A FAMILIAR face to Herefordshire TV viewers has announced plans to retire after half a century on screen.

Bob Warman, presenter for ITV’s Central’s flagship evening news programme is calling it a day after a career that’s seen him as one of the most recognised faces in Midlands news.

Mr Warman originally joined Central's predecessor ATV as a reporter, but it was Yorkshire Television that spotted his potential as an authoritative, trusted and warm presenter when in 1976 he was chosen to front the regional programme Calendar with the late Richard Whiteley.

The following year he co-presented the very first breakfast television programme, a three month pilot which led to the establishment of TV-AM.

But the lure of the Midlands saw Walsall-born Bob return to ATV in 1978 to present the evening programme. He’s been a nightly feature ever since.

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He said: "By any measure it’s been a long stint in front of the camera and I will miss my colleagues and the hundreds of thousands of viewers who’ve remained loyal to ITV News over the years.

"It’s difficult to know when to call it a day, especially when I do a job I love with colleagues who are special to me. But time is running and I have many interests which I want to pursue."

Mr Warman's last broadcast will be on Monday, 4 July.

Sameena Ali-Khan, who has co-presented with him for 13 years said of Mr Warman:

"People always talk about Bob being a timeline to their life, and when you've done almost 50 years of giving people the news in the Midlands, you can see why.

"To me, Bob has been a good friend, someone to have a laugh with and someone to learn from.

"It's been a privilege to work alongside him for the past 13 years because he really is a "living legend" and like many of our viewers, we'll miss him hugely."