New Yorkers tend to use a lot of hand gestures, and Donald Trump is no exception.

The BBC's Jasmine Taylor-Coleman and Anna Bressanin put this video together a few months ago, but it's well worth watching again before this first debate.

In it, body language expert Mary Civiello breaks down the top five gestures Donald Trump uses when he speaks. 

Image source, AP

While Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be under intense scrutiny tonight, don't underestimate the pressure moderator Lester Holt will be under (most notably, on when to call out false statements).

His CV includes major network shows such as Dateline NBC, Today, and his current role as anchor of NBC Nightly News, which attracts millions of viewers every night.

That makes him a national celebrity, and well-used to high-stakes TV.

He has already been accused of political bias, when Mr Trump labelled him a Democrat and complained about the "unfair system".

But journalists checked voter records, and it turns out Mr Holt is actually a registered Republican.

You can read more about him here.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (not to be mistaken for the Republican National Committee) have an update...

It's certainly what the pundits are suggesting - it would take quite something to pip the 80m people who watched Jimmy Carter against Ronald Reagan in 1980.

But if you look at our handy chart, there's been a steady increase in numbers watching since 1996 - and there is a lot of interest in what's happening this year.

Jon Sopel
BBC North America Editor

Someone once gave me great career advice on handling job interviews - think in terms of what is the question you have to answer. The interview panel will know your work, and have your CV - but what is the one area where they will need convincing?

And so it is in Monday's debate, except the selection board is a little bigger - the 200+ million US electorate.

For two candidates who are uniquely unpopular, they both have their own mountains to climb. Hillary Clinton's CV goes on for pages, so she doesn't need to unveil 15-point plans. Voters know she's got that. But trustworthiness? That's been more difficult. Try to be straightforward, don't be overly defensive or legalistic.

And Donald Trump? Well the CV is much more scant - so he needs to show that there is substance. We know what he wants to do - build a wall, bring back jobs, crush IS, renegotiate trade deals - but how is he going to do it? At the moment we have no idea.

As we head into the first debate, new polls are putting Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton ever closer - and one, by Bloomberg on Monday, even puts him ahead (when you take third-party candidates into account).

When you pitch them both head-to-head, Bloomberg puts them level; a poll by the Washington Post and ABC News on Sunday came to the same conclusion.

In the meantime, here's where CNN put things in some key states ahead of the debate:

It's also worth pointing out that Mr Trump is pretty happy with Bloomberg today, but he wasn't the biggest fan of the company's founder, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, when he announced his support for Mrs Clinton earlier this year...

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

The debates are the last, best chance for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to make their case to the nation.

Neither candidate will be able to command the attention of the American public the way they will in the three upcoming presidential debates. And no debate will have as large an audience, or do as much to shape public perceptions of the candidates, as this first one.

There's a good chance Monday night's affair will break the record of 80 million Americans who watched incumbent Jimmy Carter face-off against Ronald Reagan in 1980.

In an election cycle that's measured in months and even years, this debate gives Americans a real, unscripted opportunity to see how the would-be presidents might handle the intense stresses of the Oval Office.

It's the mother of all job interviews.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Welcome to the BBC's live coverage of the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump - it's only a few hours away now (it starts at 21:00 New York time, or 02:00 on Tuesday if you're in the UK).

It's the first of three debates between the two over the next month. They are neck and neck in the polls and all the signs are that there could be a record audience watching - maybe as many as 100m people.

There will be a vice-presidential debate too, on 4 October, but all eyes are on Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump tonight.

Brandon Nordstrom, 26

Williston, ND to Shelby, MT, going to see his daughter

Biggest election issue: Getting us out of the mess that we’re in

On Clinton: “If she gets elected then North Dakota will be an obsolete state, yet again. Our oil will mean nothing because she is going to get rid of it all. She’s 100% against fracking and that’s how you get the oil out of the ground.”

On oil industry: “There’s nothing in North Dakota besides fields and tiny hills. The only thing here that gives anyone any jobs besides owning land and farming is oil. Why would we import oil from the Middle East who has shown multiple times that they dislike us completely. Why give them the money when we can get it ourselves?”

Wesley, 25 (left) and Ryan Burton, 28

Glacier, MT to Portland, OR

Walked the Continental Divide Trail for four and a half months and more than 3,000 miles

Biggest issue: conservation and protecting the environment

On the election season: Ryan Burton - “The whole point was to get away from everything. Intentionally not reading anything and walking away from other day hikers that wanted to bring up certain issues.”

On voting: Ryan Burton - “I haven’t voted in the past election and this year I’m not excited to vote, either. It’s all so corrupt - even here in the US. Hillary Clinton is a career politician and Donald Trump might as well be another Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

One man we met outside the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo had been coming there to protest against abortion almost every week since the facility opened 18 years ago. 

We watched as some patients first drove past the clinic, seeing how many protesters there were outside.  If they stopped, demonstrators would rush to the vehicle and tell the patients not to go through with the abortion, or chant prayers or push leaflets through the car window.    

Eventually, most patients chose to park some distance from the clinic and walk in, but that meant being pursued down the street by protesters. Even with the volunteers who helped escort the patients in, it was an intimidating sight and one that was uncomfortable to witness.  

Diane Chittister

From Yellow Springs, Ohio to Seattle, visiting daughter in Seattle.

On the country’s direction: “I don’t feel that our country has lost its way. Things are going pretty well.”

On Trump: “I don’t know where the divisiveness comes from. I don’t understand the popularity of Trump at all. He scares me. I think he’s uninformed and temperamentally unfit to be president.”

On abortion: "I don't think anyone wants abortions to happen. That's tragic, obviously. I think women have to have the control over their bodies to be able to make that choice."

Laura Roberti

Traveling from Chicago to Sacramento, CA

Biggest election issue: Repeal Obamacare, make the country more conservative, support the military

On immigration: “The people coming in, they can get everything that we have for free and we are paying for all of this with our tax money.”

On Trump: “Will vote for him mainly because I’m hoping he will make some changes like he’s promising to do and get away from the Obamacare and getting more conservative.”

Pamela Haug

From Chicago to Seattle to work with the homeless and the poor at a church in Seattle for six months

Biggest election issue: More benefits and equal pay for women

On Clinton: “As women I believe women need more respect, more benefits, we definitely need equal pay for equal work. I just don’t feel that the woman that’s on our ticket is the woman that we need.”

On abortion: "I've adopted six special needs foster children. I would like to see more women if they get pregnant to be able to give that baby away. Release that baby to life."

On our stop in Fargo, North Dakota, we talked with protesters and clinic escorts outside the state's only abortion clinic. Watch more below.

As well as opening a window on some of the most stunning landscapes in the country, when the famous Empire Builder train route was created it helped make communities across the northern reaches of the USA feel closer to the rest of the country and to Washington DC.

By train, we travel the route at a time when many Americans feel their politicians are remote and their political system frustrating. In towns, cities and villages along the route, we will be hearing from people about where that frustration is coming from and where it may lead. Some of our focus will be on some of the pivotal issues where it is clear the direction the country takes could be profoundly different in future years depending on who is elected to the White House this November.

Video journalist Franz Strasser, producer Ashley Semler and I will be posting our reports, pictures and videos as we make our way from Minneapolis to Seattle, hearing from some who feel that while the spotlight has been on the character of the two candidates, voter concerns are not being heard.

Mary and Joe Reddin

Traveling from Milwaukee, WI to East Glacier, MT as tourists

• Biggest election issues: Washington gridlock, helping the middle class. “The inability in the past two terms of the president and Congress to get anything done has brought on a lot of problems.”
• On Trump: “A year and a half ago I thought he was a joke, now he has a chance to win. He’s done that by being a racist, appealing to homophobes, but also tapping into the discontent of perfectly good people who haven’t been heard.”

Kenneth Wade, 78

Traveling from Chicago to Spokane, WA to surprise his army buddy for his 50th wedding anniversary

• Biggest election issues: paying national debts, repealing Obamacare
• On Hillary Clinton: “She’s crooked as hell but they get away with it.”
• On Donald Trump: “They give him a hard time but he says what he thinks and I like that. He’s a smart guy. He wouldn’t have made all that money if he wasn’t smart.”

Rich Montone, 40, and Wayland, 17 months

Traveling from Chicago to Sandpoint, ID to spend quality time together and so Wayland can meet his great-grandparents for the first time

• Biggest election issue: the two-party system limiting voter choice, thinks real change happens in state and local politics not national election. “I worry about things that affect my life and my son’s life. He won the birth lottery. I worry about other families and want everyone to have a fair shot.”
• On the candidates: “Donald Trump is completely inappropriate to lead a country. Hillary Clinton, although I’m upset with the party, she’s totally qualified for the job. It’s disappointing because I haven’t had a choice really.”

Robert, 21

Traveling from Rochester, MN to Minot, ND trying to get out of homelessness

• Biggest election issue: Homelessness
• On feeling remote from political life: “Washington doesn’t know what’s happening here in this area, and with my situation.”
• On the candidates: “I think Trump cares more about the homeless than Hillary Clinton.”