Daily Mail: Amy Irons and Laura Maciver to host new BBC news programme after previous show The Nine was axed

Story from Daily Mail:

She has risen to become one of the most recogniseable TV presenters in Scotland and recently landed the much-prized gig of hosting the Hogmanay show made famous by Jackie Bird.

Now it has emerged Amy Irons is to be a co-anchor on BBC Scotland’s new current affairs programme alongside long-time news presenter Laura Maciver.

The show – titled Reporting Scotland: News at Seven – is a half-hour-long offering, created to replace the channel’s hour-long programme The Nine, which will air its last show prior to Christmas.

BBC Scotland also announced that Martin Geissler – who had at one point presented The Nine – will front a new current affairs podcast series called Scotcast.

Launching on Monday 6 January 2025, Reporting Scotland: News at Seven will broadcast live from Studio C at the BBC’s Pacific Quay headquarters in Glasgow.

The new show will be broadcast on the BBC Scotland channel, which last year cost the Beeb £35million to run.

In a statement the Beeb said the new show will have ‘a conversational and informal tone,’ and will focus ‘on the people at the heart of communities from Shetland to Selkirk’.

The statement added: ‘It will also give audiences more on the big stories of the day through analysis and discussion.’

The programme will be fronted by one presenter each night, with Maciver and Irons, 33, sharing the duties between them.

The new current affairs show will complement Reporting Scotland on BBC One at 6.30pm, which the BBC said will ‘continue to be the programme that provides the primary coverage of Scotland’s national news’.

Ms Maciver said: ‘I’m looking forward to sharing the stories that our news teams will be bringing from communities across Scotland.

‘We’ll be spending time talking to people at the heart of the news in their area and bringing different stories, faces and voices to the programme.’

Ms Irons said: ‘It’s great to be joining the presenting line-up and team of this new programme.

‘I’m really excited to be seeing out 2024 with the Hogmanay show and starting 2025 with News at Seven.’

Earlier this year, BBC Scotland bosses announced it would be cancelling its flagship news and current affairs programme The Nine after a long-running row over low viewing figures.

The show was branded a ratings flop after its launch in 2019 but survived rounds of cuts after broadcasting chiefs rallied behind the hour-long show - originally hosted by Martin Geissler and Rebecca Curran.

Two other programmes on the BBC Scotland channel were also cancelled as part of the announcement in February - entertainment news show The Edit and the weekly news review Seven Days.

The Nine’s cancellation had sparked criticism from Culture Secretary Angus Robertson who described the move as ‘extremely disappointing’, and said he planned to take the issue up with BBC Director General Tim Davie.

The changes came about after it emerged that only 1,700 viewers tuned in to The Nine on January 10, about 0.1 per cent of those watching television at the time.

Commenting on the launch of the new shows, Gary Smith, head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland, said: ‘We need to make sure we keep changing our output as audience habits evolve so that we provide the best possible service in the formats and on the platforms they want.

‘Scotcast and News at Seven will help do that, and we’re looking forward to bringing them to audiences at the start of 2025.’

The daughter of ex-footballer Davie Irons, Ms Irons is a sports presenter and co-hosts the popular Sacked In The Morning podcast alongside former Scotland manager Craig Levein. She also has a radio show on Heart.

Last month, it emerged she had been picked to present the New Year celebrations on BBC One Scotland for the first time, with Wet Wet Wet legend Marti Pellow, Celtic folk band Skipinnish and singer Rianne Downey providing the musical entertainment.

Hogmanay show stalwart Ms Bird, 62, last brought in the Bells in 2019 before comedian Susan Calman had a two-year stint as host, with DJ Edith Bowman then taking over.

Meanwhile, Ms Maciver is an experienced BBC Scotland presenter and reporter, fronting various news programmes over the past years including Good Morning Scotland, Reporting Scotland and The Nine.