Scotland Tonight is a Scottish news and current affairs programme, covering the two STV franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland, produced by STV News. The programme is presented by STV News at Six Central anchor John MacKay on Mondays & Tuesdays and former Sky News Scotland correspondent Rona Dougall on Wednesdays & Thursday.[1]

Scotland Tonight
GenreNews, current affairs
Directed byJohn Mason
Laura Trimble
Alasdair Murray
Presented byJohn MacKay
Rona Dougall
Theme music composerRage Music
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Production
Production locationGlasgow/Edinburgh/Aberdeen
Running time25 minutes
Production companySTV News
Original release
NetworkSTV
Release24 October 2011 (2011-10-24) –
present
Related

Details

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The half-hour programme, which launched on Monday 24 October 2011, replacing the former STV weekly-political programme Politics Now.[2] Scotland Tonight airs at 22:40 on Monday – Wednesday nights following the late bulletin from STV News; the Thursday edition has aired in a prime-time 19:30 slot since January 2020. The programme features reports, interviews & analysis on the Scottish national news of the day alongside coverage of politics, business, sport and the arts & entertainment. In January 2022, it was announced that the Thursday edition would move one hour later to 20:30 from March 2022, due to other changes to STV's evening schedules.[3]

Scotland Tonight is broadcast across both STV regions (North & Central). The programme is broadcast from studio 1 at STV's Glasgow studios, sharing the studio with the West edition of STV News at Six.

Gordon Chree, Colin Mackay, Aasmah Mir, Halla Mohieddeen, Bernard Ponsonby, Claire Stewart and Kelly Ann Woodland have each presented on occasion.

Specials

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  • Rangers – The Downfall: 14 June 2012
  • Independence Referendum: Edinburgh Agreement: 15 October 2012
  • Referendum Debate: Nicola Sturgeon vs Michael Moore: 16 May 2013
  • Referendum Debate: Nicola Sturgeon vs Anas Sarwar: 5 September 2013
  • Referendum Debate: Nicola Sturgeon vs Alistair Carmichael: 27 November 2013
  • Referendum Interactive Debate: 29 November 2013
  • 2013 Glasgow helicopter crash: 2 December 2013
  • Referendum Debate: Nicola Sturgeon vs Johann Lamont: 25 February 2014
  • Europe Special: 2 April 2014, live from Brussels.
  • Death of Margo MacDonald: Friday 4 April 2014
  • Salmond & Darling: The Debate (reaction and analysis): Tuesday 5 August 2014
  • UK 2015 general election (reaction and analysis): Friday 8 May 2015
  • Europe Special: 25 June 2015, live from Brussels.
  • 5th Birthday Special: 24 October 2016.

Special extend programmes are also held for any Scottish By-election, usually presented by Bernard Ponsonby.

References

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  1. ^ Wylie, Alice (28 February 2019). "Night vision: Scotland Tonight celebrates a year on air". The Scotsman. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Scotland Tonight: STV launches new nightly news and current affairs programme". stv.tv. 25 August 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  3. ^ "Coronation Street and Emmerdale timeslots change in STV schedule revamp". STV News. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
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