Dateline London – The programme where, London based foreign correspondents look at UK National Events and give their own country’s view. The programme brings British viewers a unique perspective on how UK issues are perceived from around the world. It’s founder and Executive Producer, Nick Guthrie owns the copyright and IP to the programme and is [from September 2022] able to enter into discussions with other broadcasters. The owner [Talk TV Ltd.] and long-time Editor are leaving the environs of the BBC and are looking to produce a new version of the show with a Broadcaster who appreciates the brand value of the programme for a National and International audience.
The show has run for 24 years on BBC News and BBC World. It provides 182 hours of broadcasting for the BBC over the period of a year. 7 TX’s on BBC News and on BBC World. Three and a half hours of television over a weekend.
Dateline London is unique. in that it is the only news and current affairs discussion programme on British TV which provides an “As others see us” view of topical events, seen through the eyes of some of the world’s most influential commentators and correspondents. (Polly Toynbee, Steve Richards, Janet Daley, Bronwen Maddox, David Aaronovitch, Isabel Hilton are some of the Brits on a Dateline Panel, plus influential foreign corrs such as Thomas Kielinger Die Welt, Agnes Poirier L’ Express, Stephanie Baker Bloomberg’s and John Fisher Burns of the New York Times. Also, Nesrine Malik (The Guardian), Mina Al-Oraibi (The National) and Vincent Magombe (Africa International) all help to keep up the diversity mix.
A typical show: – Dateline London is joined by the BBC’s Climate change Editor Justin Rowlatt. The American writer & Broadcaster and former ABC anchor Jeffrey Kofman and the London correspondent of The Sydney Morning herald Latika Bourke. They will discuss the current situation re Ukraine. The UK governments new energy strategy and the latest frightening IPPC report on climate change. And the prospects for the upcoming general election in Australia. Expert analysis and international commentary. Plus, the outspoken and often controversial views from some of the world’s leading opinion makers.
Currently Dateline London’s BBC World audience is around 12 to 15 million over a weekend as the show is transmitted through the time zones.
Dateline was described recently as an “oasis of sanity in a very troubled world”. Hilary Clinton.
Chris Patten once described it as a “Jewel in the BBC’s Crown”.