| BBC Look North | |
|---|---|
 Title card used since April 2022 | |
| Theme music composer | David Lowe |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producers | BBC News BBC North East and Cumbria |
| Production locations |
|
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes(main 6:30pm programme) 10 minutes(1:30pm and 10:30pm programmes) Various(during weekends andBreakfast) |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC OneNorth East and Cumbria |
| Release | 5 January 1959 (1959-01-05) – present |
BBC Look North is theBBC's regional television news service forNorth East England,Cumbria and parts ofNorth Yorkshire. The service is produced and broadcast from the BBC Broadcasting Centre on Barrack Road inNewcastle upon Tyne with district newsrooms based inCarlisle,Middlesbrough andYork.
The programme can be watched in any part of the UK (and Europe) fromAstra 2E onFreesat channel 956 andSky channel 955. It no longer broadcasts on analogue, since the digital switchover in September 2012, and digital terrestrial from theBilsdale,Caldbeck,Chatton andPontop Pike transmitters. The latest edition ofLook North is also available to watch on theBBC iPlayer for 24 hours after broadcast, like the BBC's other news bulletins.
The Newcastle programme covers the editorial areas ofRadio Newcastle,Radio Tees andRadio Cumbria. Due to the size ofNorth Yorkshire, the listenership ofRadio York is covered by the geographically multitudinousLook North programmes from bothNewcastle andLeeds.
The programme is available online throughBBC iPlayer. In some (but not all) areas ofNorth Yorkshire have their aerials pointing to theBilsdale TV transmitter that broadcast theNewcastle edition ofLook North, however most viewers in the county point their aerials to either theEmley Moor[2] orOliver's Mount transmitters to watch theLeeds edition of Look North. Viewers inWhitby received theNewcastle edition from the local relay transmitter[3] which is transmitted from theBilsdale TV transmitter whileScarborough andFiley viewers receive theLeeds edition from the relay transmitter atOliver's Mount.[4]
For viewers on Freesat, northern areas of North Yorkshire (DL, TS, and YO21/22 postcodes) are allocatedLook North from Newcastle on BBC1 andITV News Tyne Tees. YO7 and YO62 postcodes are allocated BBC Yorkshire and ITV Tyne Tees news services.
Viewers in the southern parts of Cumbria, such asBarrow-in-Furness andSouth Lakeland receive theBBC North West programmeNorth West Tonight which broadcast fromSalford. The areas receive their TV aerials from theWinter Hill TV transmitter and other relay transmitters.
Prior to the start ofLook North, the BBC television region for the North East and Cumbria launched at 6.10pm on Monday 5 January 1959 from studios at 54 New Bridge Street in Newcastle City Centre. The region began receiving its own nightly news bulletins, originally presented by George House and Tom Kilgour.
Previously, the area was served by a pan-regional bulletin from Manchester entitledNews from the North, broadcast across the whole of Northern England from 30 September 1957 onwards.
The new local bulletins from Newcastle were launched ten days before the opening of rivalITV stationTyne Tees Television in the North East (Border Television, serving Cumbria, opened in September 1961).
Three years after the launch of the television service, the bulletins were expanded to 20 minutes and relaunched as a daily magazine programme,Home at Six, presented byFrank Bough.
After Bough left to joinBBC Sport in 1964,Home at Six was relaunched with a new name and a new presenter -Mike Neville, an actor and continuity announcer forTyne Tees Television who had been anchor ofNorth East Newsview, a nightly regional news programme, for only a few months. Neville soon became a household name and spent the next thirty-two years at the BBC in Newcastle, presentingLook North as well as making regular appearances onNationwide.
For a short period in the late 1980s, Cumbria was switched to theBBC North West region and began receivingNorth West Tonight instead ofLook North, along with a short lunchtime news opt-out. Look North returned to Cumbria on 27 September 1992.[5]
The North East and Cumbria region was reformed after campaigning by viewers in Cumbria that they were being overlooked in favour of news from the more populous areas of thenorth west, such asGreater Manchester andMerseyside.
It was during this time that on 16 January 1988, BBC North East moved to brand new purpose built studios nicknamed 'The Pink Palace' on Barrack Road inSpital Tongues, along withRadio Newcastle.
In 1996, Mike Neville left the BBC after 32 years to re-joinTyne Tees Television to present their flagship evening news programmeNorth East Tonight.Look North underwent major changes with new presenters Carol Malia and John Lawrence (both former reporters for Tyne Tees) introduced to the programme. Malia is now the main presenter, alongside co-presenters Jeff Brown (retired 2024) andDawn Thewlis.
On weekdays, Look North broadcasts six three-minute opt-outs duringBBC Breakfast at 27 minutes past and 3 minutes to each hour.[citation needed] A ten-minute lunchtime programme follows at 1:30pm with the main half-hour edition at 6:30pm and a ten-minute late update is shown at 10:30pm, following the nationalBBC News bulletins at1pm,6pm and10pm.
Look North also airs three bulletins during the weekend: early evening bulletins on Saturday and Sunday and a late night bulletin on Sundays. The times of these bulletins usually vary.[citation needed]
News
| Weather
|
| Person | BBC Look North position(s) | Current position(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Neville | Newsreader | Neville died in 2017 |
| Jeff Brown | Newsreader | Left BBC Look North in May 2024[6] |
| Chris Eakin | Newsreader | Became a newsreader on theBBC News channel until he left the BBC in 2015 |
| Chris Jackson | Newsreader | Went on to present regional current affairs show Inside Out[7][8][9] |
| Hannah Bayman | Weather presenter | Became a reporter forBBC News channel |
| Owain Wyn Evans | Weather presenter | Became a weather presenter atBBC North West Tonight |
BBC North East and Cumbria's rival regional news programmes.