Southern parts of the county such as Barrow-in-Furness and South Lakeland are still served by North West Tonight.

The rival ITV station, Granada Television, had already begun providing regional news coverage when it began broadcasting in May 1956, at first covering the North West only before extending to Yorkshire six months later.

For the first two years, the short weeknight bulletins were produced and broadcast from the BBC's Dickenson Road television studio at Rusholme in south Manchester.

At this point, production moved to a small studio at Broadcasting House, situated above a bank at Piccadilly Gardens and shared with the BBC's radio and newsgathering facilities in Manchester.

Between 1986 and 1989, the programme also covered parts of Cumbria previously served by the Newcastle edition of Look North and provided a news opt-out for the area at lunchtime.

[3] For 38 years, Dave Guest was chief reporter, as well as a presenter, producer and editor of BBC North West Tonight.