News at Ten is on its way back with Sir Trevor in the hot seat

Sir Trevor, who retired in 2005 after 32 years with ITN, will be joined by co-presenter Julie Etchingham, who has been lured away from Sky News Today.

ITV's flagship news bulletin was controversially axed eight years ago – a move described earlier this year as a "shocking mistake" by the new ITV executive chairman Michael Grade.

Scroll down for more...

Since then it is thought that network executives have been wooing Sir Trevor, 67, and 37-year-old Miss Etchingham to become the presenters of the resurrected bulletin.

Its return is one of Mr Grade's most significant changes since he quit as BBC chairman late last year to take over the running of ITV.

Sir Trevor's salary is likely to dwarf his previous £600,000 a year for presenting the evening news four times a week and hosting the current affairs show Tonight With Trevor McDonald.

It is thought that Mark Austin, who presents the now-doomed 10.30pm bulletin, will move to the 6.30pm show.

For millions of viewers, the return of News at Ten is long overdue.

Launched in 1967, it rapidly became a national institution.

But in 1999 the then regulator – the Independent Television Commission – allowed ITV to clear its primetime schedules to show blockbuster movies, drama and big football matches in the chase for higher viewing figures.

Moving the news to 11pm, the programme was widely derided as it kept missing its new designated slot, with films and live sporting fixtures often over-running.

Critics also pointed out that the later slot meant that regional news which followed the national bulletin was often relegated to way past 11pm.

Dubbed the News at When by rival broadcasters, ITV was eventually allowed to show the bulletin at 10pm for three nights a week.

Then, in October 2003, the ITC announced it would accede to ITV's request to move its late news bulletin to a fixed 10.30pm slot five nights a week.

During all the confusion, the BBC moved its only nightly news programme from 9pm to 10pm.

The switch was a success with the BBC's Ten O'Clock News becoming the highest watched news show with an average of more then 4.5million viewers a night.

It remains the corporation's flagship bulletin.

In 2005, ratings for the ITV bulletin slumped to its lowest level since it switched to the 10.30pm slot, drawing just 1.5million viewers.

To compound matters, Sir Trevor, the network's highest profile and most popular newscaster, announced his retirement around the same time.

Since then, he has branched out into other areas of broadcasting with his own late night comedy show, News Knight.

Miss Etchingham has also been subject to something of a reshuffle of late.

In August the mother of two emerged unscathed from a cull of the satellite channel's news staff although her daily Sky Report round-up was axed.

A spokesman for ITV refused to comment last night.