Jubilee celebrations for BBC Midlands Today

BBC Midlands Today, one of the longest running regional television news programmes in the UK, is celebrating 60 years of broadcasting since, on Monday 28 September 1964, presenter Barry Lankester welcomed viewers to BBC Midlands Today for the very first time.

Since then, the show has covered thousands of historic stories across the region, from the construction of Spaghetti Junction to the Birmingham pub bombings, to the closure of the MG Rover Longbridge Plant and the infamous skateboarding duck story.

To mark the anniversary, BBC Midlands Today have putting on special programming from around the West Midlands and taking the red sofa on a tour across the region, hearing stories from audiences where they are.

The show has already been visiting some of the regions favourite places and asking people what BBC Midlands Today means to them.

The current line-up for the main early evening bulletin includes several presenters such as Nick Owen, Mary Rhodes, Shefali Oza, and Rebecca Wood, with Mary Rhodes saying the programme meant a lot to her for the past and the present.

She said: “I have been presenting the programme for 12 years, and it remains a privilege to bring the news to our audiences.

"Having grown up and studied in the region, it means a lot to prepare and host a programme that has the community at its heart and is loved by so many.

"I grew up watching Midlands Today, and I never imagined I would be part of the 60th anniversary celebrations.”

BBC Midlands Today Editor Lucy Collins said: “The programme has gone from strength to strength over the years and although some of our technology has changed and our studio looks a little different to back then the mission is still the same, serving the West Midlands communities, sharing their stories, passions, hopes and challenges.”

To find out more about the programme and to watch past programmes, go to the Midlands Today website.