Robert Peston’s current affairs programme is to move from its Sunday morning slot to a new midweek evening position.
Previously called Peston On Sunday, the show will now be called Peston, and will air after ITV’s News At Ten on Wednesdays, ITV confirmed following reports of the schedule change.
It was previously broadcast at 10am on Sundays and was repeated after the News at Ten the same day.
Peston, ITV News’s political editor, said he “could not be more pleased” at his programme’s jump from Sunday mornings to Wednesday nights.
ITV has today announced that Robert Peston’s current affairs show is to move to a new slot on Wednesday nights, airing after ITV’s New at Ten. @Peston https://t.co/XAQt6bhOaA pic.twitter.com/hW5sETHcpM
— ITV Press Centre (@itvpresscentre) June 6, 2018
He said: “It has always struck me as significant that PoS typically has double or more viewers for its 10.15pm repeat than for its live broadcast at 10am, so I wanted to explore a possible move to first transmission in the evening, and it then seemed natural to change the broadcast day to Wednesday – because this is often the biggest political day of the week, and includes Prime Ministers’ Questions.”
The 58-year-old said he is “immensely proud of what we have created at Peston On Sunday”, and promised that the new show “will retain its blend of agenda-setting interviews, digital interaction with the audience, cutting-edge graphical analysis, informality and fun”.
He said there will also be “some exciting new elements”.
“There is no more important time to be challenging our leaders and influencers on the issues that matter to ITV’s viewers – with the UK facing the most momentous political choices for a generation, on Brexit, on how to fund and run vital public services, on how to solve the housing crisis, on how to end the record-breaking stagnation of living standards,” he added.
“At the new Peston, we aim to be at the heart of the national debate, but never pompously or boringly.”
ITV’s director of news and current affairs, Michael Jermey, said: “Robert and the team have done a great job in creating what we believe is the most engaging and interesting political interview programme on television.
“We look forward to Peston, in its new slot, providing viewers with great political conversation and analysis on what is often the most interesting political day of the week.”
The newly-scheduled Peston will air from this autumn.