1 9 8 0 – Current (UK)
1,000+ x 45 minute episodes
BBC2’s nightly current-affairs programme has enjoyed its fair share of controversy down the years, much of it fuelled by the “robust” – often combative – way some presenters have tackled topical subjects.
The show’s most notorious human Rottweiler has to be Jeremy Paxman, who was, unsurprisingly, at the centre of perhaps the oddest Newsnight exchange to date.
It was during the final run-up to the 1997 general election, and under the Paxman cosh was the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard, who had been accused of overruling Derek Lewis, the head of the prison service, over the sacking of a governor.
Paxman asked him about it on the programme and Howard was evasive. So Paxman asked again:
Paxman: Did you threaten to overrule him? Howard: I was not entitled to instruct Derek Lewis and I did not instruct him. And the truth is . . . Paxman: Did you threaten to overrule him? Howard: I did not overrule Derek Lewis. Paxman: Did you threaten to overrule him?
In the end, Paxman asked the same question no fewer than twelve times and never got an answer. Apart from sheer bloody-mindedness, did something else lie behind this relentless inquisition?
According to a report in The Guardian three years later, Paxman said he persevered because his producer said the programme’s next taped report wasn’t ready.
As far as Paxman is concerned, nothing matches the programme’s live outside broadcast on the night of German reunification in 1990. For a start, it was completely inaudible amid the background fireworks, drowning out the best efforts of the presenter and his guests.
It ended with veteran reporter Charles Wheeler turning to Paxman and saying, “Jeremy, this is pure Monty Python.”
Paxman has described it as “the worst outside broadcast, ever, in the history of the BBC”.
Presenter
Peter Snow (1980–1997)
John Tusa (1980 – 1986)
Donald MacCormick (1984 – 1989)
Peter Hobday (1980)
Olivia O’Leary (1985 – 1986)
Jenni Murray (1984)
Jeremy Paxman (1989–2014)
Kirsty Wark (1993–2024)
Gavin Esler (1988 – 2013)
Martha Kearney (1997 – 2013)
Jeremy Vine (2001 – 2010)
Laura Kuenssberg (2006 – 2015)
Evan Davis (2014–2018)
Emily Maitlis (2006–2022)
