BBC News Scotland has announced two new titles which will join its news and current affairs portfolio from the New Year.
Broadcasters Laura Maciver and Amy Irons will present Reporting Scotland: News at Seven, the new-look 30 minute week-night news programme for the BBC Scotland channel, and Martin Geissler will front new current affairs podcast series Scotcast.
Launching on Monday 6 January 2025, Reporting Scotland: News at Seven will come live from Studio C at the BBC’s Pacific Quay headquarters in Glasgow.
With a conversational and informal tone, it will bring stories from the BBC’s newsrooms across Scotland, focusing on the people at the heart of communities from Shetland to Selkirk.
It will also give audiences more on the big stories of the day through analysis and discussion.
The programme will be fronted by one presenter each night, with Laura and Amy sharing out the days across the week.
News at Seven will complement Reporting Scotland on BBC One at 6.30pm, which will continue to be the programme that provides the primary coverage of Scotland’s national news.
Laura said:
“I’m looking forward to sharing the stories that our news teams will be bringing from communities across Scotland.
“We’ll be spending time talking to people at the heart of the news in their area and bringing different stories, faces and voices to the programme.”
Amy said:
“It’s great to be joining the presenting line-up and team of this new programme.
“I’m really excited to be seeing out 2024 with the Hogmanay show and starting 2025 with News at Seven.”
The current affairs podcast series Scotcast will launch on Monday 13th January.
It will be published four days a week, Monday to Thursday, and will be available across five platforms – BBC Sounds, BBC Scotland, BBC One Scotland, BBC iPlayer and BBC Radio Scotland.
Presented by Martin Geissler, it will go behind the headlines, bringing insight, analysis, conversation and a bit of humour to the stories that audiences are talking about.
Martin will be joined in the studio each day by members of the Scotcast production team, by BBC reporters and guests.
Commenting on the new series, Martin said:
“When it comes to podcasts, I was an ‘early adopter’.
“I love the medium and can’t wait to help deliver a podcast for Scotland that’s sharp, clever and fun.”
Scotcast and News at Seven are part of plans by BBC Scotland News – announced earlier this year – to grow the impact of broadcast news services in Scotland, while offering audiences more ways to watch and listen to news and current affairs.
These plans have included regularly extending Reporting Scotland on BBC One Scotland for a number of hour-long special editions and commissioning additional episodes of Debate Night.
As BBC News Scotland creates new output, it will – as announced earlier this year – be closing The Nine, the final edition of which will be broadcast just before Christmas.
Gary Smith, Head of News & Current affairs, said:
“2024 has been a busy year for news and current affairs in Scotland – with a UK election, the Euros, and a change of First Minister from Humza Yousaf to John Swinney.
“It’s brought impressive numbers on the website and News App, award-winning investigations from the Disclosure team, and a strong performance from Reporting Scotland.
“We need to make sure we keep changing our output as audience habits evolve so that we provide the best possible service in the formats and on the platforms they want.
“Scotcast and News at Seven will help do that, and we’re looking forward to bringing them to audiences at the start of 2025.”
