British and Irish TV talent BBC Northern Ireland Presenters
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John Ashe
John was a TV news reader with BBC Northern Ireland in the 1980s, presenting short bulletins mainly. He switched to a continuity announcer/director role there in the early-1990s.

John retired from the BBC in November 2006; his last on air announcement was on BBC Two Northern Ireland at 12.20am on November 01 2006.

Wendy Austin
Wendy joined BBC Northern Ireland in the early-1980s fresh from her presenting duties on Downtown Radio. Wendy presented 'Scene Around Six' and 'Inside Ulster' regularly, as well as being the face of a local supermarket chain's advertising campaign.

Wendy was a regular presenter on BBC NI's Children In Need offering. Since the early-1990s, Wendy has stayed with radio, and is one of the main presenters on BBC Radio Ulster's 'Good Morning Ulster'. However, she does still pop up on our screens occasionally - she took over from former colleague Sean Rafferty as presenter of 'The DIY Show'.

Michael Baguley
BBC Northern Ireland news and current affairs presenter in the 1960s and 1970s.

John Bennett
A long serving presenter with BBC Northern Ireland. John regularly fronted BBC NI's 'Sportsnight' opt-outs in the late-1980s and early-1990s, as well as fronting other programmes including 'Children In Need'. He is best known for his morning radio show on BBC Radio Ulster which he has presented since the 1980s.

Conor Bradford
The former host of BBC Radio Ulster's 'Inside Politics' in the late-1980s and early-1990s and now fronting BBC Northern Ireland's TV coverage of activities in the Northern Ireland Assembly; he also presents on BBC Radio Ulster's 'Good Morning Ulster'.

Conor was a regular presenter of regional news programme 'Inside Ulster' from c. 1992 - 1996 and later 'Newsline 6.30' in the late-1990s.

Lynda Bryans
In the early days of her television career, Lynda spent a brief period as a television announcer with BBC Northern Ireland - c. late-1980s. She went on to become one of the regular presenters of the BBC's local news programme in Northern Ireland, 'Inside Ulster'.

She later appeared on national screens, presenting alongside Rolf Harris on 'Animal Hospital' in 1996 and also filing reports for the 'Holiday' programme.

In 1996, Lynda defected to UTV, where she co-presented the main news programme with husband Mike Nesbitt until February 2006, when Mike left the station. Lynda still co-presents the programme.

In 2004, Lynda was an occasional presenter on the ITV News Channel; she also presented on ITV 1's 'London Tonight'. Since November 2005, Lynda has been presenting her own show on Belfast radio station, U105.8.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.

Mark Carruthers
Mark joined the BBC in 1989 and has presented many news and current affairs programmes on both radio and television during his time with the Corporation. He has been a regular face on the main local television news programme since the early-1990s.

He presents the weekday drivetime programme on BBC Radio Ulster - 'Evening Extra' - as well as occasional studio-based editions of the television current affairs programme, 'Spotlight'. He also chairs a local political 'Question Time' style programme, 'Let's Talk'.

Andrea Catherwood
Andrea's broadcasting career began in 1985 at the age of 16 when she joined BBC Northern Ireland as a presenter on a youth current affairs programme.

Andrea joined Ulster Television in 1990 where she spent three years as a news and features reporter. In 1993, she moved to NBC Asia (NBC's business news network for the Asia Pacific region) in Hong Kong as a news reporter. Subsequently she became one of their main news presenters, anchoring coverage of special events including the handover of Hong Kong to China

She joined ITN in April 1998 as a relief newscaster and senior reporter. Later she was the company's medical correspondent in 1999 and then international correspondent for ITV News.

During 2000 she anchored the main evening news programme on Channel 5.

She rejoined the ITV newsroom in January 2001. She remains a regular news presenter on ITV news programmes.

Paul Clark
Paul's broadcasting career began with RTÉ where he was among the first batch of DJs on the newly launched Radio 2 - RTÉ's answer to BBC Radio 1, He was on the early shift with 'Paul Clark's Morning Show'.

C. 1984, Paul moved north to take up a news presenting role with BBC Northern Ireland. He became a familar face on the regional news programme, 'Inside Ulster'. Paul was also a regular presenter on Children In Need night. Indeed, Paul continued to show up on CIN after his departure to UTV in 1989.

Throughout his time with UTV, Paul has been one of the main presenters on the main news programme, UTV Live (and formerly 'Six Tonight').

Adam Coulter
Former BBC Northern Ireland reporter/news presenter who moved to London to report for the children's programme 'Newsround' on the national network.

Barry Cowan
Barry Cowan was one of the leading faces of BBC NI news and current affairs during the worst of the 'Troubles' in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1974, he became the main anchor on the regional news programme, 'Scene Around Six'.

Barry was the original presenter of BBC Radio Ulster's 'TalkBack' programme when it launched on September 08 1986. A few months after the programme went on air, Barry wrote about his experiences on the programme in BBC NI's 'In Focus' magazine:

"Until then journalism had always been about serious things - the Anglo-Irish Agreement, strikes and civil disorder, politics and parsons. All that was to change as 'Talkback' launched me into the alternative world of loopies, loonies and lost causes more at home in the 'Sun', the 'Mirror' or the 'Star' than the 'Times', the 'Telegraph' and the 'Guardian'. The serious stuff is still there but it's the tabloid tattle that sticks in the mind."

Among other BBC Radio Ulster programmes that Barry presented are 'Good Morning Ulster', 'Evening Extra' and 'Seven Days'.

In the early-1980s, Barry went down south briefly and joined RTÉ as a presenter on the station's TV current affairs flagship, 'Today Tonight'. He later returned to BBC Northern Ireland where he continued to play a major part in current affairs output.

Barry died in hospital on June 17 2004 after a long illness. He was 56.

Speaking after the announcement of Barry's death, BBC NI controller, Anna Carragher, said: "I am deeply saddened to hear of Barry's death. He was one of the great broadcasters in Northern Ireland over the last three decades and combined huge knowledge of Irish and Northern Irish life in politics with a penetrating intellect and a quick wit. I have known Barry since we were both students at Queen's in the late 60s where he was one of a generation of wonderful broadcasters including Nick Ross, Seamus McKee and Sean Rafferty. He will be much missed."

Former head of news and current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland, Keith Baker, said: "When I joined the BBC in the 1980s Barry Cowan was already a legend. He lived for live broadcasting, that arena of the unpredictable. He was a superb interviewer always dogged and determined and always with the interest of the viewers and listeners at heart. We are all better informed about Northern Ireland through Barry's work over the years."

Cecilia Daly
Cecilia joined the Met Office in 1985. She worked initially at Aldergrove but moved to Nottingham after three years. It was there that her broadcasting career began. She provided forecasts for a number of local radio stations - BBC Radio Nottingham, BBC Radio Lincoln, BBC Radio Leicester, BBC Radio Derby and BBC Radio Northampton.

After three years, she moved to the London Weather Centre, providing forecasts for various BBC and independent local radio stations. After five years, Cecilia started work at BBC Radio 5 Live, working on 'Breakfast', 'The Magazine' and 'Midday With Mair'. She spent three years there before returning to Northern Ireland in 1997.

In 1997, she began presenting weather forecasts for BBC Northern Ireland's 'Newsline' programme.

Peter Dickson
Peter was possibly the youngest ever continuity announcer at the age of 17. He joined BBC Northern Ireland while still at school. He subsequently obtained a degree from Queen's University, Belfast.

During his initial four years with the BBC, from 1975 to 1978, he was a news reader on 'Scene Around Six' with Barry Cowan and Sean Rafferty; he also covered other TV news broadcasts including the news at closedown on BBC One Northern Ireland.

On leaving university, Peter joined BBC NI on contract under Mike Baguley in the Presentation Department. He presented programmes and read the news as well as performing continuity duties for BBC Radio Ulster. He then moved to BBC TV presentation, working with what he describes as "two Ulster broadcasting legends", David Gamble and Mike Nunan. He later became a reporter on 'Good Morning Ulster' on BBC Radio Ulster before transferring to BBC Radio 2 in 1982 to take up a contract position as an announcer in the Presentation Department under Iain Purdon.

Over the years, Peter has presented various music and entertainment shows for BBC Radio, including: 'Peter Dickson's Nightcap' on BBC Radio 2, deputising for Gloria Hunniford on her BBC Radio 2 show and 'Newsbeat' on BBC Radio 1.

He was one of the main voice on programme promotions on BBC One for six years (1983 - 1989). He has also voiced programme promotions for many other TV networks, including: ITV; Channel 4; Five; The History Channel; Performance TV; The Biography Channel; Nickleodeon; National Geographic; UK Play; Challenge TV; Sky One; Disney Channel; TNT Classic Movies; BBC World; UKTV Gold; UK Horizons; Meridian; Sky Movies.

Peter's voice-over talent has seen him involved with many high profile TV shows, including: 'Bruce's Price Is Right' (ITV); 'Family Fortunes' (ITV); 'Late Night With Jerry Springer' (ITV/Five); 'It's Not The Answer' (ITV); 'Gameshow Marathon' (ITV); 'Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' (ITV); 'The X Factor' (ITV); 'The Paul O'Grady Show' (ITV); 'Today With Des & Mel' (ITV); 'Test The Nation' (BBC); 'Record Of The Year' (ITV).

He also narrates documentaries, including many of the highest rating productions from the Discovery Channel, including: 'FBI Files'.

Peter has also written for various television productions, including: 'The Fast Show' (BBC); 'Play Your Cards Right' (ITV); 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' (BBC).
Website 

Jim Dougal
Jim's first job was in the Civil Service in London. However, he desperately wanted to get into journalism. After one failed attempt, Jim was given a reporter position with the BBC in Belfast. He later moved to a similar role at Ulster Television.

In 1974, Jim was poached by RTÉ and became the station's northern editor. He remained in that job until 1991 when he moved back to the BBC in Belfast taking up the political editor post, replacing Denis Murray who became the BBC's national Ireland correspondent.

In 1996 he switched to a presenting role, fronting the relaunched BBC regional news programme, 'Newsline 6.30'. However, with the show pulling in only half the number of viewers of its UTV rival, Jim quit after just two months, and returned to a political reporting role.

In September 1997, he announced his resignation from the BBC. He was moving away from broadcasting to become head of representation at the EU office in Belfast. In April 2001, Jim was promoted to a top job based in England, becoming head of the European Union in the UK.

In 2004, Jim resigned from his EU post.

David Dunseith
David began his broadcasting career at Ulster Television in the late-1960s, and was a regular host of evening news programme 'UTV Reports' and current affairs series 'Counterpoint'.

In 1981, he switched channels to BBC Northern Ireland, fronting its political coverage on TV and radio. David has hosted 'TalkBack', Northern Ireland's most popular radio programme, on BBC Radio Ulster since 1988, and was the first presenter of its TV spin-off, 'Let's Talk'.

Clive Ferguson
Clive fronted BBC Northern Ireland's 'Scene Around Six' evening news magazine. He went on to become a national BBC TV News reporter between 1981 and 1986 and the Corporation's Scotland correspondent between 1986 and 1988.

Steve Le Fevre
Steve was born in Larne, Northern Ireland. His broadcasting career began with BBC Northern Ireland in the early-1980s: he started off as a TV continuity announcer and also read the news on TV and on BBC Radio Ulster. He later fronted many sports programmes for BBC Northern Ireland, such as 'Grandstand' and 'Sportsnight'. He also produced and presented for BBC Radio Ulster.

In the late-1980s, Steve moved to Yorkshire to present a radio talk show on BBC Radio Leeds (for which he won a Sony Gold) Over the years, Steve has presented on various radio stations, including: BBC Radio Newcastle; BBC Radio Three Counties; BBC Radio WM. He also worked at BBC Radio 5 Live, where he wrote and hosted 'The Media Show' and presented on 'Late Night Live', and 'Breakfast'.

In the early-1990s, Steve started work with Yorkshire TV as a reporter and presenter. Among the programmes he presented: 'Calendar', 'Scoreline', 'Tonight' and 'Live Lunch'.

He also presented for BBC TV in the Midlands: 'The Midlands At Westminster' and read the news on 'Look North'

In 2001, he fronted the national ITV 1 quiz, 'The Biggest Game In Town', presenting ninety-six live editions of the show. He also presented the current affairs programme 'A Bitter Pill' on BBC One Network.

Steve is still based in Leeds, where he runs a media company alongside his broadcasting commitments.
Image courtesy of Mark Swinford Photography/Steve Le Fevre.
Website 

Jackie Fullerton
One of Northern Ireland's best known presenters and a former Northern Ireland soccer star. Jackie's long career as a sports presenter began in the mid-1970s at Ulster Television, where he remained for almost 20 years, reporting for 'UTV Reports', 'Good Evening Ulster' and 'Six Tonight'. In 1992, he changed channels to BBC Northern Ireland, covering the daily sports news on 'Inside Ulster' and 'Newsline', as well as fronting many prestigious local sports events and co-presenting 'Children In Need'.

Since April 2004, Jackie's role in the 'Newsline' programme has switched to reporting only.

Diane Harron
BBC TV 'Nationwide' reporter between 1975 and 1979 who went on to anchor BBC Northern Ireland's 'Scene Around Six' in the early-1980s.

Fiona Henderson
Fiona's journalistic career began in the late-1980s in her native Northern Ireland at BBC Radio Foyle in Derry. In 1988 she moved across the Irish Sea to BBC Scotland where she presented and reported for 'Reporting Scotland' and other current affairs programmes.

In 1989, she returned to Northern Ireland and took up a presenting and reporting role for the BBC in Belfast, working on both radio and television in news and current affairs.

In 1991, she returned to BBC Scotland, becoming part of the presenting and reporting team on 'Reporting Scotland'. She is still with the programme.

She has also presented 'Good Morning Scotland' and 'Newsdrive' on BBC Radio Scotland and contributes to 'Woman's Hour' on BBC Radio 4.

Walter Love
(MBE). Walter joined the BBC in London as a studio manager in 1958. After a year with the BBC in Edinburgh, he moved to Broadcasting House in Belfast, where, after a year, he became a staff announcer. Throughout the 1960s, Walter was the main television news presenter with BBC Northern Ireland. He also looked after the radio continuity operation and presented various radio programmes.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Walter also carried out television continuity duties with BBC Northern Ireland.

In 1978 he went freelance, presenting the magazine programme 'Day By Day'. In the late-1980s, he took up the afternoon slot on BBC Radio Ulster, presenting 'Love In The Afternoon'. He then became the presenter and producer on 'Love Forty'.

In 1998, he was awarded an MBE for his services to broadcasting.

Colette Maguire
Colette is a reporter for BBC Northern Ireland, who occasionally fronted the regional news programme 'Newsline' during the period late-1990s - 2001.

Seamus McKee
Seamus has presented current affairs programming on BBC Radio Ulster since c. the mid-1980s, with occasional stints on television on the 'Spotlight' programme. In 1992 he took on a more regular TV presenting role when he became an anchor on the local news programme 'Inside Ulster'. He continued with presenting on BBC Radio Ulster. Seamus left 'Inside Ulster' before the programme was relaunched in spring 1996.

Seamus continued as a regular presenter on BBC Radio Ulster's 'Good Morning Ulster'. He still makes occasional appearances on television; he presented a local schools quiz series in 2001 - 'School Challenge'. Seamus has also presented the BBC Radio 2 'Arts Programme'.

Annita McVeigh
Annita was a reporter and occasional news presenter with BBC Northern Ireland in the late-1990s and early-2000s, working on the 'Newsline' programme. C. 2002, Annita moved to national reporting with the BBC in England.

In 2006, she worked as a relief presenter on BBC News 24, before taking up a regular presenting role on the channel during 2007.

Alison Murphy
(Formerly Comyn). Alison has worked as a reporter and presenter with BBC Northern Ireland on its 'Newsline' programme (late-1990s/early-2000s). She has also reported for various BBC Network holiday programmes, including 'Holiday'.

Alison currently works as a reporter for Sky News Ireland and presents on 'The Travel Bug' on The Travel Channel.

Other TV projects: reporter, 'Holiday' (BBC); reporter, 'Summer Holiday' (BBC); reporter, 'Holiday On A Shoestring; reporter, 'The Travel Show'; presenter, 'Pot Luck', cookery game show (1999, RTÉ).

Rose Neill
Rose was educated at The Mount School in York and The City and East London College, where she studied Dispensing Optics. In 1977, she joined Ulster Television as a children's TV presenter. She later became a news presenter and announcer at the station, as well as co-presenting the weekly 'Sportscast' programme, alongside Jackie Fullerton.

In 1985, Rose moved to BBC Northern Ireland, as a news presenter. For eighteen years, she co-presented the early evening TV news programme there, 'Inside Ulster' (later 'Newsline'). She also devised, wrote and presented three medical documentaries for the region.

During her TV career, Rose has presented on all of the daily BBC TV news bulletins, co-presented 'Children In Need', fronted various light-hearted documentaries and co-hosted 'Making A Difference' with Eamonn Holmes and Patrick Kielty. Rose also presented her own daily afternoon chat show on BBC Radio Ulster for four/five years.

For a three-year period, Rose was the youngest news reader in the UK; she is one of the longest-serving news presenters in Britain and Northern Ireland.

Rose is married to Ivan Wilson, who was a senior manager with the BBC. She has two sons from a previous marriage. Hobbies: ski-ing (snow and water); sailing; riding; travelling.

Rose currently presents TV news bulletins on BBC Northern Ireland, four days a week.

Jim Neilly
Jim Neilly started his broadcasting career with BBC Northern Ireland in the late-1970s, working in the sports department there as a presenter and commentator. He has covered many major sporting events for BBC Northern Ireland (and later BBC Network), including the Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games, Rugby World Cup and Five Nations Championships.

He became head of sport and events at BBC Northern Ireland in the late-1980s. In 1993, he took over from Harry Carpenter as the main national BBC boxing commentator.

Mike Nesbitt
Mike's journalistic career began within the BBC's sports department in the mid-1980s. In 1986, he became one of the regular presenters on BBC Radio Ulster's breakfast news and current affairs offering, 'Good Morning Ulster'.

In 1990, he moved to PR company Anderson Kenny. By 1992 he had moved back into regular TV presenting, becoming one of the main anchors on UTV's regional news programme, 'Six Tonight'. He quickly established himself as one of the key figures within the station's news department.

However, in February 2006 came the shock announcement that Mike was not renewing his contract with UTV.

He said: "I have decided to leave because I just feel very strongly that the time has come to move on.

"I believe it is time for a new challenge and I have several projects in the pipeline.

"I will be sorry to leave behind a very fine bunch of journalists, and above all, will miss working with my wife Lynda, who is a key factor in UTV's success story."

Other TV credits: 'Sunday Morning' - religious affairs programme, presented with his wife Lynda (Network ITV); 'Insight' - current affairs (UTV).

Karen Patterson
Karen has been presenting the breakfast, morning, lunchtime and early afternoon bulletins since early-2000 when she joined the BBC. Her journalistic career started with the Bangor Spectator newspaper. Whilst with the newspaper, she also worked as a freelancer for the local independent radio stations Downtown Radio and Cool FM (which operate from the same newsroom). Karen went on to work full-time as a news reader/reporter with the radio stations before joining the BBC.

Margaret Percy
Presenter of BBC TV Northern Ireland's 'Scene Around Six' evening news magazine programme.

Angie Phillips
BBC Northern Ireland's resident weather forecaster since 1996. Angie was part of the ITV national weather presenter line-up from February 1993 until April 1994.

Jerome Quinn
Jerome has been a sports presenter and reporter on 'Inside Ulster' and 'Newsline' since the mid-1990s. He has also fronted 'Northern Ireland Results' on Saturday afternoons, 'Grandstand From Northern Ireland' and many sports programmes on BBC NI television and on BBC Radio Ulster. Jerome specialises in coverage of Gaelic football.

Sean Rafferty
A familiar face on BBC Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s. Sean was a main presenter on the local news programme 'Scene Around Six' and 'Inside Ulster'.

Other TV work for BBC Northern Ireland in the 1980s/90s included arts magazines 'Prospect' and '29 Bedford Street'. He co-presented thirty editions of 'The DIY Show' with Denise Waterman. In 1995, Sean left BBC NI to become the presenter of BBC Radio 3's 'In Tune' programme, where he remains today.

Mark Robson
A regular presenter of BBC Northern Ireland's 'Today's Sport' and 'Sportswide' in the 1980s. Mark transferred to UTV in 1992. He now works as a commentator for British Eurosport.

Jo Scott
Having taken a diploma in journalism and television presentation, Jo joined Downtown Radio as a news reader. She later joined BBC Northern Ireland taking up a similar role at BBC Radio Ulster. Around 2003, Jo moved into television news, fronting the bulletins within 'Breakfast' mostly; she also presents the odd late evening bulletin.

Jo left the news desk behind in spring 2006 to start filming a new series of BBC Northern Ireland's holiday programme 'Getaways'.

Yvette Shapiro
Yvette started as a reporter for UTV Live in 1993. After a brief spell with UTV, she moved over to BBC Northern Ireland. She was chosen as one of the anchors for 'Newsline 6:30' (the replacement for 'Inside Ulster') at its launch in 1996, but moved from the newsdesk a few months later back to reporting. She continues to file reports for both 'Newsline' and current affairs programme 'Spotlight'.

Declan Teague
Declan was a relief weather forecaster with BBC Northern Ireland in the late-1990s and early-2000s.

Noel Thompson
Noel has been co-presenting on the main BBC Northern Ireland 'Newsline' programme since 1998. During his career with the BBC - going back to 1979 - Noel has worked on radio and television in London, Manchester and Birmingham. He has been involved with the BBC World Service as well as programmes such as 'Newsround', 'Newsnight' and 'Breakfast News'. He has also performed a few presenting shifts on BBC News 24.

Noel also presented the local BBC Northern Ireland news programme 'Inside Ulster' between 1992 and 1996. He is the regular presenter of the political analysis series 'Hearts And Minds'.

Noel won the prestigious Royal Television Society 'Regional Presenter Of The Year' for two years running.

Sarah Travers
Sarah studied journalism at Nottingham-Trent University. Her first broadcast job was with a commercial radio station in Leicester.

She returned to Northern Ireland to present news and general interest programming on BBC Radio Foyle in Derry.

Sarah joined the BBC Northern Ireland television news team in Belfast in 1999. Since then she has become a regular on the breakfast, morning, lunchtime and early afternoon bulletins. Since 2005, she has been presenting a regular once-a-week segment within the main evening 'Newsline' programme - Family Focus. She also occasionally co-presents the main evening edition of 'Newsline'.

Donna Traynor
Donna journalistic career began with RTÉ. She joined the BBC in 1989, reading the news on BBC Radio Ulster. She was the first person to break the news of the IRA ceasefire in August 1994 - part of this broadcast was played on national bulletins throughout the day.

She gradually broke into the TV side of news at Broadcasting House and became a regular breakfast presenter in the early-1990s before taking on a more prominent role in the main early evening editions of 'Inside Ulster' from c. 1992.

Donna has presented many programmes for BBC Northern Ireland: she fronts the 'Children In Need' charity extravaganza each year; she travelled all over Northern Ireland meeting people in 'Country Times'; hosting the Balmoral Show - the highlight of the local agricultural calendar - is another regular event in her presenting diary.

Donna is married to broadcaster Ronan Kelly.

Stephen Watson
UTV sports presenter/reporter on UTV Live from 1994 - 1999. Stephen moved down the road to the BBC in 1999 where he took up a similar role, maklng regular TV appearances on the local news programme 'Newsline'.

Stephen has also presented the local sports results round-up within 'Final Score' on Saturday afternoons on a regular basis.

Patricia Wilkinson
Former Ulster Television announcer. Now works as a reporter with BBC Northern Ireland. Patricia has also occasionally presented 'Newsline' bulletins - mainly breakfast and weekend editions.

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