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BBC Points West

BBC Points West is the BBC's regional TV news programme for the West of England, covering Bristol, the majority of Wiltshire (excluding the city of Salisbury) and Gloucestershire, northern, eastern and parts of western and southern Somerset, and northern parts of Dorset.

History

BBC television news from Bristol began on 30 September 1957 with a five-minute bulletin on weeknights serving what would later become the BBC's South, West and South West regions of England. The first bulletin, which survives as a telerecording, was presented by actress Armine Sandford – the first woman to regularly present a BBC television news bulletin.

The launch of the BBC's regional TV bulletins came ahead of the rival ITV services provided by TWW, which began in January 1958, and Southern Television, which launched the following August.

Around this time, the West Region bulletins were obliged to share a ten-minute timeslot with news bulletins for Wales as the Wenvoe transmitter on the outskirts of Cardiff was serving viewers in both South Wales and the West Country.

This arrangement continued even after separate bulletins for the South and South West regions were introduced in 1961. Thus, when the newly launched Points West was given a ten-minute slot on 17 September 1962, it shared its slot with Wales Today.

The launch of a dedicated BBC Wales television station in February 1964 finally allowed Points West to become a full-length regional news programme broadcast only to the West of England. This was more than seven years before a similar regional news service would be introduced by HTV West.

Between June 1991 and May 2000, the programme was known as BBC News West before reverting back to its original title.