The armchair guide to the UK’s General Election television schedule

ONCE you have voted, it’s time to settle down and watch the greatest reality show on TV – the General Election 2017.

The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky News all broadcast live through the night and the results promise to be more tense than a Line Of Duty finale.

Here is our guide to key moments:

7am  
We’re under starter’s orders    as    polling stations across the country open for the day.

10pm 
Polls close and exit polls   are released – the most accurate picture yet of the likely result.

11pm 
Safe Labour seat   Houghton   and Sunderland South takes pride in declaring first and the numbers will give the first steer as to how Labour has done.

11.30pm  
Over the next half    hour, more safe Labour northern constituencies declare, including Sunderland Central and Washington & Sunderland West, but Tory scores will show how successful Theresa May has been in her bid to turn traditional reds blue.

12.30am 
A moment of  quiet –  maybe a good time for a swift power nap.

1am  

The first marginal seat,    Nuneaton, declares. In the 2015 General Election, David Cameron said he knew the Tories had won when this ­bellweather result came in. We’ll also see the first London results, including Tory stronghold Putney where Education ­Secretary Justine Greening is expected to be returned. Newcastle’s results will show if Mrs May’s tactic of repeatedly visiting the region to woo voters has paid off.

1.30am  
The Tories have a good     chance of winning Darlington, currently held by the Labour shadow Brexit minister Jenny Chapman. She won the seat in 2015 with a majority of just over 3,000. Defeat would be big for Labour, which has held the seat since 1992.

2am  
Declarations start to come    in   fast, including three-way marginal Thurrock – which the Tories won in 2015 by 536 votes over Labour, with Ukip just 438 votes behind. Home Secretary Amber Rudd will find out if she has held on to Hastings & Rye in East Sussex. Her majority is almost 5,000 but if ousted this would be a nightmare for the Tories.

2.30am  
Corbyn’s seat of      Islington North declares. It has been Labour since 1937 and held by Corbyn since 1983. His victory speech and body language will be telling. We’ll also find out if Labour has kept Ynys Mon, its most marginal seat in Wales.

3am  
Results flying in. Speeches   of      acceptance and defeat will give a further indication of how MPs feel the night is going. Could the Tory surge in ­Scotland topple SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson, in Moray? This would be a huge scalp. Other key seats up for grabs include ­Glasgow South – SNP leader Nicola ­Sturgeon’s constituency
Although Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has a huge majority in Westmorland and Lonsdale, in Cumbria, the Tories have courted voters in this pro-Brexit area. If his lead is heavily cut he will be embarrassed.

3.30am  
The MP with the     colourful love life, Simon Danczuk, is standing as an independent in Rochdale, the constituency he used to represent for Labour. Will voters back him or the party? Tony Blair’s seat of Sedgefield is also up for grabs, too. A Tory win would be a symbolic blow for Labour.
Also expected to declare now will be Ilford North, where Labour’s Wes Streeting is defending a majority of fewer than 600 votes. It used to be Tory and they are confident of taking it back.

4am  
A by-election victory in     Copeland earlier this year meant the Conservatives took the seat for the first time in more than 80 years. Can they hold it? Edinburgh South’s Ian Murray – ­Labour’s only Scottish MP in 2015 – is in a three-way fight to keep his seat with the SNP and the Tories. Victory would keep the party clinging on north of the border.
Richmond Park could mean a route back into politics for Tory pin-up Zac Goldsmith, who was sent off in a by-election last December after losing the London mayoral race. But he would have to beat popular Lib Dem Sarah Olney. Meanwhile in neigh- bouring Tory-held Twickenham, Lib Dem big gun Vince Cable is fighting for a return.

4.30am  
Mrs May’s ultra-   safe Tory constituency of Maidenhead, Berks, will surely return her to Parliament with rousing cheers.

5am   
Ukip’s best chance of a seat     will come in Boston and Skegness, Lincs. Boston was the country’s most pro-Brexit town, with 75.6 per cent voting Leave last year, while the Tory ­incumbent Matt Warman was a Remainer. If Ukip leader Paul Nuttall loses, calls for him to quit will follow within minutes.

5.30am  
A key test for   Labour’s chances, Southampton Test will be announced. It is one of only a handful of marginal seats to have been visited by Mr Corbyn during the campaign. Labour’s Alan Whitehead secured a majority of almost 4,000 in 2015 but the Tories, who came second then, could now claw it back. Loss here would spell disaster for Mr Corbyn’s hopes.

6am  
We should know who the   next PM is by now, so it’s probably a good time for another quick bit of shut-eye before breakfast. For the few who care, Caroline Lucas, the only Green Party MP, will discover if she has held on to the Brighton Pavilion seat.

6.30am    
Cornwall North is a   tough one for the Lib Dems. They held this now Tory seat for 23 years before 2015, but based their 2017 ­campaign on staying in the European Union – and Cornwall voted overwhelmingly for Leave.

7am   
Andrea Jenkyns, who ­deliv  ered the biggest shock of the last election when she booted out Ed Balls, will discover if she can build on her tiny 422-vote majority and keep Morley and Outwood for the Conservatives.

7.30am   
By this point the     election will be all but over. The only seats coming in over the next 90 minutes or so now have huge Tory majorities. Shouldn’t you be getting ready for work now, anyway?

Noon  
The final three constit uencies declare but by now we’ll know who has won – and which ­leaders need to think about resigning.