Editing David Dimbleby (section)

===Coverage of elections===
Dimbleby anchored the BBC's overnight coverage of the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]], and continued in this role until the [[2017 United Kingdom general election|2017 general election]], for a total of [[List of United Kingdom general elections|ten general elections]].<ref name="Williams"/><ref name="Duguid">{{Cite web|title=BFI Screenonline: Dimbleby, David (1938–) Biography|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1093826/index.html|access-date=2021-11-23|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> In addition to election coverage, he also hosted BBC [[Budget of the United Kingdom|Budget]] specials, and was a presenter of the BBC early evening weekday current affairs series ''[[Nationwide (TV programme)|Nationwide]]''. During the same period (beginning in 1979), Dimbleby has also been the anchor for the BBC's [[European Parliament election]] results programmes and in 2008 and 2012, anchored the BBC's coverage of the [[US election]] night.

Dimbleby was the main presenter of the BBC's political series ''This Week Next Week'' (1984–88),<ref name="Duguid"/> broadcast on Sunday early afternoons, as a competitor to ITV's established ''[[Weekend World]]'' series. As early as 1987, he was a contender for the position of [[Director-General of the BBC]] (losing out to [[Michael Checkland]]).<ref name="shortlisted">{{Cite web|date=2001-08-10|title=Dimbleby 'shortlisted' for top BBC post|url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/aug/10/broadcasting.bbc1|access-date=2021-11-23|website=The Guardian|language=en|last=Wells|first=Matt}}</ref> ''This Week Next Week'' was replaced in 1988 by the ''[[On the Record (British TV programme)|On the Record]]'', a political series presented until 1993 by his younger brother, [[Jonathan Dimbleby]].<ref>[http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/d/13521/Jonathan+DIMBLEBY.aspx "Jonathan Dimbleby Esq"], Debretts</ref> Meanwhile, he continued to work in documentaries, including ''The White Tribe of Africa'' (1979), an award-winning four-part history of South Africa's [[Afrikaners|Afrikaans community]] and the rise of [[apartheid]], ''An Ocean Apart'' (1988), an examination of the history of [[Anglo-American relations]], and ''Rebellion!'' (1999), a history of Britain's troubled relations with [[Zimbabwe]].

By this time, Dimbleby was established as the anchor for the BBC's coverage of events of national importance, such as the [[State Opening of Parliament]], the [[Trooping the Colour]], and the [[National Service of Remembrance]] service at the [[Cenotaph]] in [[Whitehall]].

Dimbleby served as chairman of the BBC's Thursday evening topical debate programme ''[[Question Time (TV programme)|Question Time]]'' from 1994 until 2018. One of the most memorable moments from ''Question Time'' was when Dimbleby accidentally referred to [[Robin Cook]] as "Robin Cock", to which Cook responded by jokingly referring to Dimbleby as "David Bumblebee".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3623988/Just-answer-the-question.html|title=Just answer the question|first=David|last=Dimbleby|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=15 September 2004}}</ref>