Wesley says goodbye

Or how about ‘Wesley Smith taken off television after 24 years of bringing us the news’.

For it will seem unthinkable to many Oxfordshire viewers that such a familiar face on our screens should have been thrown overboard in the latest reorganisation of ITV regional news programmes.

We’ve been inviting Wesley into our homes since 1989, when he first appeared alongside Anne Dawson on Central South News.

Back then, he looked barely old enough to get served in a pub, never mind read the news, although, in fact, he was approaching 24.

Since then he has gone on to establish himself as the face of regional television news in Oxfordshire, admired both for his involvement in local good causes and ability to survive the shake-ups in regional television, which has seen ITV’s ‘local’ patch stretch from Banbury to the Isle of Wight.

But last Friday night, Wesley became the region’s most high-profile employee to have been made redundant, when he fell victim to the latest round of ITN cost cutting, with Thames Valley Tonight replaced by Meridian Tonight.

Only for him, there was not just the ordeal of a speech to office colleagues after a pint or two at lunchtime. He also faced the challenge of bringing the curtain down on the ‘Wesley years’ with a dignified farewell to millions of viewers.

“I knew it was going to be an emotional moment,” said Wesley. “I started as an ITV trainee at Central in 1985 and I have worked for ITV ever since. But I’ve been really bolstered by the response from the public and touched by the number of letters, emails and presents I’ve received. I’ve seen other people go before. I understand why ITV is doing what it is doing in these financially challenging times and realise news programmes are having to cover larger areas than ever before. In the case of Meridian, three programmes are going into one, so there are not as many jobs around.

“Yes, I’m disappointed, but I am trying to stay as upbeat as I can. by nature I’m an optimistic person. I think about Christopher Peacocke, who was a news presenter for 40 years, before deciding to give up journalism at the age of 60 to become an actor. I’m inspired by that.”

But Wesley is determined to stay in television, which has been something of an obsession all his life.

Not many people would think of Wesley as a Scouser, but he was born on the Wirrall, while his Everton- supporting parents come from Anfield, in the shadow of Liverpool FC’s ground.

By the time his family moved to the Reading area, the teenage Wesley had already created his own ‘television studio’.

As the conversation touches on such classics as Game for a Laugh and Crossroads, it soon becomes apparent that Wesley is a shameless anorak when it comes to the small screen, with an encyclopedic knowledge of everything from heavyweight political documentaries to children’s programmes.

When he looks back on his career, he takes particular pride in his appearance in the final episode of Inspector Morse, playing himself.

“At Central South, I became the unofficial Morse correspondent. I appeared in another episode but the bit I was in seems to be always cut out when it’s shown on ITV3. They must shorten them to show more adverts.”

When he applied to Central, after finishing his English degree at Birmingham University, he reckons he secured a job ahead of bright Oxford graduates on the grounds that he actually watched Central’s news programmes.

His first bulletin for Central went out at 1am on Halloween in 1987. Things took a turn for the better when the reporter covering Oxford for Central broke a leg and Wesley was sent from the studio in Birmingham to take over.

“In those days the Oxford reporter was put up in The Randolph. That’s when I first thought I’d really like to live and work here.”

The launch of Central South News, from studios in Abingdon on January 9, 1989, has passed into television news legend — for all the wrong reasons.

The first night was an embarrassment, beset by technical hitches, leaving the two new presenters having to ad lib. Wesley remains eternally grateful to Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, who came to the rescue. For by a delicious irony, the master of sporting cock-ups was the studio guest, and in the absence of any news reports, he at least spared Wesley and Anne having to chat amongst themselves.

So does such a television nightmare still disturb his sleep, now he is a ridiculously young looking veteran of 45?

“No I found it exhilarating. I had gone to Abingdon as a reporter so I had been a bit surprised to see I was down as one of the main presenters. I think I earned my spurs that night. You can’t beat live television. If something goes wrong, you have to be able to cope. That’s when you earn your money. I get annoyed when I see people who don’t understand that.”

Rather it is his early efforts to deepen his voice, that today makes him wince. “I was conscious about how young I looked. I wished somebody had told me just to use my natural voice.”

With Anne Dawson, he was to form half of ITV’s longest-serving news presenting partnerships, before Anne left to retrain as a teacher. She now teaches broadcasting at the University of Gloucestershire and the pair keep in touch.

“You do become like friends to some viewers, which is brilliant,” he told me. “One of the reason our coverage of the floods was so successful was because we knew Oxfordshire and where the places are. For me this is when regional television really works.”

In addition to covering stories such as the Fred West murders, the Paddington rail disaster, the David Kelly affair and the Oxford floods, Wesley relished trying his hand (and feet) as a butler, ballroom dancer and bus driver for ‘Where’s Wesley’ features.

The Abingdon studio back then was staffed by almost 50 people.

Under the new regime only three journalists will be based there to cover Oxfordshire: reporting, filming, editing the lot.

It is a sorry sign of the times, which has seen the Meridian team lose about 100 out of 175 jobs.

ITN’s cutbacks began long before the current economic turndown and drop in advertising revenues.

“I was sad when Central South ended in 2006, and no one expected the same thing to happen to Thames Valley Tonight just a few years down the line,” he observed, ever-diplomatically.

The axe has apparently been hovering over Thames Valley Tonight long before ITN was given the go-ahead from Ofcom to replace it with a 6pm programme covering Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, the Isle of Wight, parts of Sussex, along with Oxfordshire.

The new region is the biggest outside of London — with a population of eight million people, 12 county councils, 86 MPs (including David Cameron) and 60 district councils.

For people living in Banbury, Bicester and Botley, though, you have to wonder whether Brighton’s news is any more relevant than Blackpool’s.

Wesley and his co-presenter Mary Green are making way for Fred Dinenage and Sangeeta Bhabra.

At least Wesley no longer faces the 150-mile round trip to Southampton from his home at Littlemore. His decision to stay in Oxford now looks to have been a wise move as he contemplates his future. He has a partner, but declines to give further details about his personal life.

His close links with numerous local charities will continue. He is patron of both the Oxfordshire Playbus branch and the Let’s Play Project for disabled children, based in Banbury. “I hope to do more television work, but I genuinely want to spend some time doing something different. That could be through establishing links with businesses and in the community, and doing website work and videos. Over the next few weeks I’m looking forward to having the space to plan what I want to do.”

He will also be popping up in theatres across the country interviewing celebrities for ‘audience with’ evenings, presented by a company in Summertown.

But you wonder whether a gig in Oldham, even with Peter Sallis, of Last of the Summer Wine fame, will match the highlights that flashed across the screen as he said farewell to viewers on Friday, after delivering a final piece of good news about the pregnancy of his co-presenter Hannah Shellswell, with a cheery, “so that really is it”.