24 Hours (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Twenty-Four Hours is a long-running, late evening, daily news magazine programme that aired on BBC 1
. It focused on analysis and criticism of current affairs
and featured in-depth short documentary
films that set the style for current affairs magazine programmes. Twenty-Four Hours launched in 1965 and focused on investigative journalism
. The programmes main presenter was Cliff Michelmore
.
programmes: Gallery, a weekly political programme and Tonight
the seminal early evening magazine programme. The editors were Tony Whitby from Tonight and Derrick Amoore from Gallery.
was the first lead anchor for Twenty-Four Hours. With him in the studio were Kenneth Allsop, Michael Barratt and Robert McKenzie, a professor of politics at the LSE.
Towards the end of its run David Dimbleby
took over as the main presenter.
, Fyfe Robertson
, Michael Aspel
, Julian Pettifer
, Bernard Falk
and David Jessel
, among others.
It undoubtedly helped establish an approach to television current affairs that can still be seen to this day and is in many ways the forerunner to BBC2's present day current affairs flagship Newsnight
.
Production paperwork, Radio Times
and BBC Archive library all list the title "Twenty-Four Hours" in words, while the programmes logo used numerals "24 Hours".
programme. However on Wednesdays it would begin at 10.20pm "in order that The Wednesday Play
may begin ... and run its full 75 minutes."
Huw Wheldon
, then BBC Controller of Programmes said Twenty-Four Hours "has become such a valuable part of our coverage of national and international affairs, that we feel we must give it a regular and predictable placing. David Attenborough
... who wants to put his BBC-2 programmes on in such a way as to provide real choice for viewers, is driven mad by Twenty-Four Hours which has had to keep jumping about all over the place. Now we've got Twenty-Four Hours fixed at five-to-ten, we can handle all that!".
Twenty-Four Hours finished its run on 14 July 1972.
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. It focused on analysis and criticism of current affairs
Current affairs (news format)
Current Affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast....
and featured in-depth short documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
films that set the style for current affairs magazine programmes. Twenty-Four Hours launched in 1965 and focused on investigative journalism
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
. The programmes main presenter was Cliff Michelmore
Cliff Michelmore
Arthur Clifford "Cliff" Michelmore CBE is a British television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme Tonight, which he presented from 1957 to 1965....
.
History
The programme brought together the production teams from two BBC televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
programmes: Gallery, a weekly political programme and Tonight
Tonight (1957 TV series)
Tonight was a BBC television current affairs programme presented by Cliff Michelmore and broadcast in Britain live on weekday evenings from February 1957 to 1965. The producers were the future Controller of BBC1 Donald Baverstock and the future Director-General of the BBC Alasdair Milne...
the seminal early evening magazine programme. The editors were Tony Whitby from Tonight and Derrick Amoore from Gallery.
Presenters
The popular presenter Cliff MichelmoreCliff Michelmore
Arthur Clifford "Cliff" Michelmore CBE is a British television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme Tonight, which he presented from 1957 to 1965....
was the first lead anchor for Twenty-Four Hours. With him in the studio were Kenneth Allsop, Michael Barratt and Robert McKenzie, a professor of politics at the LSE.
Towards the end of its run David Dimbleby
David Dimbleby
David Dimbleby is a British BBC TV commentator and a presenter of current affairs and political programmes, most notably the BBC's flagship political show Question Time, and more recently, art, architectural history and history series...
took over as the main presenter.
Style
Twenty-Four Hours was conceived with the intention of being very different from other current affairs programmes at the time. Critical to the point of confrontational, it abandoned the orthodox reverential rules of engagement with politicians and took a tougher, more modern approach to interviews. Twenty-Four Hours used a combination of panel discussions and studio debates, usually with an invited "expert" audience. The programme also featured documentary films or "packages" presented by its reporters Michael ParkinsonMichael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
, Fyfe Robertson
Fyfe Robertson
Fyfe Robertson was a Scottish television journalist.He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and christened James. He was one of six children of Jane Dunlop and James Robertson, a miner, who became a minister in the United Free Church of Scotland. He grew up in poverty but attended the High School of...
, Michael Aspel
Michael Aspel
Michael Terence Aspel, OBE is an English television presenter, known for his reserved demeanour and rich speaking voice. He has been a high-profile TV personality in the United Kingdom since the 1960s, presenting programmes such as Crackerjack, Aspel and Company, This is Your Life, Strange But...
, Julian Pettifer
Julian Pettifer
Julian Pettifer OBE is a British television journalist. He was President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and is Vice President of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts...
, Bernard Falk
Bernard Falk
Bernard Falk was a United Kingdom television reporter and interviewer perhaps best known for his contributions to the BBC current affairs and magazine programme Nationwide in the 1970s and the BBC Radio 4 travel programme Breakaway in the 1980s.He was born in Southport, Lancashire the son of a...
and David Jessel
David Jessel
David Jessel is a former British TV and radio news presenter; author; and campaigner against miscarriages of justice. From 2000 to 2010 he was also a commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission.-Background:...
, among others.
It undoubtedly helped establish an approach to television current affairs that can still be seen to this day and is in many ways the forerunner to BBC2's present day current affairs flagship Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
.
Production paperwork, Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
and BBC Archive library all list the title "Twenty-Four Hours" in words, while the programmes logo used numerals "24 Hours".
Scheduling
Twenty-Four Hours originally had a fluid start time somewhere after 10pm. The decision to give it a fixed start time of 9.55pm was taken in 1967 following the establishment of ITN's popular News at TenNews at Ten
The ITV News at Ten is the flagship news programme on British television network ITV, produced by ITN and founded by news editor Geoffrey Cox in 1967. It was originally planned as a thirteen week project in July 1967 because senior figures at ITV refused to believe that a permanent 30-minute late...
programme. However on Wednesdays it would begin at 10.20pm "in order that The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
may begin ... and run its full 75 minutes."
Huw Wheldon
Huw Wheldon
Sir Huw Pyrs Wheldon OBE MC was a BBC broadcaster and executive.Wheldon was born in Prestatyn, Wales and educated at Friars School, Bangor. His father, Sir Wynn Wheldon, was a prominent educationalist, who had been awarded the DSO for gallantry in the First World War...
, then BBC Controller of Programmes said Twenty-Four Hours "has become such a valuable part of our coverage of national and international affairs, that we feel we must give it a regular and predictable placing. David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
... who wants to put his BBC-2 programmes on in such a way as to provide real choice for viewers, is driven mad by Twenty-Four Hours which has had to keep jumping about all over the place. Now we've got Twenty-Four Hours fixed at five-to-ten, we can handle all that!".
Twenty-Four Hours finished its run on 14 July 1972.
Studio Presenters
- Cliff MichelmoreCliff MichelmoreArthur Clifford "Cliff" Michelmore CBE is a British television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme Tonight, which he presented from 1957 to 1965....
- Kenneth AllsopKenneth AllsopKenneth Allsop was a British broadcaster, author and naturalist. He was a regular reporter on the BBC current affairs programme "Tonight" during the 1960s. He also was Rector of Edinburgh University and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize...
- Michael Barratt
- Robert McKenzie
- David DimblebyDavid DimblebyDavid Dimbleby is a British BBC TV commentator and a presenter of current affairs and political programmes, most notably the BBC's flagship political show Question Time, and more recently, art, architectural history and history series...