BBC Cancels The Catch Up, Its News Bulletin for Young Viewers

The BBC has cancelled The Catch Up, its news bulletin made for young viewers, according to Deadline, which reported the decision as an exclusive on 21 October 2026.

The show was launched in 2022 to win 16- to 24-year-olds back to traditional news. It ran for two to four minutes, with graphics and a conversational tone, and gave viewers a roundup of the day's headlines. Deadline reports that it is being cancelled as part of the planned closure of BBC Three, the channel it was designed to sit alongside.

The launch came when BBC Three had been restored to linear TV, meaning a channel that runs programmes at set times. That restoration was later reversed. BBC Three will now be switched off for a second time, in spring 2027, and its brand will be kept on iPlayer, the BBC's streaming service, after the channel closes.

A Tuesday bulletin hosted by Ben Henley-Washford reported on BBC Three's closure. It did not mention that The Catch Up was being discontinued, Deadline says.

The BBC News TikTok account has 16.5 million followers and more than 1 billion likes, according to Deadline's report. A BBC News spokesperson told Deadline that the BBC is the UK's leading news publisher for 16-34 year olds, reaching around half of that age group each week.

The closures sit inside a wider cost-cutting plan. Deadline reports that the BBC is closing BBC Three and BBC Scotland's channel in the spring as part of making £500 million in savings by 2028.

For viewers, the change is simple. The Catch Up's bulletins will stop, and BBC Three will go off air next spring, while its name lives on in iPlayer.