The programme aired from 5 October 1964 until 31 December 1981 – the final day of broadcasting from ATV before the company was restructured and relaunched as Central Independent Television.
[1] By now airing for 30 minutes from 6 pm, ATV Today was a popular mainstay of television in the Midlands, and alongside hard news coverage, it maintained its light-hearted and knockabout style of presenting.
Farming Today reported on countryside matters throughout the 1970s,[1] and the long running London crime series Police 5, hosted by Shaw Taylor, launched a Midlands version as part of the programme during the 1960s.
ATV believed the cost of a separate region would be too expensive, but did establish a small studio in Nottingham after renting space at the city's Theatre Royal.
Among those who presented on ATV Today were Bob Warman, Anne Diamond, Brian Maclaurin, Margaret Hounsell, Bill Spencer, Geoff Meade, Chris Tarrant, Wendy Nelson, Derek Hobson, Valentine Palmer and Shaw Taylor.
Others working on the programme included Lionel Hampden, Helen Piddock, Bev Smith, Terry Lloyd, Lance Beswick, Alan Jones, Mike Warman, Ted Trimmer, John Mitchell, Peter Plant, Wendy Jones, Val Lewis, Mart Gottschalk, David Eggleton, Lynda Berry, Terry Johnson, Tony Maycock, Sue Jay, John Swallow, Bob Hall, Rob Golding, John McLeod, Peter Green, David Lloyd, Jennifer Gay, political editor Reg Harcourt and former ITV News editor-in-chief David Mannion.