What Time Is The ITV Election Debate?

What You Need To Know About Tonight's Election Debate
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On Thursday evening seven party leaders will line-up to debate each other live on TV. Here is a run down of when it is, who is in it, where they are standing and how we will know who won.

When can you watch it on TV?

Tonight's televised TV election debate, hosted by ITV, will begin at 8pm and end at 10pm. It will be also be broadcast live on Sky News. There will be one advert break in the two hour programme.

Where is it?

The event will be held at ITV's studio in Salford, Manchester.

Who is the host?

Th debate will be moderated by ITV News anchor Julie Etchingham who is on Twitter @julieetchitv. She has written 'behind the scenes' blog previewing the event.

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Who is standing where?

Lots were drawn to determine the podium order, and the leaders will appear on screen, left to right as follows:

Podium 1: Green Natalie Bennett

Podium 2: Lib Dem Nick Clegg

Podium 3: Ukip's Nigel Farage

Podium 4: Labour's Ed Miliband

Podium 5: Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood

Podium 6: SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon

Podium 7: Conservative David Cameron

Who gets to speak when?

The first leader to speak will be Natalie Bennett. The last will be David Cameron. There will be opening and closing statements from each of the seven leaders. During the debate there will be four questions, posed by the studio audience, for all leaders to answer. ITV hope there is enough time for a "proper free flowing debate between the leaders" on each of the questions. The broadcaster has produced a diagram to illustrate who speaks when.

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Who is in audience?

The audience in Salford will be 200 people, selected by ICM. The polling firm has chosen an audience that is broadly demographically representative of the UK and politically balanced. According to ITV around 80% of the audience will be made up of voters who express a voting intention at the time of recruitment. And around 20% of the audience will be "undecided".

How do we know who 'won'?

Polling firm ComRes will be asking viewers who they think won the debate and will publish a snap poll shortly after 10pm. Follow @Andrew_ComRes on Twitter to find out.