‘Embarrassing’, cry viewers who have same complaint about new BBC Scotland show

BBC viewers all have the same complaint after the broadcaster launched its new TV programme tonight.

Reporting Scotland: News at Seven is the Beeb’s latest addition to its news show and is fronted by a popular Scots football presenter.

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The brand new 30-minute show will be aired every weeknight on the BBC Scotland channel and aims to complement Reporting Scotland.

It is presented by Laura Maciver, 48, and Amy Irons, 33, who will take turns fronting the show each night and share the days across the week.

Reporting Scotland, which will continue on BBC 1 at 6.30pm, will remain the broadcaster’s primary coverage of Scotland’s national news.

Tonight was the first time the show aired on the channel with Amy at the helm.

Viewers were quick to flock to social media after the show finished to share their thoughts – and many had the same complaint.

Many slammed the additional news programme for being very similar to The Nine, which was previously axed as part of a major shake-up.

The show was pulled off air last year, five years after it was first launched, after viewing figures plummeted.

The corporation ended its hour-long TV news show as well as its entertainment news programme The Edit, and weekly news review Seven Days after announcing changes to its News and Current Affairs services.

It came after The Nine and The Seven’s “atrocious” viewing figures were revealed at the beginning of 2023.

The 7pm show only pulled in 200 viewers on one Sunday in January, and the 9pm show reached just 1,700 people.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, one person said: “Only someone in marketing could come up with this… ‘The Nine failed, so let’s call it the Seven instead and that’ll be a roaring success'”.

Another added: “If nobody watched The Nine, why would they watch Scottish news at 7pm just as the evening entertainment channels get going?”

Someone else wrote: “Because The Nine was such a success…”

A fourth chimed in: “Frankly it’s embarrassing. The Nine was bad enough!”

And a fifth fumed: “What a complete waste of money. The Nine was a disaster. Even the Scottish evening news simply ends up being repeated.”

Others also claimed that they thought it was very similar to the already popular Reporting Scotland show.

A viewer posted: “I quite liked The Nine but don’t see the point of News at Seven when you’ve already had Reporting Scotland on BBC One“.

‘I’m really excited’

AMY Irons and Laura Maciver previously shared their excitement at being a part of the new show.

Speaking before the New Year, Laura 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.”

Amy added: “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.”

A new current affairs podcast Scotcast, hosted by Martin Geisser, 53, will launch on January 13.

It will be published four days a week, Monday to Thursday across five platforms – BBC Sounds, BBC Scotland, BBC One Scotland, BBC iPlayer and BBC Radio Scotland.

Martin said: “When it comes to podcasts, I was an ‘early adopter’. I love the medium and can’t wait to help deliver a podcast for Scotland that’s sharp, clever and fun”.

A second shared: “Another waste of licence players money. The Scottish news is already on BBC1 Scotland.”

However, fans were quick to gush over Amy after being impressed by the presenter on the show.

A fan said: “Well done to Amy Irons. All your hard work and endeavour starting to reap the reward”.

A second added: “Amy obviously earmarked for greater things, she’s getting pushed into the limelight more and more these days”.

While others chimed in: “Well done, Amy”.

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