look is so amazing. This is something I've always wondered about, and I honestly don't know how they do it, keeping on top of, and producing all that news every single day. It's such hard work! And it looked even more tedious back then with the oldschool technology at their hands. Plus they always pull it off so perfectly in the eyes of the viewer; any hick-ups come across as minor and very few and far between considering there is so much room for error amidst all that "chaos" in the control room and studio. Much respect!

[@Sheffield_Steve]

The outro also sounded great too. 👍

[@Sheffield_Steve]

Used to love the theme to both the News At One and 545. 👍

[@josephd.2725]

@@Sheffield_Steve The music for the 545 news reminded me of a yellow Austin Allegro. Don't ask me to explain that one!

[@josephd.2725]

Alastair Burnett, Sandy Gall, Martyn Lewis are ITN legends, but so is Trevor McDonald. I also loved the revamped News at Ten intro in 1992-93 with the toned down theme music with some re-imagined run-offs and drums... and the very formal introduction after the bird's eye view hovered over Big Ben at an angle, switching over to the bird's eye view of the ITN headquarters: "From the headquarters of ITN, News at Ten with Trevor McDonald". Then they'd fly through the offices. It's so absolutely classic and modern, and holds its own 30 years later.

[@johnking5174]

In 1983, the ITN News on ITV each weekday were News at One (1pm to 1.20pm), News at 5.45 (5.45pm - 6.00pm) & News at Ten (10.00pm - 10.30pm). On Saturdays & Sundays ITN provided a 5 min lunchtime news summary, a 10 min early evening news & a 15 min main evening news programme.

[@johnking5174]

At 12:05 - pause here and you catch a glimpse of the News at One backdrop over on the right hand side of the News at Ten set - you can just make out the world backdrop that was used by News at One in 1983. The news desk seen here for News at Ten would simply be shifted to that part of the studio and used for the News at One in front of that backdrop.

[@johnking5174]

11:02 - Here is Studio 1 at ITN headquarters at Wells Street - this studio was fairly small, at 2,000 Sq Ft - however it was the same size as the BBC's main news studio N2 at BBC Television Centre, except unlike the BBC, ITN really only had one main studio, wheras the BBC had two.

[@johnking5174]

ITN back in the 70s and 80s also had a special deal with Ireland's RTE - a lot of world news and UK news came from ITN and was shown on RTE News, especially their "Newsnight" which for a decade from 1978 would air on their second channel RTE 2 as their last main programme of the night, usually around 11.15pm.

[@davidfurness1]

IIRC the term EJ was "Electronic Journalist" (aka ENG). Great to see the ACR in use, too.

[@darren2514fv]

The night covered here is 7th January 1983 when Sandy Gall and Martyn Lewis were the presenters

[@ajs41]

Interesting to see the latest 1982 technology in action. (I know this is 1983, but since it's from 7th January it's safe to assume it wouldn't have changed in that short period of time). Also, within about 4 or 5 years of this they would have stopped using typewriters. It was probably computers only by about 1988.

[@skeelo69]

I was watching ITN news at 5:45 when I found out about the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion 😢😢😢

[@jamesnicholson2503]

Is the News at 545 in the same studio? And the women counting down to going on air,looks young,is she still working for ITN?? 2:04

[@beausexon7546]

I trust ITN more than the BBC.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

You can see the back drop for the News at one,at 1205 in the back ground,at the side of Sandy Cole.

[@Crazy1Clive]

Gall, not Cole.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

I,only thought there was one main ITN news studio in Wells Street??

[@johnking5174]

There was two studios - Studio 1 was 2,000 Sq Ft in space and had News at One, News at 5.45 and News at Ten in it. However sometimes News at 5.45 used the smaller Studio 2.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

@@johnking5174 Tidy how do you know all this??

[@johnking5174]

@@jamesnicholson2503 At university, as part of my history degree, we did studies in "media history" for a year, and I got to research and speak to BBC, ITV, ITN people and more for my degree.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

Very interesting,I always wanted to know,how ITN behind the scenes work.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

I,thought there was only one main ITN Studio???

[@jamesnicholson2503]

Is the News at One from the same studio???? Does the News At 545 come form it to??

[@johnking5174]

In 1983, ITN had only two television studios at their Wells Street HQ, Studio 1 was where News at One, News at 5.45 and News at Ten were broadcast from. This was a 2,000 Sq Ft studio, with room for separate desk areas. Studio 2 was their 700 Sq Ft second studio, Channel 4 News used it along with short news summaries and was also hired out to outside productions when required.

[@johnking5174]

Hi James, At 12:05 - pause here and you catch a glimpse of the News at One backdrop over on the right hand side of the News at Ten set - you can just make out the world backdrop that was used by News at One in 1983. The news desk seen here for News at Ten would simply be shifted to that part of the studio and used for the News at One in front of that backdrop.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

@@johnking5174 Ok, Thank you,il go on KZbin on Friday night,and watch it again at 1205,thanks again.👍👍

[@jamesnicholson2503]

That Miss Diana Jones,how old is she by now?? And the young women with the hat on counting down the seconds??

[@jamesnicholson2503]

How do they get a close up of Big Ben's clock faces???

[@johnking5174]

A simple zoom shot done by the cameraman. Very simple process.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

@@johnking5174 ITN camera man,stands say on Westminster bridge,points up the one face,and couple of seconds its done yes??

[@johnking5174]

@@jamesnicholson2503 Yes, when News at Ten got a new intro look, this is what was done. I know this from speaking with some former ITN workers years ago when I was in university. One told me about the disaster of the 1992 new look. They hired a balloon to float above Houses of Parliament to get the new shots of Big Ben. The wind was more stronger than they expected, and he said one of the guide ropes snapped off, and scraped along the wall of the parliament building. In fact one rope nearly got stuck into the building, and if there had have been a strong gust of wind, then a bit of parliament would have been damaged.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

@@johnking5174 Its a wonder police met allowed that,so in 92,thats why the shots of Big Ben was graphically done? Digitalis in other words ,and the shot of Big Ben's face in 85 with the scaffolding all around it??

[@jamesnicholson2503]

@@johnking5174 the maintenance people.And the government would have loved the fact of repairing stone work,what side was that? Right by the Thames by the bridge right on the roof hoovering by or in line with the clock tower? I can't see directly over the Thames right by where the MP's do sit outside? And river police wouldn't have been to happy, imagine falling out of that balloon,ether hit water,or land smash on top of parliaments roof,that would have been disastrous.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

Who composed the theme music for ITN News at Ten??

[@anthonyperkins7556]

Johnny Pearson did, it was actually a piece of production music from a KPM album 20th Century Portrait called "The Awakening". I didn't know it was a complete piece of music till I found out about it, and you can find it here on KZbin.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

@@anthonyperkins7556 Thank you,but i did find it and listen to it,it was nothing like the News At Ten theme,and i've always wondered how the camera gets so close up to Big Ben's faces???

[@jamesnicholson2503]

@@anthonyperkins7556 And the theme music to the News At One,with that turn world glop,i think that is great,and the credits showing the world going around in a circle going up and down the TV.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

@@anthonyperkins7556 Just wondering,when the News At Ten tilts was starting,how do they get such a close up of big ben's clock faces????

[@anthonyperkins7556]

​@@jamesnicholson2503ITN only actually used three sections of The Awakening to create the theme tune to the programme.

[@anthonyperkins7556]

Old school proper NaT

[@johnking5174]

The 1992 relaunch of News at Ten was where the rot started to set in, as they became a lot more American in style, with the newscaster now referred to as news anchor as in USA along with the first voice over intro on News at Ten

[@jamesnicholson2503]

I,was wondering if Diane edward Jones still alive??

[@johnking5174]

11:20 - Ear pieces for news readers connecting them to the production gallery was rather new by the 1980s. Before this, news readers had to rely on a telephone on their news desk which connected them to the production gallery, as well as the production team on the studio floor.

[@mbvideoselection]

These days they try and cram the whole story into each "bong". No 9 word, 3 second limit.

[@jamesnicholson2503]

It's not ease,all this in 3 hours ' 7,and by 10pm.