CONTENT FOCUS: DISPATCHES LATE NIGHT & LIVE

• Increase image
• View all images

Newly launched online show discusses the issues raised in Dispatches in greater depth.

The Format
Channel 4 Dispatches Late Night & Live is a politics and current affairs show that airs online following each week's edition of C4 current affairs strand Dispatches.

Each week the debate features "authoritative and controversial" figures, according to the producers. The first show launched with a beta phase on 5 November, with a second show airing on 12 November. The latter followed a Dispatches show on the UK's dependency on cars and featured a debate between exTop Gear presenter Quentin Wilson and the Green Party London mayoral candidate  and founder of the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s, Sian Berry. The issues are picked to be in line with the evening's show and the producers say the service, which is streamed onto a web forum, will allow viewers to continue the debate with C4 and each other.

"Our topics so far have been quite domestic - the housing market and congestion/cars - and these issues affect our viewers personally," a spokeswoman said. "We won't necessarily cover every Dispatches as some subjects work better than others. We are taking it on a casebycase basis." Next Monday's subject will be globalisation.

The show will remain in beta phase for the next few weeks.

Who's behind it?
C4 head of news Dorothy Byrne devised the debate format, which uses a publishing platform provided by Smokescreen built on technology from Best Before Media.

Where can I find it?
www.channel4.com/news2/dispatches/latenightandlive

Why does it suit the platform?
The web lends itself to both news and debate and Late Night and Live uses webcams to allow the two contributors to talk passionately and unedited about a subject close to their hearts from their own homes. This is part of a continued and now determined drive by broadcasters to engage web browsers with the TV and vice versa.