The programme is inspired by the success of current affairs programmes in the US, such as 60 Minutes on CBS.

It will start in controversial style - by screening interviews with the five men suspected of killing black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

A high-profile team of reporters has already been put together by Granada and ITN, who are jointly producing the hour-long programme.

Among them is former Panorama journalist Martin Bashir, who conducted the interviews with the Lawrence suspects. He made his name by securing an exclusive interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, for Panorama.

Also defecting from the BBC is Jonathan Maitland, who made his name on consumer programme Watchdog.

Veteran ITN reporter Michael Nicholson is also on the team. Respected in the industry for his war reporting, he has been named TV Journalist of The Year three times.

Ratings spotlight for news shows

Martin Bashir: The Panorama reporter is joining ITV's team

But the show's launch comes as ITV's new-look news programmes find themselves under the ratings spotlight.

While entertainment shows such has Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? have been successes, a report in The Express claims figures for the new programmes are as much as 1.8m down on their predecessors in January.

Unofficial figures - yet to be fully audited by industry body Barb - show an average of 5.8m people watched ITV's 1830 news between Monday and Thursday last week.

In contrast, the BBC's Six O'Clock News had an average of 6.6m watching, and BBC One's regional bulletins - which run directly against the main ITV programme - scored 6.2m.

Reluctance to get into ratings battle

ITN claims its bulletins are scoring healthy ratings compared with the BBC's main programme, the Nine O'Clock News.

"We prefer to compare the two flagship news programmes," said a spokeswoman.

But the broadcasters are reluctant to get into a ratings battle over news programmes during the Kosovo conflict, with resources often being shared and staff putting themselves in danger.

A BBC spokesman said: "We have always said news content is what matters. It appears viewers continue to turn to the BBC as a trusted source of news.

"People who are used to watching their news from the BBC at six o'clock are also likely to stay on for the regional bulletins afterwards."

The BBC will itself be revamping the Six O'Clock News soon.