
Fred Dinenage steps down as main presenter on ITV News Meridian
After nearly four decades, one of ITV's longest serving regional news anchors Fred Dinenage is to leave ITV News Meridian at Christmas.
Fred said: After almost thirty eight years co-presenting the ITV six oclock show in the south and south east Ive finally decided to hang up my microphone. Its been a really tough decision but I now want to spend a few years with my wife, Beverley, and our three dogs smelling the roses in my garden and spending time in the mountains of Austria. I will be continuing with my crime programmes and ITVs How? and writing books, including one recently commissioned. But now I feel it is the right time to move on. I will miss my dear co-presenter, Sangeeta, and my colleagues at ITV Meridian terribly. And, of course, I will miss our wonderful viewers whove given me such incredible love and support for so long. Ive been so lucky in my life and career - fifty eight years working non-stop on regional and network programmes with ITV and Ive been blessed by having a truly special family. So, to everyone - thank you.
During his career Fred has presented regional programmes made by Southern Television and its successor TVS, including Tell the Truth and Coast to Coast. In the 1970s he covered regional sport for Yorkshire Television and went on to host the network ITV Saturday afternoon show World of Sport, a role that saw him cover two Olympic Games. Fred became a household name on the children's television programme How? and only last year appeared in every episode of a new series of the show, made for CITV.
Fred has anchored the 6pm flagship regional news programme across the South of England since 1983 working with presenters such as Fern Britton, Debbie Thrower and Natasha Kaplinsky. For the past 12 years he has co-hosted ITV News Meridian with Sangeeta Bhabra who Fred describes as the most marvellous person to work with.
Sangeeta says: Fred has been the best teacher and co-presenter. I always knew this day would come and though I'm really happy that Fred will be spending more time with his family and doing the things he loves, I will miss him massively along with the Meridian team and our viewers.
Fred has won RTS awards for many of the news programmes he has worked on and in 2010 was given an MBE for services to broadcasting. He has covered many big stories during his career, from the murder of Sarah Payne, to the Salisbury Novichok poisonings and the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. Fred has interviewed high-profile people in politics, entertainment and sport, from Tony Blair to Dame Vera Lynn and The Beatles.
Paying tribute to Fred, Director of ITV News and Current Affairs Michael Jermey said:
Fred has had one of the most remarkable television careers of anyone in the history of the medium. A familiar and very popular presence on our screens for well over 50 years he has outlasted almost all his peers. There are viewers, who as children, enjoyed watching Fred present How? in the 1960s, who are now themselves retired. Many generations of ITV viewers in the south of England have welcomed Fred into their homes every evening as the presenter of the local ITV regional news. Hell be greatly missed on the nightly programme. We wont now see him on TV every day but we will look forward to the occasional appearances that Fred intends to continue to make. Fred has been a marvellous friend to so many people at ITV down the years. We wish him all the very best for the future.
The Editor of ITV Regional News, Guy Phillips praised Fred saying: Fred has always brought absolute dedication, warmth and first class journalism to our flagship 6pm programmes making it the award-winning success it is. He has been a fantastic colleague and friend to me over many years and a wonderful support and inspiration to countless people. I will miss him enormously and wish him well as he spends more time relaxing with his family.
The Head of News at ITV Meridian, Alison Nice, has worked with Fred for the last sixteen years. She said: Fred is an absolute professional who is loved by those who watch our programme and his colleagues. Fred is the same person off screen as he is on. He is warm and caring and has time for everyone in the team. Fred is a brilliant journalist and presenter and we will all miss him very much.
Fred will leave in December to spend more time with his family and to work on other projects.
[end]
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
12/03/2026
Cost pressures, switching intent and demand for savings and credit products are ...
12/03/2026
For the first time, Nielsen breaks out demographic information about FAST and AV...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Appear's high-performance, ultra-low latency encoding platform augments LTN's fully managed global IP network and orchestration platform
LTN, a leader ...
12/03/2026
2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Preview
April 18-22
Las Vegas
Booth C3519
Summary:
At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Boland Communications will be showing the bro...
12/03/2026
Riedel Communications today announced the continued expansion of its Managed Technology Division in the Americas and the appointment of Jan Schaffner as Vice Pr...
12/03/2026
Grass Valley and integration partner Tab M Solutions have completed Phase 1 of a new broadcast production control room for the University of Illinois Division o...
12/03/2026
NAKIVO, a global provider of backup and ransomware recovery solutions, announces the general availability of NAKIVO Backup & Replication v11.2. This release exp...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
COW Jobs: Editor de V deo - Direct Response, Performance Ads - Brazil, Remote
Brie Clayton March 11, 2026
0 Comments
Editor(a) de V deo (Direct Respon...
12/03/2026
Avatar: Fire and Ash Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton March 11, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist delivers premium cinematic color across 2D, 3D...
12/03/2026
Boston Conservatory to Timoth e Chalamet: We Care About Ballet and Opera Boston Conservatory at Berklee students and faculty respond to the actors recent comm...
12/03/2026
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
12/03/2026
The Late Late Show Show St Patrick's Day special
Dancing with the Stars f...
12/03/2026
GeForce NOW is bringing the game to the Game Developers Conference (GDC), running this week in San Francisco. While developers build the future of gaming, GeFor...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Matrox Video will showcase its vision for the future of live production at NAB 2026 in Las Vegas, April 19-22, highlighting how broadcasters and media organizat...
11/03/2026
Geneva-based technology company, GlobalM SA, is presenting its GMX Distributed Video Gateway, a software-defined IP media transport platform designed to replace...
11/03/2026
Backlight (booth #N2829), the company behind Iconik and Wildmoka, which power video workflows for large media and entertainment organizations, has released the ...
11/03/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, presents its latest StudioEdge models at The NAB Show ...
11/03/2026
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the expansion of Telestream Cloud Services with the introduction of UP, a new cloud-...
11/03/2026
Operative, the preferred advertising management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced the launch of AOS for digital media, an AI-po...
11/03/2026
Calrec will be located in Central Hall, on Booth C6907
Choice without compromise
The broadcast industry is going through a rapid evolution that s signalling a...
11/03/2026
The new service is hosted and operated entirely in the Netherlands, combining data sovereignty, resilience, scalability, and predictable costs without relying...
11/03/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company and leader in interactive graphical overlays, today announced the successful deployment of its platform on Red Bull TV for Premier ...
11/03/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, is advancing its Semantic Intelligence cap...
11/03/2026
Emergent, a leading provider of AI-enhanced media production solutions, today announced the official launch of Fusion, a powerful, no-code application builder d...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Utah Scientific today announced the expansion of its Technology Partner Program with the addition of Audinate, Bitfocus, and Skaarhoj, three industry leaders wh...
11/03/2026
DigitalGlue, creator of the creative.space on-premise managed storage platform, today revealed plans to launch creative.space Intelligence (CSI) at NAB 2026 (Bo...
11/03/2026
Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, gaming, and more, has annou...
11/03/2026
Composer and Re-recording Mixer Michael Phillips Keeley has built his career around immersive storytelling. Working from his Dolby Atmos-equipped studio, Sound ...
11/03/2026
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that YES, the pay-TV subsidiary of the telco Bezeq (TASE: BEZQ), has selected Synamedia Iris to delive...
11/03/2026
As media companies face increasing cost pressures and operational complexity, at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global leader in OTT / TV...
11/03/2026
Digital Alert Systems, a global leader in emergency communications solutions for media providers, today announced the release of Version 6 software for its DASD...