[JLav25]

1994 was the year News at Ten moved out of their newsroom based set as shown here, and move into the basement studio at ITN. The move to the basement studio would occur by early September 1994.

Could this have been the first NaT from the basement? www.youtube.com 

[JMT1985]

1994 was the year News at Ten moved out of their newsroom based set as shown here, and move into the basement studio at ITN. The move to the basement studio would occur by early September 1994.

Could this have been the first NaT from the basement? www.youtube.com 

Most likely - I have seen a News at Ten from August 1994 and they were still in their newsroom set, so I guess September 1994 was when the move happened. 

I don't understand why they moved into the basement studio, as not only did they have to share with Channel 4 News, they also just rebuilt the same set design. 

There was no change to the look. They even had a blue screen CSO cloth, to put in a newsroom view shot to be used.

[itsrobert]

The original News at 5.40 branding is something we haven't discussed much over the years. It seems to get forgotten between the original News at 5.45 branding from 1976 and the John Suchet era Early Evening News from 1992.

It's always been one of my favourite examples of ITN branding. Although the colour scheme dates it quite badly now, for the time it had quite a modern and futuristic design. I particularly like the lack of opening titles; instead it starts with the logo flying in across the images of the day's headlines. The theme music was good too - I'm a fan of those simple synthesised themes from the late 80s.

youtu.be 

And I loved the closing sequence with the lights going down and the 540 logo rotating in time with the music. Simple but effective!

Of course, it evolved from the shortlived April 1988 rebranding of the News at 5.45. When the bulletin moved to 5.40pm in February 1989, the music was tweaked to remove the voice over and it got a better set with different camera angles rather than a straightforward CSO set-up.

youtu.be 

This video can only be viewed on YouTube.

In 1991, with the move to Grays Inn Road, the 5.40's music was changed to a stereo mix and, strangely, was lowered in pitch ever so slightly. No idea why!

youtu.be 

youtu.be 

The design finally bowed out in March 1992 when ITN decided to relaunch the bulletin as the Early Evening News and make better use of the new HQ. It remains one of those frequently overlooked brands in ITN's history.

---

Could this have been the first NaT from the basement? www.youtube.com 

Most likely - I have seen a News at Ten from August 1994 and they were still in their newsroom set, so I guess September 1994 was when the move happened. 

I don't understand why they moved into the basement studio, as not only did they have to share with Channel 4 News, they also just rebuilt the same set design. 

There was no change to the look. They even had a blue screen CSO cloth, to put in a newsroom view shot to be used.

Between 1992 and 1994, News at Ten was presented from an atrium-side newsroom studio, as had the Early Evening News and Weekend News. However, the Lunchtime News had been in one of the basement studios alongside Channel 4 News. News at Ten moved to the basement in 1994 to allow redevelopment of the newsroom studio so that it could accommodate all daytime bulletins, including the Lunchtime News, from 1995 onwards.

[Stuart]

It's always been one of my favourite examples of ITN branding. Although the colour scheme dates it quite badly now, for the time it had quite a modern and futuristic design. I particularly like the lack of opening titles; instead it starts with the logo flying in across the images of the day's headlines. The theme music was good too - I'm a fan of those simple synthesised themes from the late 80s.

Of course, it evolved from the shortlived April 1988 rebranding of the News at 5.45. When the bulletin moved to 5.40pm in February 1989, the music was tweaked to remove the voice over and it got a better set with different camera angles rather than a straightforward CSO set-up.

Indeed, it evolved from the 5:45 upgrade, they changed the direction of the logo entry and for some reason dispensed with the 'spin/shrink' into the corner as well as the announcement, which was a shame.

The original 5:45 set wasn't entirely CSO, there were side shots showing some yellow panels when it was launched in 1976.

Oh . . . for the days of lovely short headline sequences.

[Isonstine]

I also liked what they did when the bulletin became the Early Evening News - straight from the intro to the first item and then followed this with a short sequence of "stories still to come". I'd love a news bulletin to try something different like this. The whole endless headlines sequence is everywhere now and no-one seems willing to break ranks.

[JMT1985]

The original News at 5.40 branding is something we haven't discussed much over the years. It seems to get forgotten between the original News at 5.45 branding from 1976 and the John Suchet era Early Evening News from 1992.

It's always been one of my favourite examples of ITN branding. Although the colour scheme dates it quite badly now, for the time it had quite a modern and futuristic design. I particularly like the lack of opening titles; instead it starts with the logo flying in across the images of the day's headlines. The theme music was good too - I'm a fan of those simple synthesised themes from the late 80s.

youtu.be 

And I loved the closing sequence with the lights going down and the 540 logo rotating in time with the music. Simple but effective!

Of course, it evolved from the shortlived April 1988 rebranding of the News at 5.45. When the bulletin moved to 5.40pm in February 1989, the music was tweaked to remove the voice over and it got a better set with different camera angles rather than a straightforward CSO set-up.

youtu.be 

In 1991, with the move to Grays Inn Road, the 5.40's music was changed to a stereo mix and, strangely, was lowered in pitch ever so slightly. No idea why!

youtu.be 

youtu.be 

The design finally bowed out in March 1992 when ITN decided to relaunch the bulletin as the Early Evening News and make better use of the new HQ. It remains one of those frequently overlooked brands in ITN's history.

---

Most likely - I have seen a News at Ten from August 1994 and they were still in their newsroom set, so I guess September 1994 was when the move happened. 

I don't understand why they moved into the basement studio, as not only did they have to share with Channel 4 News, they also just rebuilt the same set design. 

There was no change to the look. They even had a blue screen CSO cloth, to put in a newsroom view shot to be used.

Between 1992 and 1994, News at Ten was presented from an atrium-side newsroom studio, as had the Early Evening News and Weekend News. However, the Lunchtime News had been in one of the basement studios alongside Channel 4 News. News at Ten moved to the basement in 1994 to allow redevelopment of the newsroom studio so that it could accommodate all daytime bulletins, including the Lunchtime News, from 1995 onwards.

They did move down one floor though. The newsroom was based on an upper floor, but come 1994 they had moved the newsroom down one floor. 

This can be seen when you look at the 1992 Early Evening News opening titles, and compare it to the 1994 titles - we can see there was a move down one floor. Maybe the floor below had better space and more room for a larger news studio, for the 1995 revamp, where the Morning News, Lunchtime News, Weekend News and news summaries all came from the newsroom studio?

[itsrobert]

It's always been one of my favourite examples of ITN branding. Although the colour scheme dates it quite badly now, for the time it had quite a modern and futuristic design. I particularly like the lack of opening titles; instead it starts with the logo flying in across the images of the day's headlines. The theme music was good too - I'm a fan of those simple synthesised themes from the late 80s.

Of course, it evolved from the shortlived April 1988 rebranding of the News at 5.45. When the bulletin moved to 5.40pm in February 1989, the music was tweaked to remove the voice over and it got a better set with different camera angles rather than a straightforward CSO set-up.

Indeed, it evolved from the 5:45 upgrade, they changed the direction of the logo entry and for some reason dispensed with the 'spin/shrink' into the corner as well as the announcement, which was a shame.

Apologies if you already know this, but the 1988 voice overs were done by newscaster Phil Roman. Prior to that, DJ Simon Bates had done quite a few for the 5.45.

Voice overs seemed to go in and out of favour at ITN over the years. When News at One relaunched as the News at 12.30 in 1987 it retained voice overs (also by Phil Roman) but dropped them when it moved back to 1pm in 1988. The 5.45 lost them in early 1989, but the Weekend News, which had introduced them in 1987, strangely retained a brief voice over ("The news from ITN") until 1992. From 1992 onwards, the EEN and NAT had voice overs (now by Andrew Burt), but the Lunchtime and Weekend News didn't! It wasn't until 1995 that all bulletins had a voice over, before they were dropped again between 2004-2009. I can only assume that each bulletin had a different editor/director whose preference for or against voice overs won out!

[Newsroom]

Indeed, it evolved from the 5:45 upgrade, they changed the direction of the logo entry and for some reason dispensed with the 'spin/shrink' into the corner as well as the announcement, which was a shame.

Apologies if you already know this, but the 1988 voice overs were done by newscaster Phil Roman. Prior to that, DJ Simon Bates had done quite a few for the 5.45.

Voice overs seemed to go in and out of favour at ITN over the years. When News at One relaunched as the News at 12.30 in 1987 it retained voice overs (also by Phil Roman) but dropped them when it moved back to 1pm in 1988. The 5.45 lost them in early 1989, but the Weekend News, which had introduced them in 1987, strangely retained a brief voice over ("The news from ITN") until 1992. From 1992 onwards, the EEN and NAT had voice overs (now by Andrew Burt), but the Lunchtime and Weekend News didn't! It wasn't until 1995 that all bulletins had a voice over, before they were dropped again between 2004-2009. I can only assume that each bulletin had a different editor/director whose preference for or against voice overs won out!

Fascinating! I had no idea it was Phil Roman. 

Also Rob, and do forgive me if I am wrong about this but an old friend who used to direct at ITN always told me it was Richard Bath that voiced the original EEN intros from the atrium.  He certainly voiced the 8pm Gulf War Report. Trying to find a clip of that. Do give them a listen, distinctly Richard Bath.

[Kojak]

I also liked what they did when the bulletin became the Early Evening News - straight from the intro to the first item and then followed this with a short sequence of "stories still to come". I'd love a news bulletin to try something different like this. The whole endless headlines sequence is everywhere now and no-one seems willing to break ranks.

VTM in Belgium used to do this. Quick clip of the top story, followed by a magnificent studio pan + voiceover, then straight into the news. After the first story, three other stories were trailed. 

youtube.com 

Probably my favourite news intro of all time.

[itsrobert]

Apologies if you already know this, but the 1988 voice overs were done by newscaster Phil Roman. Prior to that, DJ Simon Bates had done quite a few for the 5.45.

Voice overs seemed to go in and out of favour at ITN over the years. When News at One relaunched as the News at 12.30 in 1987 it retained voice overs (also by Phil Roman) but dropped them when it moved back to 1pm in 1988. The 5.45 lost them in early 1989, but the Weekend News, which had introduced them in 1987, strangely retained a brief voice over ("The news from ITN") until 1992. From 1992 onwards, the EEN and NAT had voice overs (now by Andrew Burt), but the Lunchtime and Weekend News didn't! It wasn't until 1995 that all bulletins had a voice over, before they were dropped again between 2004-2009. I can only assume that each bulletin had a different editor/director whose preference for or against voice overs won out!

Fascinating! I had no idea it was Phil Roman. 

Also Rob, and do forgive me if I am wrong about this but an old friend who used to direct at ITN always told me it was Richard Bath that voiced the original EEN intros from the atrium.  He certainly voiced the 8pm Gulf War Report. Trying to find a clip of that. Do give them a listen, distinctly Richard Bath.

You're definitely correct about the 8pm Gulf War Report being voiced by Richard Bath. I can't be absolutely certain whether Bath did the original EEN v/o's in March 1992, but the earliest example I have seen is from April 1992 and that used Andrew Burt. He also did the Election 92 v/o in April and and then NAT in November 1992.