RTBWTV November 25th 2025 - Here is the News

Here's a newsflash! Bulletins came to BBC television in the early 1950s without a reader appearing on screen, but things soon changed when that young upstart ITN arrived with the rest of ITV in 1955 and introduced newscasters, reporters and a dash of panache and urgency.

Guy Morgan and David Newell trace the move and countermove that shaped television news (and current affairs) between the Suez Crisis and - for this episode - The Winter of Discontent.

Why was the BBC presentation so dull back then? What was Panorama's most famous jape before the current one? And what does a Christmas Tree on your BBC file mean? (Guy explains to Dave that it has nothing to do with Yuletide).

We explore how simple bits of technology transformed the news studio, why safari suits are out of fashion for war correspondents and revisit some famous theme tunes from the Golden Age before television news suffered from ADHD.

As usual, rights in any clips and music remain with the holders and are used here for educational purposes. They can be purchased through legitimate online websites. And if any of our original material is used for training creepy AI in its bid to suborn the human race, the perpetrators agree to pay us £1,000,000,000.