[Kojak]

How is the Evening News rating since the hour-long bulletin was introduced, out of interest?

I personally have watched much less since it was brought in. It feels like ITV bosses made the decision purely based on the hour-long episodes for Coronation Street, and probably 'told' ITV News bosses that it was going to be brought in. I think in fairness, the Evening News team have really tried with the format, but it often feels very padded out in the last 20-30 minutes. The 7pm 'investigation' type report was good at first, but that's tricky to put together every day, and once you get past that, it seems to be endless teasers and a pretty poor extended weather bulletin.

It also feels like they're still toying with the bulletin, the recently introduced 'Ask ITV News' for instance.

On another subject, it's amazing to think the current branding has been in for 10 years next year. It still looks pretty fresh, although I'm excited to see what they come up with next year. I understand there's a big remodelling of the newsroom in Grays Inn Road - it would be brilliant to see them move back into the newsroom, IMO, like they were in the late nineties. I think CSO and green screen studios are less and less common in news around Europe, so it would be good to see ITV make the change.

No idea about the ratings, but it’s funny you mention that you think the team seem to have struggled to fill the hour. Apparently the extended bulletin, and the new ITVX news service, have not gone down well at all chez ITN. The talk is of highly overworked journalists, and not enough resources to properly fulfill the extra coverage. There was an article in Private Eye about it a while back - I’ll dig it out and scan it.