BBC South West At Six1961
How it all began. BBC South West's first daily news magazine was South West At Six, hosted by Sheila Tracey. Sheila can be heard these days on Radio 2. Does anyone know when the name changed to Spotlight?
BBC Spotlight1981 This is how Spotlight introduced itself in the early 1980s, when BBC regional news was incorporated into "Nationwide". Click here for a real treat - this clip is not an off-air recording but comes from the original telecine.
Spotlight Car Visor Promotion1981 Everybody's doing it...displaying Spotlight car stickers, that is. Donald Heighway tells you how to get yours here, plus other Spotlight goodies.
BBC Spotlight - Christopher Slade Promo1983 Christopher Slade presents a regional news bulletin in the mid-80s; the viewer looks on from the sidelines. Not exactly sure what this film was meant to be though - was it designed for transmission?
BBC Spotlight Sport and Newsc. 1984 I honestly can't remember this intro, for the Saturday teatime sports round-up. Preceded by the BBC1 SW mirror globe (sorry about the quality).
BBC Spotlight1984 and 1986
1983 saw the launch of Sixty Minutes, an American-style news programme to replace the previous 5:40pm news slot. In a proto-corporate look, the regional news magazines adopted the Sixty Minutes theme music as they were shown during the new programme. But Sixty Minutes was not popular and was axed in favour of The Six O'Clock News in August 1984. Spotlight retained the music, and the titles remained unchanged barring the removal of the Sixty Minutes logo.
Breakfast Spotlight - The Great Storm16.10.1987 That hurricane (the one Michael Fish said wouldn't happen) caused chaos across London, and BBC1 was unable to show Breakfast Time. So at 7am the late Donald Heighway popped up to tell us what was going on.
BBC Spotlight1988 It was all hi-tech for Spotlight, with the first computer-generated titles introduced in 1987. This edition is from the following year, and Juliette Morris replaces Sue King who has defected to TSW.
BBC Spotlight1989 Presented by Christopher Slade and Juliet Morris.
Just two years later Spotlight got a new look, and new theme tune. The BBC1 globe was dumped in favour of the Spotlight logo, at least for a time.
BBC Spotlight News Update1989
The animation that accompanied the titles used at the end of the Eighties. If you were watching BBC1 before midday, you'd habe seen the caption on the right. By 1990, sports presenter Dick Woodacre had been promoted to newscaster.
BBC Spotlight1991 Presented by Russell Labey and Teresa Driscoll.
Spotlight's identity crisis continued. The titles were revised again in 1991.
BBC Spotlight Afternoon News1991 This sting could be seen during BBC2's afternoon news bulletins; a still was used for BBC1's hourly morning reports.
BBC Spotlight1993 Presented by Russell Labey and Teresa Driscoll.
In late 1992, Spotlight again relaunched itself and adopted a lighthouse as its symbol. The result was this great sequence which truly reflected the region.
BBC Spotlight - D-Day Anniversary1994 Forty years on from the D-Day landings in Normandy, Spotlight poignantly looks back as veterans remember. And the usual theme music is not considered appropriate.
BBC Spotlight Morning Summary1995 Presented by Matthew Hill.
The 10am bulletin - still using a slide as its intro.
BBC Spotlight 35th Anniversary1996 Presented by Russell Labey and Teresa Driscoll.
A special programme to mark 35 years of the BBC's most successful regional news programme, which included interviews with former presenters including the late Jill Dando.
BBC Spotlight11.02.1999
Presented by Russell Labey and Natalie Cornah.
Variation on a theme - the Spotlight logotype changed in February 1999 but the lighthouse remained. The new sequence was accompanied by a great orchestral score.
BBC Spotlight - Eclipse Special1999 The major news event of 1999 was the solar eclipse, and Spotlight provided extensive coverage. These titles were used for that evening's Spotlight; it was preceded by a special version of the BBC1 Balloon symbol.
BBC Spotlight2000 A generic look for the BBC's regional news programmes was being rolled out during 1999 and 2000. Spotlight tried to resist adopting the corporate look, but without success and it launched in the South West in May 2000. After all, London-based marketing men always know best, don't they?
BBC Spotlight - Vote 2001 Special2001
Presented by Teresa Driscoll and Justin Leigh.
Analysis of the local results in the June general election. 14:9.
Close Up2001 BBC South West's Thursday evening documentary strand on BBC2, providing a local view of issues such as foot-and-mouth and the MMR debate. 14:9.
Spotlight On Westminster2002 Chris Rogers presents the Sunday lunchtime round-up of political issues for the South West. The 1999 Spotlight logo survived corporate BBC News branding.