Newsnight is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines.

Its planned September 1979 launch date was delayed by four months by the Association of Broadcasting Staff, at the time the main BBC trade union.

[6] Newsnight was the first programme to be made by means of a direct collaboration between BBC News, then at Television Centre, and the current affairs department, based a short distance away at the now defunct Lime Grove Studios.

Former presenters include Peter Snow, a regular for seventeen years, Donald MacCormick, Charles Wheeler, Adam Raphael and John Tusa, later boss of the BBC World Service.

In the early days each edition had an "auxiliary presenter", a phenomenon pejoratively known at the time as the "Newsnight's wife syndrome".

The fixed time slot of 22:30 was established in the face of fierce objections from the then managing director of BBC Television, Bill Cotton, otherwise in charge of all scheduling decisions.

On 29 November 2023, it was announced that as part of major reinvestment and savings plans within BBC News, that Newsnight would be revamped as a half-hour "interview, debate and discussion" programme, ditching its special reporting team.

Later, during the twentieth anniversary edition of Newsnight, Paxman told Howard that he had simply been trying to prolong the interview because the next item in the running order was not ready.

"[20] In November 2019, Emily Maitlis interviewed Prince Andrew, Duke of York about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in August 2019 whilst awaiting trial.

[28] In April 2001, the BBC's Board of Governors ruled that Newsnight's coverage of Peter Mandelson's resignation over the Hinduja affair had been politically biased.

The governors criticised the programme for only featuring Labour Party supporters on the panel discussing the issue, and no opposition politicians appeared at any stage of the 45-minute episode.

The BBC said that while the programme contained "fair, reasonable and rigorous journalism", it was "not made clear" that the remarks referred to matters that were questioned in the upcoming content.

[31] Following the commencement of the Boris Johnson government in July 2019, ministers generally refused invitations to appear on the programme.

[32] This resulted in Newsnight presenters stating on an almost nightly basis that the government had been asked to appear but that "no one was available" or that they had declined outright.

[34] On 23 October, the Director-General of the BBC, George Entwistle, appeared before the Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee, and stated that it had been a "catastrophic mistake" to cancel the Newsnight broadcast.

On 2 November 2012, Newsnight broadcast a report falsely accusing, but not naming, a prominent Conservative, Lord McAlpine of child abuse.

The veracity of this story collapsed after The Guardian reported a case of mistaken identity on 8 November[36] and the victim retracted the allegation after belatedly being shown a photograph of McAlpine in an item broadcast on the following day.

The programme was presented by Kirsty Wark, Martha Kearney, John Wilson, Tim Marlow, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Hardeep Singh Kohli.

Regular reviewers included Mark Kermode, Tom Paulin, Ekow Eshun and Germaine Greer.

As part of the BBC's commitment to moving programmes out of London, Newsnight Review finished on 18 December 2009 with a special hour-long edition.

Paxman on one occasion adopted a sarcastic tone and announced: "So finally and controversially, tomorrow's weather forecast.

Between January and June 2006 the programme included Gordaq, a spoof stock market index measuring the political performance of Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.

[51] KCET, an independent public television station in Los Angeles, broadcasts the weekly digest version.