The Nine (BBC Scotland)

BBC Scotland news programme

The Nine

Also known as| The Seven
(Fridays and weekends, including Bank Holidays)
Country of origin| Scotland
Original language| English
Production
Running time| 60 or 30 minutes (weekdays), 15 minutes (weekends)
Original release
Network| BBC Scotland
Release| 25 February 2019 (2019-02-25) –
19 December 2024 (2024-12-19)

The Nine (and The Seven) was a Scottish television news programme produced by BBC Scotland for the BBC Scotland channel, covering Scottish, UK and international news. From February 2019 to December 2024, it was broadcast weekdays at 9:00 pm as The Nine and weekends at 7:00 pm as The Seven.

## Broadcast

[edit]

Produced by BBC News Scotland, the 60-minute programme was broadcast on BBC Scotland at 9:00 p.m. from Monday to Thursday nights.

On Fridays, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, a shortened edition is broadcast at 7:00 p.m. (half an hour on Fridays and 15 minutes on Saturdays & Sundays), likewise retitled The Seven.

## History

[edit]

### "Scottish Six" and inception

[edit]

Plans for a "Scottish Six", a news programme which would see BBC Reporting Scotland and Scotland's airing of BBC News at Six be scrapped in favour of an hour-long Scottish news programme, was proposed as part of trials at BBC Pacific Quay in 2017. Despite there being a significant amount of support in having an hour-long news programme, plans for a "Scottish Six" news programme were scrapped in favour of a news programme which would be aired at a 9:00 pm time slot. STV News had tested the format on their STV2 channel with STV News Tonight, which began airing in April 2017 and would later be axed in 2018 as part of the channel's closure.[1][2][3]

Following the scrapped proposal for a "Scottish Six" news programme, BBC Scotland announced in February 2017, plans to have the same format proposed be used for a news programme that would air at 9:00 pm on a brand new BBC Scotland TV channel that was launched in February 2019.

In November 2018, BBC Scotland announced details of the programme, including the identity of the show and the presenters.[4] The first episode of The Nine aired on 25 February 2019, a day after the launch of the BBC Scotland channel.

### Cancellation and proposed cutbacks

[edit]

In February 2024, BBC Scotland announced it may axe The Nine, along with weekly review programme Seven Days and the showbiz news programme The Edit as part of cutbacks to the channel's news output.[5]

The Nine will be replaced with a new half-hour news programme called Reporting Scotland: News At Seven. It will air on BBC Scotland directly after its sister programme Reporting Scotland on BBC One Scotland[6] from 6 January 2025. This was approved by broadcast regulator Ofcom in August 2024[7] and confirmed by the corporation in December 2024.[8]

These changes took place after low viewing figures attracted from BBC Scotland’s news output had been the subject of frequent criticism. According to newspaper reports in January 2024, one edition of The Nine attracted an audience of 1,700 viewers while an edition of The Seven was watched by just 200 viewers.[5] On the day before the programme's axing was announced, The Nine was watched by 6,000 viewers, officially recording a zero share of viewing.[9]

Other investments made by BBC Scotland, using the money saved by cutting The Nine, include the expansion of the Debate Night series, increased investment in online news and the launch of a new topical current affairs visualised podcast series called Scotcast.[6][8]

## Presenters

[edit]

The programme has a fifteen strong team of presenters and reporters, who present Scottish, UK, and international news from a Scottish perspective. It originally was presented by Rebecca Curran and Martin Geissler from Monday to Thursday[10] and Laura Miller and John Beattie on Fridays. Weekends are hosted by the Reporting Scotland team. Amy Irons and her brother Lewis Irons are the main sports presenters since 2022, with original sport news presenter Laura McGhie currently presenting on the BBC News and World News channels.

## BBC Scotland team

[edit]

The Nine / Seven presenters  Tenure  | Presenter  | Position

|
|

2021-2024  | Laura Maciver | Main presenter (Monday-Wednesday)
Graham Stewart | Rotational presenters (Monday-Friday) and Relief (Monday-Friday)
2019-2024  | Laura Goodwin
Other presenters of other programmes  Tenure  | Presenter  | Position  | Programme

|
|
|

2019-2024  | David Farrell  | Main presenter  | The Edit
Fiona Stalker  | Seven Days
2021–present  | The Sunday Show
Martin Geissler
Other TV Presenters across BBC Scotland  Tenure  | Presenter  | Position  | Other roles  | Notes

|
|
|
|

2021–2024  | Amy Irons  | Sports Presenters  | Former presenter of The Edit |
2019–2024  | Laura McGhie  | BBC Radio 5Live and BBC Sport presenter  | Currently on maternity leave[11]
2021–2024  | David Wallace Lockhart  | Political Correspondent  | Relief Presenter  |
Anne McAlpine | Relief rotating Presenters (Monday-Sunday)  | Reporting Scotland presenters  |
Sarah McMullan  |
Andrew Black  |
2022–2024  | Louise Cowie  |
2023–2024  | Hope Webb  |
Former Presenters
2019-2021  | Rebecca Curran | Former Presenters  | Aberdeen news reporter for Reporting Scotland |
2019-2022  | Martin Geissler | The Sunday Show and Good Morning Scotland presenter
2022-2023  | Gary Robertson  | Good Morning Scotland presenter
2019-2023  | John Beattie | BBC Radio Scotland host and Reporting Scotland presenter  |
2019-2024  | Nick Sheridan[12] | Seven Days presenter (2019–2024)  |
2019-2024  | Laura Miller | BBC Reporting Scotland presenter  |
2024  | Julia MacFarlane  | Relief presenter  | Freelance journalist at BBC Scotland[13]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Carrell, Severin (21 September 2016). "STV aims to outflank BBC by launching news show before proposed Scottish Six". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
2. ^ insider.co.uk (25 April 2017). "STV2 Review: Who needs a BBC Scottish Six now? STV News Tonight has stolen its thunder and with no cringe factor in sight". businessInsider. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
3. ^ "STV2 to close and jobs lost in £2m cost-cutting plan". Daily Business. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
4. ^ "First look at The Nine, BBC Scotland's new nightly news programme". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
5. ^ a b "BBC Scotland to scrap news programme The Nine". BBC News. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
6. ^ a b "BBC Scotland to scrap news programme The Nine".
7. ^ "Changes to BBC Scotland news programming approved by Ofcom". BBC News. 6 August 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
8. ^ a b "BBC Scotland to launch Scotcast and News at Seven in January". BBC News. 9 December 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
9. ^ X - @LiamHamilton16, 20 February 2024
10. ^ "Meet the news stars of BBC Scotland's The Nine". BBC News. BBC. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
11. ^ "https://twitter.com/LauraMcGhie_/status/1731339039003865498". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 10 December 2023. `{{cite web}}`: External link in ``|title=`` (help)
12. ^ "BBC Scotland presenter Nick Sheridan dies aged 32". 7 March 2024.
13. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 10 July 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* The Nine at BBC Online
* The Seven at BBC Online

* v
* t
* e

BBC Scotland current television programmes

Comedy|

* Mrs. Brown's Boys
* Scot Squad
* Two Doors Down

Drama|

* River City

Gaelic (BBC Alba)|

* Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail
* An Là
* Eòrpa
* Rapal
* Seachd Là
* Spòrs

Game shows|

* Bridge of Lies
* Richard Osman's House of Games
* The Hit List

Lifestyle|

* Beechgrove
* Landward

Music|

* BBC Scotland's Hogmanay
* Celtic Connections
* The Music Show

News and current affairs|

* BBC Scotland Investigates
* Reporting Scotland
* Reporting Scotland: News at Seven
* The Sunday Show

Sport|

* Sportscene
* The Adventure Show

* v
* t
* e

BBC News programmes (Regions and Nations)

| English regions

| North East and Cumbria|

Look North

|

North West|

North West Tonight

Yorkshire and North Midlands|

Look North

East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire|

Look North

| East Midlands|

East Midlands Today

|

West Midlands|

Midlands Today

East|

Look East

West|

Points West

| London|

* London

|

South East|

South East Today

South|

South Today

South West|

Spotlight

Nations

Scotland|

* Reporting Scotland
* Reporting Scotland: News at Seven
* An Là

Wales|

* Wales Today
* Newyddion

Northern Ireland|

* Newsline

This article related to a BBC television programme is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template