Good Morning Scotland

History

The programme was launched on the morning of 31 December 1973 with presenters David Findlay and John Milne. Prior to GMS, radio producers Geoff Cameron and Allan Muirhead were responsible for producing a daily opt-out from Today, called Today in Scotland. Its popularity led to the launch of Good Morning Scotland.

In 1980, to celebrate 50 years of broadcasting from the BBC's Edinburgh studios at Queen Street, Good Morning Scotland was simulcast on BBC One Scotland for a week, pioneering breakfast television on the BBC (ITV station Yorkshire Television had broadcast a breakfast programme for six weeks during 1977 and thus laid claim to the first semi-regular British breakfast television broadcast).

In 2006 there some major changes to the show, including a change of presenters with Gary Robertson brought in.

The programme had an estimated 455,000 listeners in 2008, which fell to 380,000 the following year.

In early 2015, weekend editions of the programme were introduced and broadcast from 08:00 - 10:00. But since February 2021, Good Morning Scotland has been broadcast Monday to Saturday, with the Sunday edition replaced by Sunday Mornings, a faith-based programme and current affairs, political programme The Sunday Show.

In mid-2025, the Saturday edition of Good Morning Scotland was shortened to one hour (08:00-9:00) after longtime BBC presenter Shereen Nanjiani left the broadcaster leading to schedule changes.

Shortly after this change, BBC Scotland announced the end of Good Morning Scotland, citing changing audience habits for a revamped breakfast offer. The final edition airs on Friday 21 November.

Local variations

The first half of the programme is also broadcast on BBC Scotland's Gaelic-language station, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal before its Gaelic counterpart Aithris Na Maidne (Morning Report) begins at 07:30.

Listeners in Orkney opt-out between 07:30 and 08:00 for Around Orkney, a 30-minute magazine programme with features, local news and weather, diary, jobspot, mart report and postbag.

There are also local news bulletin opt-outs from Selkirk for the Borders, Dumfries for the South West, Aberdeen for the North East and Inverness for the Highlands.

Former presenters

• Gary Robertson (Monday-Thursday)

• Laura Maxwell (Monday-Thursday)

• Graham Stewart (Relief/Fridays)

• Laura Maciver (Relief/Fridays)

• Andrew Black (Relief)

• Lucy Whyte (Relief)

• John Milne

• Douglas Kynoch

• Mary Marquis

• James Cox

• Mike Russell

• Joanna Buchan

• Neville Garden

• Eddie Mair

• Louise White

• Anne MacKenzie (1995–1997)

• Derek Bateman (1996–2006)

• Mhairi Stuart (1999–2006)

• Abeer MacIntyre

• Gillian Marles (2005–2009)

• Aasmah Mir (2009)

References

References

1. Didcock, Barry. (2025-10-28). "Farewell to Good Morning Scotland - where did it all go wrong?".
2. Horne, Marc. (2025-10-09). "Good Morning Scotland poised to be scrapped in BBC Radio overhaul". The Times.
3. Horne, Marc. (2025-10-28). "Good Morning Scotland to be replaced with 'pacey' news show". The Times.
4. (2025-11-24). "New dawn as Radio Scotland breakfast programme goes on air".
5. Stewart, Graham. (30 December 2013). "40 Years of Good Morning Scotland". BBC.
6. Ross, Robert. (2 December 1980). "‘Good Morning’ breakfast TV". [[The Glasgow Herald]].
7. Ross, Robert. (5 December 1980). "Hopes of another breakfast TV show in future". The Glasgow Herald.
8. (30 May 2006). "Gary Robertson to be new voice of BBC's Good Morning Scotland". [[The Herald (Glasgow).
9. McGinty, Stephen. (4 February 2010). "Radio Scotland losing 1,500 listeners a week". [[The Scotsman]].
10. (2025-06-14). "Shereen Nanjiani signs off from BBC Radio Scotland after 17 years".
11. (2025-09-03). "Saturday Show to launch new-look Radio Scotland weekend".
12. Steven, Alasdair. (16 July 2014). "Obituary: John Milne, journalist". The Scotsman.
13. (25 September 2002). "Neville Garden". The Herald.
14. Laing, Allan. (25 April 1998). "Radio's new air force". The Herald.