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| STV (Scotland)Scottish Television Network Country: United Kingdom The two licences still produce regional programmes, although the only difference between them is the respective news programmes: North Tonight covering Northern Scotland and Scotland Today covering Central Scotland. There is no "STV (South)" as Southern Scotland is part of the Border Television region (Border being owned by ITV plc) and programmes are presented there under the ITV1 Border brand. Emphasising the fact that STV is essentially one channel across Scotland, there is now a single director of programmes (Derrick Thomson - former managing director of Grampian TV) and, from September 2007, a single head of news (Gordon MacMillan - former head of news of Scottish TV). Terms in the renewed licences for both STV Central and STV North also mean that regional non-news programmes are shared (and identically scheduled) across both licences. STV produces current affairs and political programming, including Politics Now, and daily light entertainment and news programme The Five Thirty Show. One of STV's best known brands is Scotsport, one of the world's longest running sports television programmes, that heads STV's sports coverage. The channel also produces many Gaelic programmes. Whilst a lot of STV's output is for its own broadcast area, some programmes are also broadcast to the Scottish part of the Border Television area and some across the whole of the United Kingdom. One of STV's most famous exports is the long-running crime drama Taggart, set in Glasgow (credited as SMG Productions). More recent STV programmes include the popular Beyond Explanation, presented by Dundonian actor Brian Cox. The programme looked at mysterious sightings across Scotland over the last few centuries. The channel also produce crime show Unsolved: Getting Away With Murder which covered past unsolved criminal cases in Scotland. The programme was shown across Scotland and drew high viewing figures while increasing the number of calls made to the Police by witnesses of various incidents who saw the show. STV have also recently broadcast the Scottish dating show Club Cupid, which was filmed in Dundee and a 6-part history series, Highlands, in which Taggart star John Michie discovers the dark history of the Scottish Highlands. Since June 2007, STV News teams in the Northern and Central regions have also produced exclusive programming for the station's website, stv.tv, in the form of video blogs. The Real MacKay (Scotland Today), Northern Exposure (North Tonight) and Weather Blether (STV Weather) have gained cult status and continue to be produced on a regular basis. Previous TV programming includes the dramas Take the High Road, Garnock Way and High Living, gameshows Now You See It and Wheel of Fortune, crime series Crimedesk with Bill Knox, long-running documentary series Weir's Way, lifestyle show Room at the Top, and Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade, which lasted 26 years. |
