My Week: Dermot Murnaghan, Presenter of ITN's `Nightly News'

Sunday

I am woken at 7am by the kids and go swimming with my daughter Kitty. I plough through the mountain of papers noting the references to the demise of News at Ten; the coverage is fairly nostalgic. After the last programme on Friday, there were a few tears. It meant a huge amount to us at ITN, but to weep over a news programme is a bit much.

I have rehearsals all day. It's doubly complicated due to the Budget coverage. I get home and collapse at about 10. I go to bed and have one of those anxiety dreams about reading the news without any clothes on.

Monday

Breakfast with kids. It's the usual argy-bargy, finding books and shoes, and making sure that tights are on the right way round - not mine .

Get to work at 11 for an interview with LBC radio. More Budget rehearsals. The afternoon is spent interviewing a false Claire Rayner and dodging flying cameras. "Claire" is a male 19-year-old journalism student with a broad Geordie accent. He seems to like being called Claire but won't talk about anything other than football. It's impossible to replicate the real Budget journalistically, but it's good practice for the production crew.

I attend the launch of the ITV Evening News. The champagne is flowing but none touches my lips; if anything goes wrong tonight I don't want the slightest question-mark over alcohol being involved. .

At 9pm, I go into make up, final rehearsals and then bingo! After the gestation period of an elephant, there is a real sense of "let's go". I have "don't mess up" imprinted on my eyelids. I feel very responsible as so much effort has gone into this. I get home and find that I can't switch off, I've got too much adrenaline. I lie in bed tossing and turning but decide to go downstairs so I don't wake the baby. I read How to Wind- surf in a Weekend until I bore myself to sleep.

Tuesday

The Budget looms. I must remember to ask the real Claire Rayner questions about the health service and not about Alan Shearer. I have to hang around for the two-way with Trevor McDonald on the main Budget measures. When the overnight figures arrive, everyone is pleased to find that the Evening News has beaten the BBC, the Nightly News has reached 3.5 million. We have the unknown slot, so are well pleased.

Wednesday

I'm beginning to feel a little frayed around the edges, so I go for a walk on Hampstead Heath. It is nice to see some daylight after being locked away for hours in the dungeons of ITN. I get to the office at lunch time, glad to have the Budget out of the way so I can now focus on the Nightly News. The evening goes quickly because I have to do a one-minute bulletin at 10pm. We are all tired by day three and rush to leave, eager for our beds.

Thursday

I do the school run in my pyjamas. I'm not worried about being recognised in a car full of seven-year-olds singing along to Robbie Williams. In defiance of John Prescott's ruling, I add to the traffic jams on Holloway Road. I go back to sleep for a few hours before going to the gym. I need to get some blood pumping through my limbs. I arrive at the office to hear news about the ratings. This proves that people will stay up to watch the Nightly News if the programme before it is good enough.

Friday

More school runs. Today it's The Corrs and the added accompaniment of squeaking red noses. My mornings are like most people's evenings. I usually just lie around and read the papers. It's like being unemployed, without the economic downside. Today I have to pay the bills and, of course, the parking tickets.