The West Tonight was the flagship news programme in the ITV West region. It was broadcast at 6pm every weeknight. It launched in 1968 as Report West and ceased broadcasting on 15 February 2009.

History

Previously known as HTV News and ITV West News, the The West Tonight name was originally introduced in 1997 as part of a relaunch to coincide with the opening of a digital broadcast centre at HTV's Bath Road studios in Bristol. The branding was discontinued two years later but reintroduced in 2005 when Lisa Aziz

Lisa Aziz

Lisa Aziz is a British news presenter. She is best known as the co-presenter of the Bristol based ITV South West nightly weekday news programme The West Country Tonight. Before this she worked for TV-am and Sky News, and was one of the first Asian presenters to be seen on television...

 rejoined ITV West from Sky News

Sky News

Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...

.

As well as the main programme at 6pm, before the merger with Westcountry Live, ITV West produced news bulletins during GMTV (now Daybreak), an update at around 11:15am during This Morning, the lunchtime news at 13:55, a late news update from 22:30 - 22:35/22:45, as well as weekend news bulletins.

The West Tonight's main anchors were Lisa Aziz and Steve Scott, who went on to present The West Country Tonight. However, the merged programme is now presented by ITV Westcountry's Vanessa Cuddeford, alongside former Meridian Tonight presenter Ian Axton. The West Tonight's weather presenters, Bob Crampton (a former news presenter & reporter for HTV - ITV West's predecessor), and Alex Beresford continue to present the weather for The West Country Tonight.

Merger

Following the ITV West merger with ITV Westcountry

Westcountry Television

Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993...

 to form ITV West & Westcountry

ITV South West

ITV West & Westcountry, also known as ITV South West, is a non-franchise ITV regional station covering the South West of England and incorporating the former ITV West and ITV Westcountry regions.-History:...

, the new dual-regional programme The West Country Tonight

The West Country Tonight

The West Country Tonight is a regional television news and current affairs programme, also including local sports news and local features of interest, produced by ITV West & Westcountry at its studios in Bristol...

launched on Monday 16th February 2009. A 15-minute opt-out for the former West region features within the 6pm programme, alongside fully separate Daybreak

Daybreak (ITV)

Daybreak is the weekday breakfast television programme on the British commercial ITV network that broadcasts on weekday mornings from 06:00 to 08:30 and is currently presented by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley from Monday to Thursday with Dan Lobb and Kate Garraway on Fridays...

, lunchtime & late night bulletins and localised weather forecasts. Depending on the day's news, either the West or Westcountry bulletins are pre-recorded.