[JMT1985]

Back to the archive - and screen test footage of Barbara Mandell, ITN's first female newscaster, who was lined up to present their midday bulletins (the heavy start-up losses incurred soon put pay to that)

She went onto have stints as a weekend newscaster and reporter, before working behind the scenes on News at 545.

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You also have to remember in 1955, British television was limited by the government on how many hours per day they could air - the maximum set in 1955 was 7 hours per day (excluding sporting coverage, religious programmes and special events) - so having a news at Midday along with daytime programming was soon to be shown to be wasting valuable money and so come 1956, most ITV companies focused on airing their full 7 hours per day from late afternoon. The ad revenue was better placed in the late afternoon and prime time slots.