Calendar is the local news programme for ITV Yorkshire (formerly Yorkshire Television (YTV)).It began on 29 July 1968,the same day as Yorkshire Television came on air. It is a dual-region programme, with separate editions for the North and South of the region on weeknights. GMTV bulletins and weekend bulletins are pan-regional. Unlike many regional news programmes at that time, Calendar adopted a magazine-style approach and benefited from heavy investment by Yorkshire Television in local news gathering.

During the early years, the Calendar title had been used by various programmes produced by YTV in both news and other genres, including the short-lived Good Morning Calendar breakfast show; the parliamentary programme Calendar Lobby; and Calendar Catwalk, a fashion show.

The name Calendar was also attached to the local version of the Channel 4 launch show, Countdown, which ran for one series on Yorkshire Television before the start of Channel 4 as Calendar Countdown. Shorter bulletins are called Calendar News.

The programme celebrated its 40th birthday on 29 July 2008 with a pan-regional special.

Until January 2007

The show has always been produced at the company's main facility at Kirkstall Road in Leeds, originally from Studio 2 but from 1989 onwards in a specially converted centre opposite the main studios.

Upon gaining the Belmont transmitter in 1974 from Anglia Television, which served south Lincolnshire and north Norfolk, the programme developed a small regional opt-out for that area in the main programme. At the same time YTV inherited the Anglia news office in Grimsby, Lincolnshire and opened a further one in Lincoln.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Calendar's output consisted of a main evening show and lunchtime and late night bulletins on weekdays with no bulletins at weekends. Weekend bulletins were introduced during the late 1980s. When ITV Schools programming was moved to Channel 4 (Channel 4 belonged to ITV until 1993) in 1987 and daytime programming introduced to ITV, morning bulletins were introduced at 9:25am and 11am along with a mid-afternoon bulletin. By the mid-1980s, Calendar had expanded its lunchtime bulletin into a half-hour magazine show entitled Calendar Lunchtime Live. The programme was scrapped in the early 1990s but reintroduced for a short period in 2001.

The mid-morning and lunchtime Calendar News bulletins were split into three sub-regions. Calendar East (Hull) was broadcast to east Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk, whilst Calendar South was broadcast to Sheffield and north Derbyshire and Calendar News was broadcast to the rest of the region (west and north Yorkshire). There was also a 5- minute opt-out within the main Calendar programme.

From January 2007

On January 8 2007, Calendar's main 18:00 programme was split into West and East editions. All other bulletins serve the entire region.

Calendar North: (North, West & Southwest Yorkshire and North Derbyshire i.e. Chesterfield)
Calendar South: (central & east Lincolnshire, East & Southeast Yorkshire, east Nottinghamshire i.e. Newark, and north Norfolk).

Calendar airs on ITV Yorkshire seven days a week. ITV Yorkshire provides three news bulletins during GMTV. The mid-morning bulletin airs immediately after an ITV News Summary at 11.15, during This Morning, this update airs for 5 minutes. The lunchtime edition of the programme follows on from the ITV Lunchtime News, giving a five minute round-up of the days developments between 13:55 and 14:00. The main evening edition of Calendar begins at 18:00, and ends at 18:30. The late news update from Calendar follows the News at Ten, airing between 22:25 and 22:40 Monday to Thursdays, and between 23:25 and 23:40 on Fridays, after The Late News.

Calendar airs four bulletins at weekends: two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Times vary, but the Sunday evening bulletin usually airs at around 18:30.

As with many ITV regional news programmes, some areas of the YTV region crossover into neighbouring ITV regions. For example, Calendar South covers Newark, which is also covered by Central News East; whilst north Norfolk is also covered by Anglia Tonight.

The team

Currently, the Calendar on-air team, consists of the following:

Main presenters

Calendar North

• Christine Talbot (Monday to Thursdays)
• Duncan Wood
• Kate Webster (Fridays/cover)

Calendar South

• Gaynor Barnes
• John Shires
• Tina Gelder (cover)

Bulletin presenters

• Carolyn Hodgson (GMTV bulletins)
• Vicky Locklin - freelance (Also North East Tonight newsreader for ITV Tyne Tees)
• Michelle Gee (late night bulletin)
• Paul Burland (Weekend bulletins, also sports reporter)

• Dave Devenport (Also producer/news editor for Calendar North)
• Frazer Maude (also a reporter)
• Karen Petch
• Lisa Walton

Sports presenters

• John Shires
• Paul Burland (weekend/stand-in presenter)

• Rachel Phillips (occasional stand-in presenter/reporter)
• John Helm (commentator)

Weather presenters

• Jon Mitchell (Chief weather presenter)
• Jo Blythe

• Kerrie Gosney
• Debbie Lindley

N.B. Jo, Kerrie and Debbie also present forecasts on ITV Tyne Tees, ITV Granada and ITV Border.

Reporters

N.B. Some reporters also occasionally present bulletins or can be seen reporting for ITV Tyne Tees's North East Tonight.

Calendar North

• Lisa Adlam (West Yorkshire)
• Jon Hill (North East Yorkshire - shared with North East Tonight)
• David Hirst (Sports Correspondent)
• Chris Kiddey (Leeds)
• Katie Oscroft (Leeds)
• Sally Simpson (North Yorkshire)
• Kate Webster (Correspondent/relief presenter)

Calendar South

• Phil Andrews (South Yorkshire, freelance)
• Ben Erlam (Lincolnshire)
• Martin Fisher (West Lincolnshire)
• Julie Lockwood (South Yorkshire)
• Gail Mellors (South Yorkshire)
• Raj Shukla (South Yorkshire)
• Anne-Marie Tasker (East Riding of Yorkshire)
• Vicky White (South Lincolnshire, freelance)

Specialist Correspondents

• Tina Gelder (Consumer Affairs)

• Dave Harrison (London)

Past presenters

• Christa Ackroyd (now with BBC Look North)
• Jonathan Aitken
• Faye Barker (now freelance at BSkyB and ITN)
• Penny Bustin (now with BBC Look North)
• Paul Dunstan
• Geoff Druett
• Liz Fox
• Roger Greenwood
• Robert Hall
• Alan Hardwick

• Richard Madeley
• Austin Mitchell (became Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby)
• Mike Morris
• Ruth Pitt
• Sid Waddell
• Marylyn Webb
• Simon Welfare
• Richard Whiteley
• Jason McCartney (became a parliamentary candidate)
• Jonathan Morrell (rejoined Tyne Tees Television)

Calendar spin-offs

• Calendar Calling
• Calendar Carousel
• Calendar Commentary
• Calendar Countdown
• Calendar Fashion Show
• Calendar Friday
• Calendar Goes Pop
• Calendar Kids

• Calendar Lunchtime Live
• Calendar People
• Calendar Tuesday
• Calendar Sport
• Calendar Sunday
• Christmas Calendar
• Country Calendar
• Good Morning Calendar

Trivia

• Good Morning Calendar, which started in 1977, is credited as being the UK's first breakfast television programme, six years before the launch of TV-am. It ran for one hour, finishing at 09:25 when ITV companies traditionally went on-air.
• The first-ever edition of Calendar was pre-recorded an hour before transmission. Due to a technical fault the show was transmitted incorrectly; what viewers saw resembled a photographic negative.
• During one live edition in 1969 university students sneaked into the studios, interrupted the show and 'kidnapped' the guest, actress Anita Harris, as part of their rag week stunts.

External links

• Yorkshire News at itvlocal.com
• InsideTV on Good Morning Calendar and morning television
• Calendar opening titles at TVARK