LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Friday 13th July

Woohay everyone. It's F-F-F-FRIDAY. (Sorry too much coffee.)

Ahead, we hope, a gloriously relaxing weekend. For those who like a drop... a cheeky bottle of white perhaps to waken the palate - or, if you prefer, a case of lager. And for the non-drinkers - Ribena.

Fingers crossed we'll have the weather to barbecue by, or at least, go out without galoshes... Chrissie, of course, will have a the full story - aided by Darth Vader and Princess Leia. Now, THAT's woken some of you up, hasn't it?

What about this? 'Boris Johnson WILL run for Mayor'. That certainly woke US up when we read it this morning - but, from his office today, no word of confirmation. We wait, eagerly, to hear, because - let's face it - love Livingstone, or loathe him, you have to agree when he says 'Boris as Tory candidate' would make for interesting electioneering. Piers Hopkirk will sum up the state of play this evening.

As for the rest of the programme, we start with a man who set out to kill people because he thought they were 'sinners' - you may remember the story we covered last year of a petrol-bombing on a shop in Kennington. Two men died. Tonight we have the CCTV pictures of Robert Torto as he prepares and then carries out his deadly attack - and Phil Bayles will have the full story.

Next up: a tax on old bags - not really. It's a tax on NEW ones. If the London boroughs get their way, every time you buy shopping and you want to carry it out in a plastic bag: "that'll be 10p, please". They say it'll cut down the number of plastic bags going to landfill sites and they'll spend their windfall on being even greener. Glen Goodman is our bag-man.

Damien Steward, meanwhile, will be bashing those estate agents who clutter our streets with their ugly boards... especially when they've nothing to sell, or let, at all.

We'll be also be finding out whether 'Harry Potter Five' is worth the price of a ticket... and, AND... we'll be talking to a 'Teacher' and 'The Master' about their life together on the London Stage: Adrian Bower and John Simm are in to talk about 'Elling' which is on at the Trafalgar Studios.

So... put the Pinot (or 'bena) on ice, gather round the TV, and we'll all start the weekend together - on ITV1, at SIX o'clock.

See you then,

Ben

London Tonight Tonight Thursday 12th July

Good afternoon.
On the tie issue, I choose not to wear one on Fridays because it is a drop-down, unwind, get-ready-for-the-weekend sort of day. That's all. Paxman and Snow can elevate it to an issue of intellect if they want, but for me it is about chilling out. Just wanted to get that off my chest - or neck.
Second, I am told cycling is the second most popular sport in this glorious land of ours, second only to swimming. I'd have sworn fishing was up there but, hey, I'll accept producer Faye's statistics, hook, line and sinker.

More of those sports in a moment but we start with a case of dumb naivity, cynical greed or total innocence.
The drama is unfolding in Ghana, west Africa, as I write. The dramatis personae include two 16 year girls, who we think hail from north London; a team from UK Customs and Excise on an undercover operation in west Africa; and some heavies from the Ghanian authorities who say the penalty for drug smuggling is a minimum 10 year term. At the heart of it all is 6.5 kilos of cocaine: and it's our top story tonight.

Cycling at great speed is, apparantly, compelling. Right. They even do it really slowly and then..... shoot off, at great speed. Apparantly THAT is even more compelling. Indeed, compelling on an Olympic scale. Where they will be doing it in 2012 will be revealed to Simon Harris, our man in the peloton...

Swimming is different: elegant, almost an art-form, it can be enjoyed by giggling babies, thrown in at the deep-end by parents who have read the latest text books, right through to gods and goddesses who glide through the water at amazing speeds, propelled by a range of amazing strokes. Then there are the strange folk who Chrissie found. They have swum across London, via all manner of swim-places and they end up on Hampstead Heath, tonight. Worth tuning in just to fathom, really.

Easier to fathom is why 36 Sat-Navs are stolen every week in London - rapid turn-around and good retail value for the scum who lift them. A good-guys-and-gals guide to how you can avoid becoming this week's number 37.
Also, Dave Stewart on how he picked an Annie Lennox sing-alike for his show at Tower of London from hundreds of wannabes. And an invitation to you to nominate the really good people in your community who deserve a public, and very spendable, pat on the back: details at 6.
Katie and I really hope you can make it... unless you are fishing. In which case, we are so sorry.

Alastair

London Tonight Tonight Wednesday 11th July

Good Afternoon from the 'London Tonight' gang,

We hope you're all enjoying the fact that having slaved past midday on this Wednesday, we are now - officially - over half way through the week. That means talk in the canteen and by the noticeboard can legitimately turn to plans for the weekend.

We do still have the day's news to take care of... and we start with a bit of a barney, frankly. And it's a barney which really could effect all of us. Published today - proposals for a massive makeover of the way healthcare is organised and provided here in London. It'll mean benefits for patients says the Health Minister behind it. It'll be a complete disaster says a London health charity. Emma Walden has the details - and after she's presented all the arguments - we'll be looking to hear your points of view... please.

It's likely you'll have an opinion on the three youngsters who've been caught on camera as they run this way and that across a live railway line near Staines. The pictures take your breath away. The kids were lucky a train didn't take their lives away. The BTP gave us the pictures to show and we'll be hearing from a man who's son was hit and killed by a train.

Ronke Phillips probably has the most difficult story to cover this evening - it's the launch of a new campaign by the Met to clampdown on the dreadful custom of female circumcision. Girls as young as four are subjected to the brutal act which many defend in the name of tradition or religion. It's a powerful report.

And we'll be asking whether the elderly should get privileged parking... whether a talented and popular 'music meister' has what it takes to wow the art critics... and what on earth Chrissie is doing on the beach... in Greenwich.

Much to see - all at the usual time, usual place.

See you at SIX on ITV1.

Ben & Katie

London Tonight Tonight Tuesday 10th July

Hello: I'm Dan the Director and I wanted to tell you what Al and Katie and Faye and all the others have planned for you. I just have to get it to your screens so here goes!
If the next series of Top Gear did an episode of great getaway cars, I very much doubt a brand new Bentley Continental would come top of the billing, but that's just what happened when two robbers turned up at an unsuspecting high-end jewellers. We have the full amazing story including exclusive CCTV footage.

And the gang behind the Olympics might need a getaway car if a group of MPs are predicting correctly!
The Public Accounts Committee says there's a lot going wrong with the 2012 plans - and there's no-one taking the bull by the horns. Tessa Jowell talks to us LIVE and we will ask if she is the person to grab the horns!

Chrissie's with former Squeeze, Jools Holland. No, not literally - but she is interviewing him about the start of the Summer Swing festival at Kew Gardens. And as if that wasn't enough showbiz for you - Steve Hargrave talks to the artist formally known as Blondie. Debbie Harry is swapping her rock n roll days for something slightly more sedate. In fact she's turning Ben Elton to help do the songs for a new musical hitting the West End.

There's lots more than that - but as Director of the show, and guest writer on London Tonight Tonight - I simply haven't got time to tell you... You'll just have to watch Al and Katie to find out.

See you at 6.
Dan.

London Tonight Tonight Monday 9th July

Afternoon.
A child will look you in the eye and say "I didn't mean to !"
Most times, you soften and give them the benefit of the doubt.
And you must have heard "that's not what I meant" a million times.
But a jury was eye-balled by three men who said, despite packing rucksacks with a bizarre and potentially deadly mixture of explosive materials, and setting foot on tube trains and buses with trigger devices at the ready that "they didn't mean to" and that mass murder was "not what they meant".
The Jury told them to take a hike, found them guilty and they await sentencing.
The full, horryfying story of the 21/7 bombers at 6.

I love "Make me Smile" by Cockney Rebel - Steve Harley, lead singer of Cockney Rebel, doesn't. Well, not anymore it seems. He is coming in tonight to explain himself. Not really. He is coming in to explain what he's doing on the West End Stage but we might mention "Make me Smile". He also says he was visited as a sick child by the Rolling Stones. I am deeply envious and would have feined serious illness to win such a benediction. He saw my idols and he dislikes one of my favourite songs? Katie will have to turn referee, me thinks.
Did the Stones wash their hands before and after seeing the poorly young Harley? I have my doubts. Nowadays it is a more serious matter with MRSA and cDiff. We reveal the Hospital which has received a final warning over cleanliness. If the NHS safety people don't get Satisfaction, the Hospital will be told that was The Last Time.

There's a by-election in Southall on the 19th - we look at the runners and riders in what looks like a fascinating race, and a real test for all the parties amid talk of early elections.
Weather, papers and your e-mails on hospital cleanliness and I hope you give us a clean bill of health for what has the symptoms of being a rather interesting programme.
Best wishes from the man in the white coat, Alastair, and the calm but authoritative woman, clutching her referee's whistle, Katie.
See you at 6.

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Thurs 5th July

Greetings from the London Tonight team, occupying the same space in the same city in the same land, as usual.

But tonight, our theme is another country.

Ronke reports on the money transfer business which existed to dispatch large quantities of cash for large numbers of people to ... other countries. It is a common practice for many immigrant workers and even second and third generation ethnic minority families who still have loved ones in another country. But the money has gone missing. Possible millions of it, reducing thousands of people here, and abroad, to a state of distraught panic. The company say "sorry" .
Ronke's investigation will find out if it's that simple.

Many of you set off on a tube journey this morning as office workers or shop-keepers or students. But, when a nightmare struck hundreds of feet underground, you turned into video journalists. A derailment sent several people to hospital but, fortunately, none have died. But what country do the people who left debris on the line, live in? And it was on Metronet's manor that it happened, a company we increasingly think occupies a space on this earth that few of us can fathom!

Race tracks are for race cars and Great Ormond Street Hospital is for poorly children. Two very different worlds. Hear how the geniuses of GOSH saw something in what the F1 pit-crews do for Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikenon that could help them help the kids. Brilliant stuff with Tamsin Roberts at the wheel - or in the white coat.

Hairspray premiers in Leicester Square with John Travolta dressed, not as another country but as another gender. Steve is there.

And Rupert Everett, who stared in Another Country, one of my all time favourites, has written an autobiography: hilariously naughty and emotionally frank. Rupert is with us tonight and I think you ought to be, too.

Unless you're off to another country in which case .. au revoir!

If not, see you at 6.

Alastair and Tamzin.

London Tonight Tonight Tuesday 3rd July

Good evening. And we hope you'll join us for a very special edition of London Tonight, tonight.
You probably saw on our programme yesterday that a teenaged boy was found guilty of the murder of 15 year old Kiyan Prince last May.
Hannad Hasan took Kiyan's life with a penknife, and left a family destroyed...
For the last year, London Tonight has been given unprecedented access to Kiyan's relatives. To his mother and father, and even his younger sister, as they tackle life without him.
Despite his pain, Kiyan's dad Mark is determined to do something more positive. He's decided that the only way to make sense of his loss, is to make sense of what's happening on our streets. So he's taken his fight to the frontline. He's working with young people to raise their awareness of what happens when you carry a knife, and when you use it.
And during a film to be shown on London Tonight at six o'clock, we witness his courage in action.
We follow him as he talks to the young boys drawn into a life of crime, we join him as he struggles to cope with the pressure of THREE murder trials, and we help him create a campaign that we hope will make Kiyan's life matter.
It's a remarkable story, and one that we should all take courage, and inspiration from.

Make an appointment to see "Put the Knives N Guns Down" here on ITV1 at 6.

London Tonight Tonight Monday 2nd July

Good afternoon and welcome to the London Tonight blog. I hate that term but I am assured that is what this is. I see it more as my note to you inviting you to join Katie and me at 6. Oh well...

Charles Manson claimed the Beatles song "Helter Skelter" was partly to blame for his downward spiral into mindless murder. He was an out of sorts hippy, leading a gang of like-minded n'er do wells in the California of the 60s. Sick and sad stuff.
So what is it that drives a group of men and women from various countries in the Middle East to plan mass murder in London and/or Glasgow and/or goodness knows where? Add to that the disturbing fact that two of them were Doctors, working in the NHS and some of what you believe in starts to crumble. That they were prepared to come from Scotland to London and then go back again to carry out an attack gives a terrible insight into their determination. They haven't all been caught yet. Try to get on a mainline train or fly in or out of one of our airports and you'll get a taste of what is being done to protect you. We seek to give you full coverage of the measures and ask the additional question: where was Sir Ian Blair? Not before the events but after them - conspicuously absent. See what you think and then tell us.

From a plan to committ mass murder to a single act of savage violence that resulted in a single death. Kiyan Prince was murdered and his killer was convicted today. We try to make sense of that, too, but it is even more difficult.

Very difficult to understand, albeit for very different reasons, is why Buffy the Vampire Slayer was asked to open the Harrods sale: many wanted to avoid this story but it is so odd we felt we had to take you there, silver bullets and garlic cloves to hand.

We've a Live Earth competition with great prizes, so tree huggers and pop fans among you hang in there.

And "Working Day 1" of the Smoking in Enclosed Spaces ban and, outside our building, the smokers are thinning out.
We have a powerful story from one elderly lady after 50 years of lighting up. If anything is going to sway me and you (if you are a smoker), it is her experience.

See you ar 6.
Alastair

London Tonight Tonight Thursday 28th June

Good evening.
We have got an absolutely packed show for you tonight - here's the menu...
Tuberculosis - disease of the past? Not really. London Tonight has got its hands on a report that will shock you. It says the rates of the disease in our great city are the worst in Europe... and in some boroughs worse than China!
Phil Bayles talks to one young woman who's suffering - and doesn't even know where she caught it. It's gripping so don't miss it.

Also tonight - breaking news. The man who stabbed Cheryl Moss - the nurse who went out for a fag break at work - has been found guilty of her murder. We're at the Old Bailey live to hear her brother's reaction to the verdict.

We've got the sad tale of the Olympic evictee. Navy veteran and pensioner Ron Rowen has lived in the same house for 40 years. Unfortunately for him, it's on the Olympic site. Today, he was thrown out by the bailiffs to make room for the cyclists.
And the lady responsible for turning London into an Olympic city will be joining us live at 6. Tessa Jowell on why she's out of cabinet, but still in charge of the biggest project facing the capital in decades.

Then there's the little matter of the Spice Girls. You know we helped make them don't you?
Well tonight Posh, Baby, Sporty, Scary and Ginger are back together and they're back in Alastair's arms - yes, quite literally. And even he's admitted it's smutty!

So Join Al and Katie at six to see it all.

London Tonight Tonight Wednesday 27th June

I am so sorry to be late with this little missif but Tony Blair finally called it a day, today, and Gordon went to the Palace and, we suspect, stayed on for a sarnie and sherbert which has made everything else run late! Oh what a life. The King is dead, long live.... the right to linger, loiter and keep London Tonight Tonight waiting. I despair.

Bet Tony was on the phone on the way to the Palace to say goodbye and bet Gordon was, too, telling all his mates to tune in and see his magic moment on the telly. That's fine... but if the driver had done it while at the wheel then he'd have been for the high-jump. You know that. Or do you? Lots of you are driving as if you didn't. Phil has the evidence and will remind you of the risks you are running.

Running the Olympics from a sporting point of view is going to be a doddle compared to running it as a property business. How much will the Olympic Park be worth in 2013? One careful, albeit Olympic size, owner? £800 M? £2B? It matters because upon it hinges, like a creeky barn-door, the amount the National Lottery Good Causes will get back. Or not.
Bit of a gamble, then, for the National Lottery to have lent the money in the first place. Harris is the man in the shades at the roulette wheel.

Travelling on a bus shouldn't be a gamble, nor should glancing at a stranger be risky. For Martin Dinnegan, on his way to a Youth Club, both proved fatal. The why's and wherefore's are mind-numbing but Glen will be taking you through them and we'll be asking you what you make of it.
Breather!

Cue the music: Crowded House are reforming - ( I didn't know they had broken up) - just in time to hit the concert circuit as they ban smoking in enclosed places. Will this be good news or bad, for them? Everywhere you go, it seems you can no longer do what you want...
(Only if you are a selfsh polluter: Ed)
Stub it out, guv! It was only a play on the words to a song..
(Oh, alright then: Ed)
See you at 6 ... if he's really forgiven us.

Alastair and Katie

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Tues 26th June

It is just after four o'clock and Henman won so don't drift to the BBC: stay with us for ITV's London Tonight and the other bit of the ITV News Hour...

Our programme tonight is a festival of news, entertainment and officious officials.
On the news front, there's less than 24 hours of PM Blair left - and, which ever way you swing politically, it is a moment of some importance on the national and, perhaps, international stage of politics. So what does our Tony do? To prove even he still has things to learn he goes back to school. And who does he take with him on the day before he says "Goodbye" for the last time? The man who made famous the saying "I'll be back", wasn't and became Governor of California instead.
I just love the irony of it all. So did the kids at the school they both showed up at - as you'll see with Simon.

It is wrong not to pay your Council Tax. But if you are 77 years old and refuse to pay £31.16 of it because that is how much you think goes on the Olympics and you don't support the Olympics and don't think you'll be alive in 2012 to see them anyway, then.... well, I'm sorry but it is still wrong.
Whether or not Council Officials should pursue you to the courts for the tax and the costs may be a matter of some debate, however. We'll have that debate tonight, with Phil providing the impartial facts.

Now, imagine everything written by Noel Coward and Somerset Maugham, add in Mrs Robinson in the Graduate and conclude with Long Days Journey Into Night (Ist WW, trenches, last-fags-before-going-over-the-top time...) Now imagine the plays with no ciggies because of the ban on smoking in enclosed spaces. It could happen and it won't be the heirs of Ken Tynan or any other brilliant theatre critic who decides: another officious official from Health and Safety will determine if the puff of the carcinogenics is essential to the plot! Full details at 6.

Rod Stewart has been signing guitars at City Hall and you can win a bumper package of goodies including tickets for his Twickenham show and a personal introduction to the master! Tall blondes beware: he may be married to Penny but, on past form... what a rocker!

Bad Girls was an appalling TV series which pulled in staggeringly big audiences because it was so appalling. (His view, not mine! Editor) Anyway, they are putting it on the West End stage. Call me dumb but, with that big gap at the front, once the curtains up won't they all be able to escape? Only a thought.

Chrissie is in Hampton Court with some of the most beautiful flower displays ever, in one of the most beautiful settings, ever.

And I, along with Romilly, warmly invite you to become informed, annoyed and entertained by all or, at least, most of it.

Alastair.

London Tonight Tonight Monday 25th June

Good afternoon and welcome to the start of another week of Lonon Tonight-ery.

Our capital plumbed new depths at the weekend with four murders in two days: to put it in context, there were 8 murders in the whole of the UK at the weekend and we got half of them.
Full reports, particularly on the brutal events in Beckenham which prompted one witness to tell Marcus it was like listening to a pack of "baying animals"; and from Kingston where the events unfolded at the Volts nightclub.
We'll also be talking to the top-cop in charge of the Met's Special Crime unit.

After that, you'll need some lightening up... if not lighting up which, to a greater or lesser extent, will be nearly illegal in London come July 1st. ( I am fuming which is something I'll be doing less of, come July 1st!).
Bingo players count your blessings and bingo hall managers will find their place in smokers' heaven: a balcony will permit those hooked on housey-housey to continue their twin dodgy habits in peace; but there's a twist to the tale of two fat ladies and ducks in a row... Phil "Eyes down looking" Bayles has the story.

Imagine living in Camberley and hearing the drone of an annoying helicopter overhead: not unusual in that military neck-of-the-woods. But "knock knock" on the door, perhaps less common. Open the door and, knock me down with a feather, you are confronted with the face of one of the least likely diamond-divas you might have expected to drop by. And, as for her request, well I am too embarrassed to tell: it all happened to Mrs Amazed of Camberley who tells all to Damian Steward.

You can have too much of Harry Potter, we all agreed at our planning meeting: Daniel Radcliffe - cute, bare-chested in Equus in the West End but those spectacles and the post-punk mop of hair! Enuff. However, it seems he's been snogging so he may just have become slightly more interesting. I am not convinced but Steve Hargrave has been to investigate.

And Va va voom - the latest on the reason for weeping in the streets of Highbury and of giggly disinterest at Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane.
Katie's working on the Crimewave story but joins me in urging you to be with us at 6.

Alastair.

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Fri 22nd June

Hi there.

I know I've done it - I'm sure many of you have too - got to the train station with minutes to spare, seen the queue for the ticket machines and faced with the choice of waiting in line or missing the train - opted to jump on board. Well from now, beware! Do that on South West Trains and you will be treated as though you are nothing better than a fare dodger. Even if you go straight up to the guard on the train and ask to buy a ticket, even if the queues for the ticket machines are half a mile long, even if the machines decide not to take notes or cards just as you get up to them - it won't matter. Piers Hopkirk is going to be investigating how that's going down with passengers and if it gets you a little agitated too, or perhaps you think its perfectly fair, we want to hear from you.

Also on the programme an incredibly moving interview with a soldier's widow. Jane Little will be sharing with us the letter she hoped she would never read, the letter her boyfriend left her when he went to Afghanistan, with instructions that it should only be opened if he was killed in action. It's a heart breaking story - she's only nineteen - but what a brave and inspiring woman.

And then the family man who is in a coma after trying to stop a thief driving off in his car. The police are still looking for the car - a Honda Civic - we'll have the latest on that investigation and his condition.

Now we have reported before on the worrying shortage of bees this year, today we have the story of the bees who have built themselves a super nest, a bee mansion and who don't want to move home.

There's also what to look out for at the cinema, what not to miss this weekend AND what London looked like the night the lights went out.

See you at six,

Romilly and Al

London Tonight Tonight Thursday 21st June

Good Afternoon.

Hope you're all well and - if you were up with the larks rolling around naked in one of London's parks to mark the Summer Solstice - we hope you're not too tired. There are one or two people sitting at their desks round here, looking a little bleary-eyed AND with bits of grass in their hair... No, we haven't asked.

Speaking of mark the longest day of the year, we hope you'll be taking part in the 'Lights Out London' campaign. It's all happening between 9 and 10 tonight. And if you need more details on how you can sit back and feel a bit 'greener'... you'd better watch the programme.

Now, Grease - as we all know by now - is the word. You may have watched the ITV programme and voted for the chap and chapette now lined up to be the new Danny and Sandy. (Don't tell anyone - but someone sitting not too far from here right now was watching 'Joseph' on the other side. Tickets have been bought for one Thursday night in November, ready to check out whether 'Lee' was a vote well cast... or not.) Anyway, Danny B and Susan have begun rehearsals for their first night in just 6 weeks time. Tamzin will be chatting with them to find out just how nervous they are.

The programme starts though on a much more sombre note - the stabbing of Sian Simpson. An 18 year girl has been charged with her murder - and there is still a very real sense of shock around the corner of Croydon where Sian's life was brought so abruptly to an end. Glen Goodman is the only TV reporter who's been speaking to her father and sister - and we'll hear their desperate story this evening.

We'll also be looking at two London institutions that get Londoners' blood boiling. Let's start with the Dome (or the O2, as some very earnest people in suits would want us to call it). Love it, loathe it - the place is back in business - and this time, it's showbusiness. It's now the biggest music venue of its kind in Europe and it opens this weekend. Robyn Ross has been for a sneaky-peak.

Phil Bayles though is riding the Metronet express right into another cash controversy. The people who paid an awful lot of money to do up the tube and make it faster, cleaner, nicer, better (we'll let you judge) now say they've not been paid enough for the work they've done. In fact, they reckon they're owed more than £1 BILLION. We just tell you the facts. You judge for yourselves.

So then - a packed, packed programme. You wouldn't want to miss it... like Alastair...

You see, we've also been speaking to his 'hero of the hour', Lewis Hamilton. At just 22 years old, the terribly nice chap from Hertfordshire just happens to be leading the Formula One Drivers' Championship. Mr Stewart will be spitting feathers... but then, he's going to be a very busy man a little later on ITV1.

We'll tell you all about that too - at SIX.

Ben & Katie

London Tonight Tonight Wednesday 20th June

Afternoon..

Another awful knife death leads our programme tonight. This time it's a 17 year old girl, stabbed in the street in Croydon yesterday. The 2 suspects currently being questioned by police - also teenage girls. It sounds shocking - and if all is as it seems, then it certainly is shocking. We'll have all the latest information and interviews with witnesses and friends of the victim.

You'll remember of course the day that Jill Dando was shot dead on her own Fulham doorstep 8 years ago. The man convicted of her murder, Barry George today won the right to appeal for a second time. He's always claimed it wasn't him, and now his lawyers suggest there is new evidence to back his case. Marcus Powell has been investigating.

We've the tale of the 2 year old boy who waited 4 hours in A and E in Reading with a broken leg. As you can imagine, his parents were NOT impressed.

Phil Bayles been taking a look at the rather macabre new exhibition from the Wellcome Trust and Tamzin's interviewing that old charmer Bruce Willis at the premiere of Die Hard 4 ... will he be wearing a vest?

Meanwhile Ben and I will be scoffing in the studio, thanks to the Taste of London festival.. excellent!
See you at 6.

Katie

London Tonight Tonight Tuesday 19th June

Hello and a very happy Tuesday to you.

Bit of a drama going on here at the moment... er, we've just lost our top story. When we say 'lost' we don't mean it's fallen down the back of the sofa. It just wasn't what we thought, that's all.... which means we won't run it... which means we've got a bit more programme to fill. Nervous? Naaah. Excited? "That's more like it"... says the editor.

So, while the team decides what other news we'll get to cover as a result, we'll run you quickly through the stories we're already working on...

Well, the Mayor of London's been issued with an ultimatum over the members of the London Fire Authority. He's refused to sanction the appointment of nine white men to the authority because he says they don't represent the capital. London's fire boss, Ken Knight, has told him to either reconsider his position or, er, expect to hear from some lawyers. It's plenty more complicated than that... but the deadline passes at 5pm, and Simon Harris will cover all the developments.

Mr Livingstone's been a busy man today, as he also unveiled plans for a new rail-line to go round the city. And to run it, we'll be calling on the Chinese and a construction company - obviously. And do the unions not like that! Over to Glen Goodman.

Meanwhile , Liz Wickham's got a good lead on a story (stay with me here). Southwark Council put up signs in a park saying dogs have to be kept on leads 'at all times'. But, actually, they don't. And the council can't enforce it. So the signs were probably a bit of a waste of time, weren't they? And a waste of £36,000 worth of tax-payers' money... I mean, really.

We'll have to leave it up to the ticket-buying audiences at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane to decide whether the millions (and millions) of pounds spent committing 'Lord of the Rings' to the stage was money well spent. However, what we can do - and Tamzin will do - is bring you all the excitement as the clock ticks down to 'curtain up' on the world's most expensive musical.

So - all that - and plenty more at SIX.

See you then...

Ben & Nina

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Mon 18th June

Hello!

We're leading with the pretty shocking story that an NHS trust in our patch, Sutton and Merton to be precise, has admitted that it's failed to meet all 3 new government targets on cleanliness and hygiene. The aim was to cut the appalling rates of MRSA and C diff.... the result in this case: rubbish.

There's some good news - we think - from County Hall this afternoon. It seems Ken is cutting bus fares back to 90p for a single if you use your Oyster card. So why the caveat? Well, they were keeping their cards very close to their chest about this one, and we're not sure why they wouldn't shout to the roof tops. It also seems they can afford the cuts because the Tube budget is in surplus to the tune of 150 million pounds this year. Perhaps that money should be ploughed back into the tube system?

We're getting all the details on the footballers arrested for allegedly fiddling their driving license points... we're with the retired naval officer who's the first person to be evicted by the Olympic machine - he's got til tomorrow to move out.

Damien's been off investigating the joys of living in a houseboat.. while Kirstie will be with us to talk about the increasingly cavernous gulf between rich and poor in this city, not to mention the death of community spirit in the suburbs. So plenty of property news for us to get our teeth into.

For a bit of fun we're getting all excited about the man who came 4th in American Idol. No, really. He actually has done significantly better than all his other rivals on the show put together ... he's massive in the States. Tonight he's playing London .. and Jasmine went to meet him.

And that, is pretty much it.

See you at 6!

Katie and Al. x

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Fri 15th June

Good afternoon.

It has been one of those weeks where some of us weren't entirely sure we'd make it, rather like the wonderful men and women from the London I.T. team who are with Ronke, in South Africa, trying to build some outbuildings for a township school. Tonight we have made it to Friday and you can see if they have made it too, albeit thousands of miles away.

Closer to home, a report from the Home Affairs Select Committee (stay awake at the back, there!) all of whom are white (don't get angry, stick with me) has tried to make sense of why so many young blacks get caught up in so much crime. I sat down with comic genius and social commentator Richard Blackwood, who is black and still young-ish, to ask for his thoughts. Worth tuning in for whatever your age or race... and there are some good driving tips, too.

Simon Webbe is black but was Blue - well part of Blue and is now solo: he has toured, provided a song for a movie and is watching his latest album make good progress. He is dropping in, live, so I don't know if he'll have any driving tips but he is a really nice guy and very talented.

As is James King: it is just his dress-sense that worries me, sometimes! He is here, as always on a Friday, to cast an informed yet discerning eye over this weeks big releases... including the movie Simon Webbe provided a song for.( Are you keeping up or still feeling angry about those MPs?)

Tamzin, in my view, is simply someone not to miss and, therefore, casts herself, irrevocably, in the role of purveyor of our What Not to Miss feature, a highlight of what you might consider doing this weekend. She doesn't share my view but does the work brilliantly, nevertheless.

As does Robin, magnificently if not a little surreally occasionally, with the weather.

It is Friday and it is all there, plus some.

See you at 6 with the delicious Ms Sylvester on my arm.

Alastair

London Tonight Tonight Thursday 14th June

Afternoon: me again asking you, again, to join us for a tour de force across the landscape that is London's news, entertainment and current affairs.

We're six years on and, after more hours of police-time than you could imagine, the Boys in Blue have arrested Michael Barrymore and two other men on suspicion of the murder of Stuart Lubbock.
All three are currently helping police with their enquiries but we have been making our own, too. Don't know what the cops will discover, but you'll be amazed by what Marcus has already found out. That and more at 6.

Ford of America have put Jaguar and Land Rover up for sale; Wall Street's "venture capitalists" or "vulture capitalists", as some Unions call them, are circling nearly every British business from BA to Sainsbury. But your local school: surely not? Well, Edison, famous for light bulbs and power generation, is also the name of an out-sourcing giant in the States and they're running a school in London and rather well, according to many. We'll tell you the facts and ask what you make of it.
Ronke, with no help from Edison, is in South Africa watching the gang from a London IT company put the finishing touches to a school extension - it was raining yesterday, so fingers crossed! Your hearts will melt....

My heart melted when Victoria Hart came in to see us: she was the London waitress who was flown to Cannes to sing for George Clooney and Brad Pitt at the film festival. Well, she's got a recording contract and is going out for dinner to celebrate: and this time,someone else will be waiting on her! She shared her excitement with Liz.

Equally excited, the bands and the audiences for this weekend's WIRELESS gig in Hyde Park: runners and riders with Tamzin, including the bands you voted for!

And finally, I only make light of this because there wasn't an accident.
Underground trains can go both ways but, at any given time of the day, and on any given platform in the system, they are only supposed to go one way: the right way.
The driver, who clambered in and promptly drove off in the wrong direction but fortunately found the brake with only moments to spare, will feature in our comprehensive coverage of the remarkable range of things that make London London, Tonight.

Katie and I, and the whole gang, look forward to seeing you at 6.

Alastair

LONDON TONIGHT TONIGHT: Weds 13th June

Good afternoon and apologies for the delay and the brevity - there has been a flap in the ITV newsroom about Madeleine McCann which has occupied lots of us.

Anyway, a real flap, too, down at City Hall as the cost and problems of former Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley occupied Assembly Members and the Mayor today. They were all behaving like exploding Bendy Buses and Simon, who secured that remarkable recent interview with Mr Kiley about his drinking and how much he was still costing you, has the cut and thrust of an amazing day.

In a flash, the jury aquitted the Judge accused of displaying more than his briefs on the train. It is a very strange story and Glen will reveal.. no he won't, he will "tell" all.

Aircraft carriers on the Thames and London Tonight reporters in South Africa: is there no limit to our ambitions?

Not even landing an exclusive TV interview with Kevin Spacey, back with another exciting season at the Old Vic?

No: it is all there and we will be, too, at 6.

Hope you can find the time to join us.

Alastair