In addition to being one of the earliest TV shows to be set in a newsroom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show was unique in that focused on an unmarried, career-minded woman in her thirties - Mary Richards, the producer of the fictional Six O'Clock News. AP Photo
In addition to being one of the earliest TV shows to be set in a newsroom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show was unique in that focused on an unmarried, career-minded woman in her thirties - Mary Richards, the producer of the fictional Six O'Clock News. AP Photo
In addition to being one of the earliest TV shows to be set in a newsroom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show was unique in that focused on an unmarried, career-minded woman in her thirties - Mary Richards, the producer of the fictional Six O'Clock News. AP Photo
In addition to being one of the earliest TV shows to be set in a newsroom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show was unique in that focused on an unmarried, career-minded woman in her thirties - Mary Richards, th

When news goes prime time


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Even as newsrooms around the globe are being gutted by downsizing, the world of intrepid reporters, jaded editors, tight deadlines and behind-the-scenes bust-ups is still capturing the public's imagination. That's the focus of HBO's hotly anticipated series The Newsroom, written by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing). The programme, which debuts in North America on Sunday, will also be showing on OSN in the UAE in the coming weeks, although the network has yet to confirm a date. It stars Jeff Daniels as a world-weary TV news anchor, whose team attempts to put out a credible current affairs programme "in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles and their own personal entanglements", according to the show's brief.

Alongside police departments and hospital wards, newsrooms have proved one of the most reliable settings for TV series since the format began. Here are 10 of the most memorable:

The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77)

As well as being one of the earliest comedies to be set in the fast-paced world of TV news, The Mary Tyler Moore Show broke new ground by focusing on an unmarried, career-minded woman in her thirties - the Minneapolis Six O'Clock News producer Mary Richards. The CBS show ushered in a new era of grown-up sitcoms, spawned a host of spin-offs and even provided the basis for the recent favourite 30 Rock, according to its creator Tina Fey.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1971-75)

The protagonist Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) remains an inspiration to reporters stuck on dead-end beats everywhere. The Chicago newspaperman had a nose for the kind of crimes that even law-enforcement wouldn't pursue, including those committed by vampires, mummies and other supernatural assailants. Though not a big hit in its day, the ABC show gained a loyal following in syndication and inspired The X-Files creator Chris Carter decades later.

Hot Metal (1986-88)

A no-holds-barred spoof of British tabloids in the 1980s, the LWT programme saw Fleet Street's most humdrum newspaper transformed into a gutter-dwelling red top after a new owner comes on-board. The Crucible's litany of ludicrous scoops included exposing a village priest as a werewolf while one of the paper's cub reporters was unearthing a scandal that went right to the heart of government - not that his editor took any notice.

Murphy Brown (1988-98)

You know a TV series has captured the zeitgeist when one of its storylines becomes a hot topic in a US presidential campaign. In 1992, the Republican vice-presidential candidate Dan Quayle attacked the show's protagonist - the fictional newsreader Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) - for deciding to become a single mother, thereby "ignoring the importance of fathers". The CBS series remained on air for another six years.

Drop the Dead Donkey (1990-98)

Perhaps the most cynical depiction of TV news ever created, Drop the Dead Donkey was awash with misanthropic editors and unscrupulous reporters. One foreign correspondent even buried the same tattered child's doll under rubble in every war zone he visited, to give his reports a powerful, albeit utterly artificial, sense of tragedy. Broadcast on the UK's Channel 4, the show's production schedule was revolutionary, with each episode written and filmed within the week of broadcast, to keep things topical.

Frontline (1994-97)

Inspired by Drop the Dead Donkey, the Australian network ABC-TV created its own irreverent sitcom based in the newsroom of the fictional current affairs programme, Frontline. As well as sharply satirising everything from "chequebook journalism" to the bullying tactics employed by big-name interviewers, the topical show featured an impressive line-up of guest stars playing themselves - everyone from senior Aussie politicians of the day, to the tennis champ Pat Cash.

The Newsroom (1996-02)

This sharp Canadian satire focused on the fictitious City Hour news programme and found a loyal following not just at home, but in the US too. That didn't stop HBO from plundering the name for Sorkin's series 10 years later and causing outrage north of the border. According to the Canadian magazine Maclean's, which claimed "The Newsroom is often considered the greatest show Canada has ever produced", HBO's choice of name was "a grimly amusing reminder that the US TV industry doesn't take Canada very seriously".

State of Play (2003)

The grisly death of an MP's researcher leads to a web of adultery and a terrifying Watergate-like government conspiracy, in this brilliantly tense six-hour BBC drama. In one of the most positive depictions of journalism to date, the complex mystery is exposed by a team of plucky reporters, led by Cal McCaffrey (John Simm), at the fictional London broadsheet The Herald. State of Play went on to become a surprisingly worthwhile Hollywood film in 2009, with Russell Crowe replacing Simm.

Back to You (2007-08)

Everything about this Fox sitcom seemed so promising. Huge stars Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) and Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) are forced together as squabbling anchors on a provincial news programme, after the former is sacked for making a controversial comment while working for a major network. There was even a secret love-child storyline. But alas, the show never lived up to expectations and was cancelled after a single season.

The Hour (2011-ongoing)

It was billed as the UK's answer to Mad Men, but in addition to plenty of smoking, smart suits and sexual politics, the BBC series featured storylines about espionage and assassinations that its US counterpart would never touch. It follows the staff of the current affairs show The Hour in 1956 - a brand new format at the time - which includes a female producer (Romola Garai), an upper-class newsreader (Dominic West) and a scruffy, obsessive reporter (Ben Whishaw). All bases covered, then.

Honourable mention: Sports Night (1998-00)

More than a decade before the debut of The Newsroom, Sorkin created a comedy about a fictional sports programme, which also focused on the pressures of working in a competitive news environment. The writer was never completely happy with ABC's handling of it however, particularly the decision to include a laugh track. The show's ratings weren't high enough to earn it a third season and Sorkin instead opted to focus on his more popular drama, The West Wing.

The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ

Price, base: Dh1,731,672

Engine: 6.5-litre V12

Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm

Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm

Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz

Director: Kushan Nandy

Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Bag, Jatin Goswami

Three stars

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Freezer tips

  • Always make sure food is completely cool before freezing.
  • If you’re cooking in large batches, divide into either family-sized or individual portions to freeze.
  • Ensure the food is well wrapped in foil or cling film. Even better, store in fully sealable, labelled containers or zip-lock freezer bags.
  • The easiest and safest way to defrost items such as the stews and sauces mentioned is to do so in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

THE CLOWN OF GAZA

Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah 

Starring: Alaa Meqdad

Rating: 4/5

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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The specs
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Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Price: From Dh801,800
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
MATCH INFO

FA Cup final

Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)

Manchester United 0

Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

Biog

Age: 50

Known as the UAE’s strongest man

Favourite dish: “Everything and sea food”

Hobbies: Drawing, basketball and poetry

Favourite car: Any classic car

Favourite superhero: The Hulk original

RESULTS

6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,200
Winner: Miqyaas, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer).

7.05pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Untold Secret, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.

7.40pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m​​​​​​​
Winner: Shanty Star, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly.

8.15pm: Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m​​​​​​​
Winner: Alkaamel, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.

8.50pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (D) 1,400m​​​​​​​
Winner: Speedy Move, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

9.25pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (D) 2,000m​​​​​​​
Winner: Quartier Francois, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

Sui Dhaaga: Made in India

Director: Sharat Katariya

Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav

3.5/5

New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15

New Zealand 15
Tries: Laumape, J Barrett
Conversions: B Barrett
Penalties: B Barrett

British & Irish Lions 15
Penalties: Farrell (4), Daly

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900