Channel 4 General Election Night extends programme to 9am Friday, finalises presenting team and exclusive guest line-up

11 June 2024

Stream the Channel 4 Election special

Channel 4 has extended its Election Night programme and finalised the presenting team. Britain Decides with The Rest Is Politics and Gogglebox will begin at 9.45pm on 4th July and follow the results of the ballot until 9am the following morning, making it the longest continuous programme on Election Night. The show will be fronted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Emily Maitlis and include The Rest is Politics podcast hosts Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart who’ll be on air throughout the night with their unique brand of analysis, steering viewers through what many are predicting to be a game-changing moment in British politics.

Today it is announced that broadcaster and mathematics professor Hannah Fry will be joining the presenting team. Hannah will present the results and crunch the data at the big screen, helping to make sense of the numbers and tell the story of the night.

Channel 4 has also announced an array of frontline politicians and commentators across the political spectrum will join the team exclusively throughout the coverage to provide insight. These include Conservative former Chancellors Kwasi Kwarteng and Nadim Zahawi, Labour’s Harriet Harman, who is stepping down as MP after 40 years in the Commons, ex-Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, the SNP’s Mhairi Black, who is stepping down at this election, and Reform Party campaigner Ann Widdecombe. There will also be an audience of voters present in the studio as the night unfolds.     

C4 News’ Political Editor Gary Gibbon will be on hand throughout for his first class analysis. And a team of reporters will be at key counts across the country capturing the moments of drama as the results are declared.

Going beyond Westminster, and in unique Channel 4 style, the coverage will also include exclusively commissioned inserts from Gogglebox favourites, providing their take on the election campaign.

Clare Balding -who had previously been announced as part of the line-up- will not be able to join the studio team due to Wimbledon commitments

The programme will be made by ITN Productions.  

Louisa Compton, Channel 4’s Head of News and Current Affairs and Specialist Factual and Sport  says: “I’m delighted that Channel 4 viewers will be able to go to bed and wake up with our fantastic team of presenters and pundits, who’ll be on air for over 11 hours, analysing every twist and turn of the election night. There really will be no better place to watch events unfold”

Hannah Fry says:  “Few national moments hinge so heavily on numbers and data; but the numbers here are really just stories - about who we are as a country and how we want to be governed. I’m delighted to join this stellar line up to bring those stories to life as they emerge on election night.”

Hannah Fry

Hannah Fry is a Professor of Mathematics at UCL where she studies patterns in human behaviour. Hannah’s TV work includes two series of BBC Two series The Secret Genius of Modern Life and The Future With Hannah Fry for Bloomberg series as well as a plethora of other documentaries including the Grierson winning Making Sense of Cancer (Best Presenter). She has hosted Have I Got News for You and helms several hit podcasts, and is a published author and columnist for The New Yorker. Hannah is renowned and loved for her joyful ability to bring mathematical ideas to life with her signature sass, wit and warmth.

Watch Channel 4's General Election night coverage