BBC Look North (Yorkshire and North Midlands)

BBC Look North is the BBC's regional television news service for West, South and North Yorkshire and northern parts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The service is produced and broadcast from the BBC Broadcasting Centre at St. Peter's Square in Leeds with district newsrooms based in Bradford, Sheffield and York.

Look North can be watched in any part of the UK (and Europe) from Astra 2E on Freesat channel 966 and Sky channel 956. The latest edition of Look North is also available to watch on the BBC iPlayer.

Coverage area

The Leeds programme covers the editorial areas of Radio Leeds and Radio Sheffield. Due to the size of North Yorkshire, the listenership of Radio York is covered by the geographically multitudinous Look North programmes from Leeds and Newcastle.

Many homes in southern areas of North Yorkshire such as Selby and York have their aerials directed at Emley Moor, meaning they receive the Leeds edition of Look North. In addition, central and southern parts of the Yorkshire Dales receive the Leeds edition of Look North through various relay transmitters. The western Dales, around Settle and Ribblesdale, receive BBC North West from the Winter Hill transmitter in Lancashire. The West Craven area of Lancashire, including Barnoldswick and Earby (historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire), receive the Leeds edition of Look North from the Skipton relay transmitter.

Areas further north such as Wensleydale and some parts of the North York Moors can get a better signal from the Bilsdale transmitter meaning they receive the Newcastle edition of Look North. Most viewers in Scarborough and Filey receive the Leeds edition from a relay transmitter at Oliver's Mount and in some cases, the Hull edition for East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

For viewers on Freesat, extreme north areas of North Yorkshire (DL, TS, and YO21/22 postcodes) are allocated Look North from Newcastle on BBC1 and ITV News Tyne Tees. YO7 and YO62 postcodes are allocated BBC Yorkshire and ITV Tyne Tees news services.

Broadcast

On weekdays, Look North in Yorkshire and the North Midlands broadcasts three main bulletins: a 15-minute lunchtime news at 1.30pm, the main half-hour programme at 6.30pm and a 15-minute late bulletin at 10.30pm, following the BBC News at Ten, with a short 30-second headline update during the BBC News Summary at 8pm.

Look North also airs three bulletins during the weekend: early evening bulletins on Saturday & Sunday and a late night bulletin on Sundays, following the BBC News at Ten. The times of these bulletins usually vary.

Breakfast bulletins during BBC Breakfast aired at 27 and 57 minutes past each hour until Monday 6 June 2016, when the opt-outs were merged with those provided by Look North's sister service in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, as part of a pilot scheme.

History

BBC regional television from Leeds has been broadcast since Monday 25 March 1968.^[1] Before that, the region was served by regional output from Manchester, launched in September 1957 with daily News from the North bulletins for the entire north of England. The start of a separate programme for the North East & Cumbria in 1959 allowed the daily bulletins to focus on the North West and Yorkshire & Lincolnshire areas. The programme was extended to 20 minutes in 1962 and renamed North at Six (later Look North).

The launch of a dedicated regional news service from Leeds allowed for greater coverage of the two distinct areas on each side of the Pennines. It also coincided with the decision to introduce a separate ITV contractor for the east of the Pennines, Yorkshire Television, which went on air in July 1968 along with its own regional news magazine, Calendar. Prior to that, Yorkshire had been covered by the Manchester-based contractors ABC (weekends) and Granada (weekdays).

The original team of Look North presenters and reporters from Leeds included John Burns, Barry Chambers, David Haigh, James Hogg and David Seymour.^[2] Because the Leeds programme was carried on the powerful Holme Moss transmitter following its launch, it could be received in the north-west, Isle of Man, south to near Birmingham and even in parts of Northern Ireland as viewers' correspondence often testified (the Manchester programme then being carried from Winter Hill and restricted to the north-west).

Look North from Leeds was the main programme for the whole of the 'BBC North' (later 'Yorkshire & Lincolnshire') region until 11 November 2002, when a new studio had been built in Hull, and the programme split in two. A short opt-out service for the East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire had been in service since 2001.

The programme was first produced from All Souls' Church in Blackman Lane, Leeds, where part of the church had been converted into a black-and-white television studio with attendant equipment. In 1974, Look North moved to new studios at Broadcasting House on Woodhouse Lane near Leeds Metropolitan University and around the corner from All Souls Church. The new facilities, equipped for colour, remained the base for Look North Leeds and other regional programmes until 26 September 2004. A brand new broadcasting centre was built near the West Yorkshire Playhouse on St Peter's Square, with BBC Look North moving into the new premises on 27 September 2004. The move coincided with the introduction of a new BBC Yorkshire region.

Presenters

Reporters

Former on air team

• Christa Ackroyd – Main presenter/newsreader from September 2001 to March 2013^[4]
• Lara Rostron
• Khalid Aziz
• Ken Cooper
• Tim Ewart - Royal Correspondent with ITV News until 2017, now freelance
• Brian Baines
• Philip Hayton – National BBC News presenter before he left the corporation in 2005
• Mike McCarthy – later on Sky News
• Peter Levy – later the main presenter for Look North in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire based in Hull
• Sophie Raworth – between 1995 and 1997 – later main presenter of BBC News at One
• Mike Smartt – between 1976 and 1982 – later correspondent and presenter at BBC TV News and then founder and editor-in-chief of BBC News Interactive
• Barrie Redfern (TV channel launch specialist and creative consultant)
• Judith Stamper – runs a degree in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Leeds. She left in 1995
• Sue Wilkins
• Raymond A Smith
• Penny Bustin
• John Cundy - news correspondent 1991-2018 ^[5]
• Len Tingle - political editor 2001-2018 ^[6]

References

External links