Dateline London

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dateline London was recorded live on Saturday at 11.30 am on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. It always featured four guests in a round-table discussion of the weeks' main stories.

When the pandemic curtailed all in-person activities, only three guests participated in the programme. Two foreign correspondents from other news agencies or papers joined the programme virtually, with an in-studio guest usually being a relevant BBC correspondent with previous background to the stories being covered. In mid-2022, the virtual guests were stopped as they were accommodated in the studio, and on occasion a BBC correspondent would participate. Additionally, the programme moved to being recorded live every Friday at 7:30 pm, with repeats continuing as normal over the weekend. If significant news stories occurred during the day, the programme was able to be recorded earlier or later on the Friday.

In mid-2022, at the same time as axing virtual guests, the BBC announced its decision to axe the programme later that year. The final episode was broadcast on 15 October 2022.[1]

Dateline London was first hosted by Charles Wheeler, and subsequently by Gavin Esler. Shaun Ley and Maxine Mawhinney served as stand-in hosts during Esler's tenure.

Esler hosted his final edition on 25 March 2017, and Mawhinney on 8 April 2017. Since 15 April 2017, Dateline London was hosted on rotation by Jane Hill or Shaun Ley, while Carrie Gracie and Tim Willcox provided occasional cover.

Carrie Gracie had presented Dateline London following her return from paid leave in mid-2018. After 33 years with the BBC, Carrie Gracie left in August 2020. Since then, either Shaun Ley or Geeta Guru-Murthy has presented the programme. On 21 May 2021, Martine Croxall presented Dateline London for the first time.[2]

As of October 2021, Shaun Ley was the main presenter of Dateline London. Other presenters occasionally seen hosting the show are Martine Croxall, Ben Brown and Geeta Guru-Murthy.