THE BBC will screen a televised debate this month on the referendum campaign for and against an elected North-East assembly.

The debate, featuring leading figures from the Yes and No campaigns before an invited audience, will be shown across the country on BBC1 and News 24.

The 40-minute programme, which will be hosted by BBC Breakfast presenter Dermot Murnaghan, will be shown on Sunday, October 17, as the first postal ballot papers are being delivered to Royal Mail for distribution to the region's 1.9 million voters.

The debate will be filmed in the 150-year-old Durham Town Hall and will feature a head-to-head debate by campaigners from both sides of the argument, as well as a panel of experts from the region.

The audience will includefigures from the arts, business, political, health, sport and voluntary sectors across the region.

Mr Murnaghan said: "How we are governed and by whom is important for everybody, and the referendum devolution debate we are holding in Durham is an example of how the BBC can and should become a platform for debate and discussion within the community."

The programme, which is produced by Triple Echo, will be shown on BBC1 in the North-East at 10.55pm, after Panorama, and across the UK on BBC News 24 at 11.15pm the same night.

Published: 30/09/2004