Despatch Box
Despatch Box is a late night political analysis television programme produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC Two between 20 October 1998 and 20 December 2002. The programme was a replacement for the nightly political programme The Midnight Hour, and like its predecessor, was initially presented by a team of single-presenter journalists, rotated nightly, consisting of Zeinab Badawi, Michael Dobbs, Andrew Neil and Steve Richards. The programme regularly gained an audience of more than 350,000 viewers.[1] Following a change of format, it was decided that the programme should have one, regular presenter, a role for which Andrew Neil was chosen. The programme was produced at the BBC's Millbank studios in London.
| Despatch Box | |
|---|---|
|  The final programme titles | |
| Genre | News | 
| Presented by | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom | 
| Original language | English | 
| Production | |
| Production company | BBC | 
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two | 
| Original release | 20 October 1998 – 20 December 2002 | 
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Midnight Hour | 
| Followed by | This Week | 
Following changes to sitting hours in the United Kingdom parliament, and extensive changes to the BBC's line-up of political programmes, Despatch Box was discontinued, and the programme's then regular presenter, Andrew Neil, moved on to present the Daily Politics and This Week.[2]
See also
    
    
References
    
- Cozens, Claire (19 September 2002). "Fact file: Despatch Box". MediaGuardian. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- Andrew Neil to host BBC's 'Despatch Box' replacement Paul Waugh. The Independent. 2 November 2002
