News After Noon launched on 7 September 1981 and replaced a much shorter lunchtime news bulletin called The Midday News. It was initially billed as "the first television news of the day" as when the programme started breakfast television had not launched in the UK. News After Noon was replaced by a new lunchtime news programmeThe One O'Clock News when the BBC launched its daytime television service and the final edition of News After Noon was broadcast on 24 October 1986.
Format
News After Noon was the first BBC television news bulletin to last for a full 30 minutes – the Nine O'Clock News was 25 minutes in length. After 25 minutes of news there was a weather forecast, after which the regions left the programme for their lunchtime regional news bulletin. However, at this time BBC South East did not broadcast regional news bulletins so the final three minutes of News After Noon, which consisted of a financial report and a recap of the news headlines with in-vision subtitles, was only seen in London and the south east. This continued until BBC South East launched a regional news bulletin on 2 September 1985, after which News After Noon lasted for 25 minutes and the weather forecast followed the regional news bulletins.
Presenters
Throughout its five years on air the programme had a two-person presentation team. Richard Whitmore normally presented the programme alongside either Moira Stuart or Frances Coverdale, although the latter became the main co-presenter towards the end of the programme's run. Both Richard and Moira continued as daytime newsreaders after the demise of News After Noon as they shared presentational duties of the hourly BBC News Summaries that formed the backbone of the new daytime schedule. Other presenters included Laurie Mayer, Chris Lowe, Fern Britton, Sue Carpenter, Anne Diamond and Jane Franchi.
Broadcast times
News After Noon was broadcast in two time slots. Between September and May the programme ran from 12.30pm until 1pm. However Pebble Mill at One did not broadcast during the summer; when it was not on the air News After Noon was shown between 1pm and 1.30pm. Also during the summer months shorter editions of News After Noon were broadcast when the BBC was showing live cricket coverage. This was to ensure that viewers did not miss the end of the morning's play and the start of the afternoon's play. On these days News After Noon would last for 20 minutes instead of the usual 30 minutes.
