1954-81 1981-99 1999-2008 2008-date By the late 90s, the virtual look was feeling cold and dated - indeed, the corporation's own 24 hour news service, BBC News 24, which started in November 1997, was bringing a fresher approach to presenting the news.            
So on 10th May 1999 BBC News presentation moved into a new era. Created by Lambie-Nairn, who designed it to be a much warmer, accessible approach, the cold blue set and strident orchestral music was out, and in came cream-and-red set and titles, and a strange new 'drums-and-beeps' theme tune composed by David Lowe. For the first time regional headlines were incorporated into the opening sequence - first on the Six, then later on the other daily bulletins.
Watch clips: One O'Clock News  Six O'Clock News  
Virtual reality was proved to be a passing fad, with a 'real' set introduced, although the newsroom backdrop was merely a projection screen. (Incidentally, the section to the left of the centre pillar was in fact a time-delayed 'reflection' of the right hand side, in order to make the newsroom look bigger than it really is!) With this relaunch, the news programmes moved out of the old news studio N2, and into N6, located in the newly-built news centre in Stage VI at Television Centre. There were some presenter changes too - the Six went single-headed with Huw Edwards, with Fiona Bruce (above) as relief presenter, while Anna Ford moved to the One and Peter Sissons and Michael Buerk continued to share the Nine. However there was to be no place for Martyn Lewis. From this point on there was also to be some confusion over the programme titles. For example, was it supposed to be BBC News, or BBC News at Nine O’Clock, BBC News at Nine, or just plain old BBC Nine O’Clock News? It seemed no one could decide. Although it was not apparent at first, the 1999 revamp would prove to be the most significant yet, as it was not just a new look to the BBC1 national bulletins, but over the course of the next two years, the entireity of the BBC’s news output, from regional news to BBC News 24, BBC World to Breakfast and even S4C’s Newyddion would all relaunch using the same common themes.    
On 2nd October 2000, all of the domestic BBC News output switched to 16:9, which meant the titles could now be seen in their full widescreen glory, although the sidebar, or 'inset', looked something of a botch job. But an even more fundamental change was announced at the same time - while ITV was dithering about with the timing of its late bulletin, the BBC seized their chance and confirmed that the Nine O’Clock News would move to 10.00 in just two weeks’ time. Watch a clip 
The graphic design team probably had to work overtime in order to get the '9' in the opening titles changed to a '10' - but they managed it on time, and on 16th October 2000 the BBC’s first Ten O’Clock News took to the air.  
More meddling took place in December 2001, as the news set was modified with some red panels stuck onto the walls and a new desk.  
But the set lasted little more than a year - in January 2003 a completely new one was introduced. This time the backdrop shows a newsroom that doesn't exist at all! There was also a presenter reshuffle - with Michael Buerk retiring from regular newsreading, and Peter Sissons moving to News 24, the Ten needed a new anchor - and Huw Edwards was to be it. So taking his place on the Six was Sophie Raworth and George Alagiah, as the pendulum swung back towards double-headed presentation.  
Pictorial insets to illustrate the story were no more, replaced by text-only story 'slugs' (left). But despite the new set, though, there were no new titles. The 1999 cream-and-red introduction no longer fitted with the red-and-silver set, but still it remained, despite the indication of a possible new logo shown on the screens either side of the desk (right). 
This rather strange graphic, meanwhile, introduced the brief news summaries shown on BBC1 throughout the morning.  
New titles finally debuted for the main news programmes in February 2004, although to regular BBC News 24 viewers they weren't too much of a surprise! Watch a clip 
In 2005 the presenters' backdrop was updated with this brighter image. Huw Edwards is seen here on a mock bulletin for Return of the Goodies.    
2nd May 2006, and BBC News was given jazzed-up titles and a new, more spacious studio set, in order that it could now be shared by Breakfast. By now, the main BBC1 bulletins had also begun to be aired on BBC News 24.    
The BBC graphic designers are a busy bunch, and came up with yet another revamped title sequence which debuted on 22nd January 2007. The new titles were now all but identical to those seen on BBC News 24. Watch a clip  
Left: Sophie Raworth presenting a morning news summary with the floor manager dashing out of view! Right: in order to make it even harder to avoid the news, in December 2007 a brief update was introduced on BBC1 at 8.00 each evening. It includes national and international news, presented here by Ellie Crisell doing a late shift after Newsround, followed by your regional news presenter, who stands on the opposite side of the screen. Early in 2008, the BBC1 bulletins moved into TC7 in order that the usual news studio, N6, could be refurbished in preparation for yet another relaunch, due on 21st April 2008. 1954-81 1981-99 1999-2008 2008-date | 
