2016: The Year That Changed The World
It’s been dubbed the year of rebellion.
A year when everything that was assumed to be the political and social norm was turned upside down.
After Brexit and the shockwaves following the American election it would be no exaggeration to describe 2016 as the year that changed the world.
News at Ten presenter Tom Bradby was at the heart of the action for ITV.
He called the EU Referendum result live to the nation on the network's overnight programme and was likewise at the helm to announce the somewhat surprising results of the US Election.
In this special review of the year for the 'Tonight' series, Bradby explores the Brexit vote in Britain and how it revealed a deeply divided nation, uncertain of its future in an increasingly pressurised European Union.
The programme hears from a diverse range of people – from Walsall to Rye – to uncover what propelled our momentous and historic decision.
In Walsall we hear from Mike Carter, a travel writer who walked 340 miles from Liverpool to London ahead of the referendum.
Through urban sprawls and rural industrial towns, Mike wanted to gauge the mood of the nation and find out whether the economic divisions that blighted Britain in the 1980s still existed.
From the conversations he had, Brexit was no shock at all.
It wasn’t just in post-industrial towns like Walsall where our destiny was decided this year. The referendum result in June was arguably down to a confluence of quiet voices in towns, too rarely heard by the political elite.
In the programme we also travel to comfortable, relatively affluent Rye – where the vote for Leave found traction.
Here we talk to the riders at Grove Farm Riding School who voted for change, but now have some regrets.
Across the pond in America and a similar revolution occurred in this year. In the iconic bellwether state of Ohio, Trump supporters are toasting the start of a new golden age for America after the election of Donald Trump as President.
Tonight meets those who fought for this new America and those on the opposite side of the fence, who watched the result with anguish.Outside Youngstown, Donna Calhoun is positively jubilant.
She rang the Trump bell for over a year. For her America has meaning again.
The world is going to be thrilled to death with Donald Trump, thrilled to death. Yep. I couldn't be happier. I couldn't be happier.
And it shows every day when I get up, because I know there is hope now.
On the streets of inner-city East Cleveland however, the emotions are very different. Blighted by decades of crime and drugs, the local wildlife now roams the streets here.
We caught up with Khalid Samad, who we filmed with before the US Election.
Back then he was fearful that America would explode in anger should Donald Trump be elected President.
Now as the dust is settling on a new Trump age, Khalid hopes that much needed conversations can be had between communities and economic classes that have grown increasingly divided.
2016: The Year That Changed The World - Tonight is broadcast at 7.30pm on Thursday 22nd December on ITV.