ITV Meridian Tonight 2007 – 2009

ITV Regional News Changes

Ofcom relaxed the regulations on regional programming in 2009 which saw an end to regional documentaries and also meant that major changes to regional news could be brought in. For Meridian it would mean the three sub regions – Thames Valley, South and South East would be merged into one main programme with a pre-recorded segment for both the South and South East.

Fred Dinenage and Sangeeta Bhabra (from Meridian South East) were named as the presenters of the new programme. Debbie Thrower left without a fanfare on the 4th February and at the end of the final regular edition Fred paid tribute to his friend and co-presenter. The final edition also marked Fred Dinenage’s 45th aniversary in broadcasting and as a final swansong the South edition had been awarded the RTS South news programme of the year the night before.