The unique, probing reporting style of Robin Day caused shock among politicians, finding themselves questioned continually for information – this had never been the case with the BBC.

Into the 1960s, reporters such as George Ffitch, Alastair Burnet, Gordon Honeycombe, Huw Thomas and Sandy Gall emerged as aspiring newscasters, under the leadership of editor Geoffrey Cox.

ITN's head newscasters – Alastair Burnet, Andrew Gardner, and George Ffitch – presented the first News at Ten, and the bulletin became so popular with viewers that it was kept in the schedules after its initial 13 weeks.

The early opening title sequences were simplistic; for the first two years, the ITN symbol faded into a wide studio shot showing the two newscasters at the desk, with the caption News at 10.

Then, in 1969, a new title sequence was introduced: a slow pan of the Houses of Parliament was followed by a sharp zoom into the face of "Big Ben" showing the time of 22:00.

Leonard Parkin retired in 1987, and Peter Sissons became a main newscaster for ITN's Channel 4 News (before moving to the BBC in 1989) – it was at this point that the programme revamped.

Julia Somerville joined ITN from the BBC's Nine O'Clock News to host the new programme, with John Suchet and Jon Snow acting as relief presenters.

In 1988, the programme launched specially made opening titles featuring a computer generated travel through London, up the River Thames until the camera stops at the "Big Ben" clockface.

John Suchet was the main newscaster for the Early Evening News, and relief presenters included Carol Barnes, Nicholas Owen and Dermot Murnaghan.

A new set was created for the programme, featuring television monitors, a large video screen, and a curved desk with "News at Ten" inscribed into it.

Design firm Lambie-Nairn devised the new look, which saw special arrangements of the famous News at Ten music being used for the other bulletins (as composed by Dave Hewson).

After a lengthy battle with the ITC, a half-hearted ITV News at Ten was introduced (hosted by McDonald) in January 2001, although as part of the agreement, the bulletin was only shown at 22:00 for three days a week to accommodate other programming.

A specially made VR view of the ITN atrium now adorned the "Theatre of News" screen (an earlier version had been used for ITV's Election 2005 a year previously).

The studio contained a VR view over night-time London (with an outline of the Big Ben clockface superimposed on top), with dark blue and black being the primary colour scheme; VR glass 'sheets' also provided News at Ten logos on them.In 2007, The Guardian reported that ITV planned to take its news output "back to basics" by paring back graphics and having newscasters adopt a more formal style of presenting from behind the desk instead of standing up.

All news bulletins began to be presented from behind a desk; a VR view over London appeared as the backdrop (different coloured versions were used depending on the time of day).

Continuing the cohesive look across all programmes, VR glass screens also appeared in the studio to provide graphics and live links with correspondents and reporters.

In August 2009, it was announced that after 16 years co-hosting London Tonight, Alastair Stewart was to leave the regional magazine programme to become the main co-anchor of the ITV Evening News.

The November revamp included a newly designed rectangular set and graphics featuring a colour scheme of black and gold to complement the ITV1 image and branding.

A newly composed piece music called 'News Centre' was introduced, which incorporated only a few elements of 'The Awakening', the previous ITV News theme.

[16] Trademarks of ITN and ITV News are the inclusion of the Elizabeth Tower at the Houses of Parliament in its programme titles, along with the chimes of Big Ben (known popularly as the "bongs") between headlines.

In 1992, News at Ten was relaunched following the decision to move to a single newscaster – Trevor McDonald won the role – and composer Dave Hewson was assigned with the responsibility of musical changes.

Election 64 – The Result was hosted by Alastair Burnet, the fast-rising face of politics on ITV, and contained many visual gimmicks to keep the audience interested in the coverage.

"VTF30", a piece of technology based upon a knitting-pattern machine, provided moving computer graphics for the first time in television election coverage history.

Election 92 was anchored by Jon Snow, with Alastair Stewart providing graphical commentary and Julia Somerville assisting with regular news summaries.

The US presidential election of November 2008 was covered by ITN on the ITV network between 23:15 and 06:00 in a programme titled Election Night Live: America Decides, which saw ITN team up with fellow news organisation NBC News; Alastair Stewart hosted from the studio in London, supported by MORI-founder Bob Worcester and a team of studio guests throughout the evening.

Julie Etchingham, James Mates, Bill Neely and John Irvine provided the all-important presenting and reporting duties from the United States.

Nina Hossain presented live from the "Opinion Room" at ITN where journalists, bloggers, politicians and experts gave their view on the results of the election.

Since then BAFTA has gone on to present ITN with a total of 26 awards, for coverage on ITV ranging from Francis Chichester's home-coming in 1967 to the Northern Ireland troubles, the Iranian Embassy siege, wars in the Falklands, Lebanon and the Gulf, the Zeebrugge ferry disaster, the discovery of the Serb camps, the genocide in Rwanda, the storming of the Moscow White House, and the conflict in former Yugoslavia.

Home based issues including the miners' strike, the Iranian embassy siege, the Tottenham riots, the Kings Cross fire, the death of Labour leader John Smith and coverage of Dunblane have all been voted the Best Journalism of the Year by the RTS.

[citation needed] From the United States there has been recognition of ITN's journalism, from the prestigious Emmy awards, the New York Television Programming Festival and the White House News Photographers' Association.