General election 2024: How to watch this week's TV debates (2024)

Two more UK-wide televised general election debates take place this week as campaigning continues ahead of polling day.

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will appear on Sky on Wednesday evening in a leaders' special event, before ITV hosts a multi-party debate on Thursday.

The BBC has two more live debates - one on Thursday, 20 June and the other on Wednesday, 26 June.

The general election takes place on 4 July.

A series of televised political discussions using different formats will continue in the run-up to the election.

The line-ups are as follows:

• Leaders' Special Event (Sky): Wednesday, 12 June, Grimsby - Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will be asked to "pitch" to voters in an in-depth interview before answering questions from a studio audience drawn from the local area and nationally, in an event to be broadcast from 19:00-22:00

• Multi-party debate (ITV): Thursday, 13 June - Julie Etchingham will moderate a debate between Penny Mordaunt for the Conservatives, Labour's Angela Rayner, Daisy Cooper for the Liberal Democrats, Stephen Flynn for SNP, Nigel Farage for Reform UK, Carla Denyer for Green Party and Rhun ap Iorwerth for Plaid Cymru, from 20:30-22:00

• Question Time Leaders' Special (BBC): Thursday, 20 June, York - Fiona Bruce will present the show involving leaders of the four biggest political parties in Great Britain, broadcast from 20:00-22:00

• Head-to-head debate (BBC): Wednesday, 26 June, Nottingham - Mishal Husain will host the event involving Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. This is set to be the last leaders' TV debate of the election campaign and will be broadcast from 21:00-22:00

The BBC programmes will be broadcast on BBC One, local radio across the country and will be available on BBC iPlayer.

They will also be available on the BBC News Channel in the UK and overseas.

And they will also be shown on the BBC News website as part of coverage in our live page, alongside analysis from BBC political correspondents and reaction.

The Sky debate will be broadcast on Sky News, and the ITV debate will be broadcast on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.

Additional dedicated debates are taking place for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Still to come are:

• Wales: Bethan Rhys Roberts will host the Wales Leaders’ Debate live from Central Square, BBC Wales’ broadcast hub in Cardiff, on Friday, 21 June, at 19:00

• Northern Ireland: Tara Mills will moderate the Northern Ireland Leaders’ Debate on BBC One Northern Ireland on Thursday, 27 June

As well as the debates, the BBC has also invited the leaders of the seven biggest political parties to be interviewed by broadcaster Nick Robinson.

So far, six interviews have been confirmed:

• Rishi Sunak, Conservative Party on Monday, 10 June at 20:00
• Nigel Farage, Reform UK on Tuesday, 11 June at 22:40
• John Swinney, SNP, on Wednesday, 12 June at 19:00 (BBC One and BBC One Scotland)
• Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid Cymru, on Wednesday, 12 June at 19:00 (BBC One Wales)
• Adrian Ramsay, Green Party, on Tuesday, 18 June at 22:40
• Sir Ed Davey, Liberal Democrats, on Friday, 28 June at 20:30

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also been invited but no date has been confirmed by the BBC yet.

The interviews will be BBC Panorama specials and air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

BBC News has a wide range of content planned to guide you through the campaign, right up to election night on 4 July.

Whether you are in the UK or overseas, its comprehensive coverage will be available across every platform.

Follow all the election developments on the BBC News website and app.

Daily live pages will bring you the latest from the campaign trail and you can follow General election 2024 for simple explainers and in-depth analysis from BBC News political correspondents and experts.

There will also be full live coverage of all of the BBC TV debates.

International users can access all BBC News election content on BBC.com

On election night, follow the full results as they come in.

And BBC News cameras and reporters across the country will feed live pages and video streams, so you will not miss a thing.

Laura Kuenssberg and Clive Myrie will host BBC News' election night coverage, along with BBC political editor Chris Mason and other experts.

The programme will be on BBC One in England, BBC Two in Wales and Northern Ireland, and the BBC News channel for audiences in Scotland and overseas.

Dedicated election results programmes on BBC One in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will be presented by Martin Geissler, Mark Carruthers, and Nick Servini respectively, with Anne McAlpine hosting a Gaelic-language election round-up on BBC Alba.

You can also keep up to date with the campaign through the BBC News channel’s daily coverage and the Election 2024 livestream on BBC iPlayer.

The BBC News flagship Newscast programme has been rebranded as Electioncast for the duration of the campaign.

Adam Fleming and the BBC News political team will provide a daily update on all things election.

On election night, they will also invite listeners to join their audience watch-along.

BBC Radio 4’s election-night coverage will be hosted by Rachel Burden and Nick Robinson.

For analysis, they will be joined by BBC News chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman.

Global audiences can follow events, with a mix of dedicated UK-election coverage and international news, through the BBC World Service.