British and Irish TV talent
ITV 1 - Central Presenters
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Former 'Central News' (South) reporter and presenter. Cathy also presented the news on the now defunct satellite broadcaster BSB in 1990. She currently presents and reports for 'Meridian Tonight'.Marie was born in Edinburgh and raised in Carlisle.
Having obtained a degree in French, she then went on to study a one-year post-graduate course in radio journalism. Her career began in radio, where she worked as a district reporter for BBC Radio Cumbria in Barrow, Furness, covering the South Lakes.
Six months later, she moved to BBC Radio Nottingham, taking up a reporting job. Then, in 1989, while on placement to 'Midlands Today', Marie moved to Central TV, where she spent sixteen years, as a reporter and presenter; in fact, she soon became one of the main anchors on the main evening regional news programme there. During her time with ITV, Marie presented many programmes, covering political and social issues.
In September 2005, she returned to the BBC in Nottingham, co-presenting 'East Midlands Today' on Fridays. She also presents the local segments on 'The Politics Show' and from January 2006, 'Inside Out'.
Marie also has a weekly column in the Nottingham Evening Post.
Presenter with 'Central News' (East).
Central newscaster who has presented both the West and East Midlands editions of 'Central News'.Central TV West Midlands reporter/news reader.Andy is a presenter on 'Central News'.
We have no further information on this presenter at present. Presenters are encouraged to update their online profile by providing details via our Profile Submission mechanism.
Sally is a reporter/presenter on BBC 'East Midlands Today'. Previously, Sally worked as a presenter/reporter for 'Lookaround' (ITV Border) and 'Central News' (ITV Central).
We have no further information on this presenter at present. Presenters are encouraged to update their online profile by providing details via our Profile Submission mechanism.
Anna presents the News Round-up for 'Central News' (South).Adrian is a former 'Central News' and ITV News Channel presenter.
We have no further information on this presenter at present. Presenters are encouraged to update their online profile by providing details via our Profile Submission mechanism.
Presenter with 'Central News' (West) in the 1990s.
Pete joined the Met Office in 1977 as ASO, working at the Met Research Unit at RAF Cardington. He was promoted to SO in 1983 and began forecasting at Manchester Weather Centre. He spent a brief spell at Manchester Airport and RAF Wittering, before moving to Nottinghan Weather Centre in 1985, broadcasting on BBC local radio across the East Midlands.
Pete replaced John Kettley on Central TV East, following John's move to London. He performed live forecasts from their studios at Lenton Lane, Nottingham between July 1985 and August 1988. Pete shared duties at Central TV with Jim Gould and Dave Squires. He also appeared on 'BBC Midlands Today', doing recorded and live interviews during periods of severe weather.
He was promoted to HSO in 1987. In 1995 he was posted to Birmingham Weather Centre. He become a forecaster team leader in 2000.
Hobbies: football and cricket (played for BBC Radio Derby in the late-1980s).
David Chisnall started working for 'Central News East' at weekends, while he completed his degree in broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University. When he graduated in 2005, he was offered a job at the new 'Central News East' newsgathering centre, Terry Lloyd House. He quickly became established as a sports presenter, alongside 'Central News East' veteran, Dennis Coath.
'Chizzers' is known for his coy personality and self-depreciating sense of humour. In-jokes include his reputed sex-symbol status, his mauling by a sumo-wrestler and accidentally saying the 'c' word on air; he was supposed to say "county" instead of "country", but attempted to correct himself halfway through!
David was born in Nottinghamshire and, we're told, is a closet Nottingham Forest supporter.
David left 'Central News East' in late October 2007 to take up a new post at the Setanta Sports Channel; he presented his last 'Central News East' sports bulletin on October 24 2007.
Steve's first broadcasting gig was as a presenter on The Children's Channel. His desire to enter journalism took him to cable TV and a role as a news presenter. Presenting jobs at Chelsea and Manchester United football club TV channels followed.
His big break came when he got a position as a presenter on Sky News and Sky Sports News.
In January 2002, he became a sports presenter on BBC 'Midlands Today'. By 2004, he had moved to present the news on 'Central News' (East).
Dennis Coath is the sports editor for 'Central News' in the Midlands. Over the years, Dennis has worked as a sports journalist for the BBC and ITV. He began his career as a BBC news trainee, working in the London newsroom. He subsequently moved to BBC Radio Leeds and later BBC Radio Leicester, where he presented a daily programme. Whilst at BBC Radio Leicester, he moved into the sports department; he later became the sports editor there.
He then moved to Central Television where he worked as a sports presenter and reporter, before becoming sports editor at the regional ITV broadcaster.
In his role as presenter and reporter at 'Central News', Dennis has interviewed people like Muhammad Ali, Ayrton Senna, Barry Sheene, Bjorn Borg, David Beckham, Stanley Matthews, Brian Clough, Martin Johnson, Jonah Lomu and Lester Piggott.
In his spare time, Dennis writes books; 'Deep Cover', co-authored with Ian Botham, was purchased by the BBC as a play. He has also performed as a voice-over specialist in ITV productions such as 'Boon', 'The Upper Hand', 'Peak Practice' and 'Woof'. He is also a media trainer; he has tutored various cabinet ministers and heads of industry, as well as sports personalities such as 'Freddie' Flintoff and Paula Radcliffe.
Tyne Tees TV news reporter and presenter who moved south to present the news for Central News South in the Midlands.Central TV news reader in the East Midlands who took over from Nick Owen when he left for TV-am in 1983. After a period presenting on national BBC daytime television, Andy moved to Meridian Broadcasting in 1993 to front the company's Thames Valley edition of 'Meridian Tonight'.
Andy started his broadcasting career with Metro Radio in Newcastle before moving to Tyne Tees Television in 1978 as a continuity announcer. He later joined the 'Northern Life' reporting and presenting team, before moving to Central.
Zoe studied French and Portuguese at Oxford University. She joined 'Central News' (South) as a trainee journalist and later graduated to a news/sport journalist/presenter position. In January 2002, she joined Sky Sports News and became the regular presenter of 'Good Morning Sports Fans'.Before moving to national fame with GMTV in the 1990s, Ann Davis could be found manning the newsdesk at 'Central News' in the East Midlands.
Anne has returned to the Midlands where she can now be found co-hosting the BBC's 'East Midlands Today'.
Long serving anchor for 'Central News' (South), who joined the station after a TV reporting/presenting career which included BBC TV South and TVS. During her time with Central and its successor Carlton, Anne has presented 'Central Post', regularly reported on 'Heart Of The Country' and presented 'Lifeline', broadcast to the whole Carlton Central region. Anne and her on-screen partner, Wes Smith, became the longest running anchor duo of any ITV region. She recently left the station to train as a teacher.
ATV reporter and news reader who moved across to Central in 1982 to co-host with Nick Owen the East Midlands edition of Central News . It was a double act that was to stand both of them in good stead when they were later re-united on the TV-am sofa as the main presenters of 'Good Morning Britain' in late-1983. Before joining the breakfast station, Anne briefly became a national news reader for BBC Television's 'News Afternoon' in May 1983. She was a guest presenter on LWT's 'Six O'Clock Live' in 1990 and 1991.
Anne teamed up with Nick Owen again to host ITV's 'This Morning', standing in for Richard and Judy and then landed a similar programme 'Good Morning With Anne And Nick' which ran on BBC One from 1992 until 1996.
Anne's other national jobs included TV Weekly for TVS and a relief presenter on ITV's 'The Time The Place' in 1993.
Married Mike Hollingsworth, her former boss at ATV and Central, and later colleague at TV-am, but the couple later separated in a well publicised split.
Anne worked at London's LBC radio where she co-hosted the breakfast show with Tommy Boyd. She is also well known for her work publicising cot death syndrome.
In 2002, Anne appeared on Channel 4's 'Celebrity Big Brother' as one of the housemates. She seemed to take the challenge in good spirit. She was evicted after being put up for nomination with comedienne Sue Perkins, but lost by only a tiny margin.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Reporter for TWW in Bristol and then Westward TV who moved to TVS as a news presenter and reporter, and then returned to TSW in the mid-1980s. Since then, John has popped up as a reporter and presenter on several ITV stations, including HTV West, Carlton Central South, and Carlton Westcountry. Sadly, John died in 2000.
Long serving ATV Network and Central TV in-vision continuity announcer, who is now a regular regional weather presenter on ITV 1 Central and ITV 1 Wales. Su also freelanced as an out-of-vision announcer for Central after it became part of the Carlton group in the late-1990s and into 2000/2001. Sue also did relief announcing on Southern Television in the 1970s.News reporter and presenter for Central and TV-am before moving to Plymouth to front 'Westcountry Live' from January 1993. He left the station in 1997 to join Sky News' business team. He is now of the regular anchors on Sky News.Kate started her broadcasting career as a reporter with BBC Radio Oxford before moving to ITN as a trainee journalist in 1994. She then moved to 'Central News' as a production journalist, reporter and news presenter. In 1995, Kate joined Meridian Broadcasting, and spent two years as one of the main presenters of 'Meridian Tonight'. After leaving Meridian, she has presented for BBC News 24 and Sky News. She currently is a main presenter and news reader for GMTV.Central News weatherman for a short while in 1982. After his departure, Central dropped in-vision weather forecasts for a long period right up until the end of the decade when they made a comeback with Charlie Neil in a separate bulletin outside the news.Bulletin presenter with 'Central News' (West).Reporter and presenter for STV's 'Scotland Today' in the early-1980s who moved to Central TV and then on to London News Network as a reporter for 'London Today'/'London Tonight' where he remains today.
Joanna's journalistic career began in the newsroom of Fox FM in Oxfordshire. A switch to television followed, with a presenting/reporting job at Central Television and then national exposure on Sky News where she was a reporter.
In 1999, she joined the BBC, working initially as a presenter on the overnight BBC News 24/BBC World news service. By the early-2000s, Joanna was presenting weekday daytime shifts on BBC News 24.
She remains with BBC News 24 at present and also presents on BBC 'Breakfast'.
Central TV sports presenter who joined the company in 1982 and remains with Carlton Television's 'Central News' today. Before joining Central, Bob worked for the BBC, and he also freelanced for ITV since the early-1980s. He hosts all of Central's major sports shows, and is also well known to viewers across the UK for his work as a football reporter on many networked ITV sports shows. Bob has also worked for ITN and also for 'Channel 4 Daily'.
'ATV Midlands News' and 'Midland Montage' news reporter who went on to anchor 'ATV Today' in the early-1970s. Reg continued his career with Central Television and worked from time to time as a presenter on 'Central Weekend' with Sue Jay and Andy Craig, and also as a presenter of the political programme 'Central Lobby'. He currently works as a producer with Carlton TV.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Weather and travel presenter for Central Television, and later a regular weather presenter on HTV West and HTV Wales.Ably manned the 'TSW Today' newsdesk right up until the very last programme on 31 December 1992. He then moved to present 'Central News' (East) from Nottingham. Recently, he switched sides to front the BBC's 'East Midlands Today'.
Emma is a weather presenter for ITV Central.
Sally was a presenter on 'Central News' in the West Midlands in the mid-1980s. She went on to become a national sports presenter on the BBC's 'Breakfast News' and has presented various BBC networked programmes She's also a former tennis champion.
Sally is now a freelance writer, journalist and broadcaster.
Career overview:
• BBC News trainee; Westward TV reporter; HTV (Wales) presenter/reporter; co-presenter 'Wales At Six'; reporter, ITN and 'Channel 4 News',
• Central TV: co-presenter 'Central News'; reporter, 'Central Lobby' - politics show.
• In the late-1980s, moved to become sport and news presenter at 'BBC Breakfast News' and Britain's first networked female sports presenter, fronting BBC TV's Olympics coverage (1988 and 1992).
• Former 'Woman's Hour' presenter from Birmingham; presented 'Transworld Sport'; 'On The Line' - BBC sports politics show; 'The Garden Party' - networked BBC magazine show from Glasgow.
• Tennis champion - 5 Blues at Oxford; World Real Tennis champion, 1989 - 1995; captained Midlands schools and Oxford University at netball; GB Universities squash champion.
• Now a prolific freelance writer, journalist and broadcaster, specialising in sport, education, business and the countryside.
• Media training: clients include the National Trust and British three-day event team.
• Press officer of the Real Tennis and Rackets Association.
• Research and place articles and organise media coverage for a range of businesses, charities and sports organisations, including Neptune Investment Management, M & G Investments, Maurice Lacroix Swiss Watches, Warwickshire LTA, National Rounders Association and Beauchamp Financial Services.
Sally was educated at Coleshill Parochial School, Warwickshire, Coleshill Grammar School and King Edward's High School for Girls, Birmingham. She has an MA in English (Hons) from St Hugh's College, Oxford.
Hobbies: governor of King Edward's Schools Foundation in Birmingham; governor of King Edward's Grammar School, Handsworth; sport - especially racket sports; quizzes - semi-finalist on 'Mastermind'; also won 'Krypton Factor', 'Fifteen-To-One' and 'Sale of the Century' (youngest ever winner); drama - playwriting and acting in amateur theatricals; local history - won an award for a book on Georgian Warwickshire; music - play the harp; gardening - keen amateur naturalist.
Sally lives in Warwickshire, Birmingham and West London with husband, property developer John Grant, and teenage children, Roly and Madeline, both keen games-players, who also write (freelance) and model.
Image courtesy of Graeme Maver.
Jackie is currently a freelance TV presenter, reporter and writer.
She can regularly be seen reporting for ITV News, and occasionally presenting the 'ITV Morning News'. She also presents bulletins for ITV London, including late-night updates and the early-morning GMTV summaries. She is also a regular presenter on Setanta Sports News.
Jackie was born in Coventry but brought up in Ireland. She studied zoology at Trinity College, Dublin. She spent several years writing articles for scientific journals and PR material for pharmaceutical companies, before moving to Jersey to take a job as a trainee reporter on the Jersey Evening Post. Two years later, she was offered a job at Jersey's Channel TV.
After six months, she moved back to the mainland and quickly landed a job as a reporter and presenter at ITV West in Bristol.
Between 1996 and 1998, Jackie worked her way up through the ranks of HTV, from crime reporter and co-presenter of a crime series and various documentaries, to regular presenter of the station's news programmes.
She then decided to go freelance, picking up reporting/presenting roles at ITV Central, Five and GMTV.
GMTV later offered Jackie a contract. During her time there, she covered a number of major news stories, including the Soham murders, the Washington sniper attacks, the 2004 Athens Olympics, the aftermath of the Asian tsunami and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
In January 2008, Jackie left GMTV to work as a freelance TV reporter/presenter.
Website
Presenter on 'Central News' (East).
Lucy is a presenter and reporter on 'Central News' (East edition).Central reporter and news reader in the East Midlands.
Anne took over as Wendy Nelson's immediate replacement on 'Central News' from Birmingham. She went on to newscast for ITN (August 1983 until October 1990), and presented 'Channel 4 Daily' in 1990. In more recent times she has presented on the BBC's Newcastle edition of 'Look North'.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Started his television career as a cameraman and moved into continuity with TVS before joining Thames Television as a continuity announcer in the 1980s. He stayed until Carlton took over and was the only member of the Thames continuity team to move to the new station when it took over on January 1 1993. Mark was Carlton's senior announcer until October 2002 when the station's London identity was dropped. However, Mark continues to present weekend bulletins for Central News South - a role he has been performing since 1991. He has also presented the main early evening news programme during the week.
Mark spoke to TTVRP in January 2006: "Over the past three-and-a half-years I have had the opportunity of working on a number of projects at Central News. I was Assistant Producer on a few outside broadcasts including Central's pan-regional 'Britain On The Move' campaign and the Fairford Royal International Air Tattoo. More recently while our studio was being redesigned for the ITV rebranding, we took Central News outside and presented the programme from five of the region's hospitals. I helped produce this and was also the roving reporter each night taking on a variety of tasks, from sampling the hospital Christmas dinners to being a cleaner for the day and hospital porter. My skills were also put to the test one night when due to sickness with one of our directors, I ended up directing the outside broadcast. It was a great week and well received by the viewers. That together with some radio presenting and voice-over work, I have been a busy man since leaving Carlton."
One of the main co-presenters of 'Central News' in the West Midlands, and also a regular weekend news reader for Sky News.
Sports presenter with 'Central News' (East).
Sports presenter with ITV Central.Presenter of 'Central News' in the East Midlands in the 1980s.
Sally began her professional career in the newspaper industry - with The Times and Sunday Telegraph. She then moved to radio, working for Swiss Radio International in Bern.
She then returned to the UK and joined Westcountry TV as a reporter and presenter for 'Westcountry Live'.
In 2004, Sally joined ITV Central's 'Central News' (South), where she is a reporter and presenter.
Long serving 'Central news' reporter and presenter who joined the company from HTV West in the mid-1980s.
Central TV's long serving weather presenter from the late-1980s until the present day.Co-presenter of 'ATV Today' and then 'Central News' with Bob Warman. Wendy had left ATV's successor, Central, by the mid-1980s.
ATV and then Central's chief sportscaster who is best known nationally for fronting many ITV Sport productions.
His only permanent work in front of camera these days is interviewing players after football matches for the ITV network. He is more often a sports producer and has produced various sports programmes, both nationally and for the Central region. Gary was a presenter at Talk Radio and it's successor, Talk Sport, where he remained until c. January 2002. Gary also plays cricket for the MCC.
Gary travelled to Japan and South Korea for the 2002 World Cup, where he was responsible for giving daily reports from the England camp on ITV and for doing some of the post match interviews.
Gary was also responsible for overseeing sports programming on Carlton. He is a senior figure at ITV Sport.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Former BBC 'Look East' presenter who moved to co-host 'Central News' (West) with long standing anchorman, Bob Warman. Michelle went on to present the BBC's motoring magazine programme 'Top Gear' and a similar programme for ITV - 'Pulling Power'.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
ATV sports presenter who was the first anchor for 'Central News' in the East Midlands. He joined TV-am's sports department in 1983, but was soon promoted to the main presenter of 'Good Morning Britain' when the 'famous five' presenter owners of the station were culled, or jumped ship, in a bitter boardroom battle early in the station's tumultuous history. Nick was soon joined on the couch by former Midlands colleague Anne Diamond, and together the two gelled, helping to transform the fortunes of the troubled breakfast contractor.
The pair later went on to their own daytime BBC show, 'Good Morning With Anne And Nick' but the programme was axed after a couple of seasons because it failed to dent the ratings of ITV's 'This Morning'. After a short spell fronting LWT's '6 O'Clock Live', Nick is now back in the Midlands, anchoring 'Midlands Today'.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Thames journalist who fronted 'Thames News' in 1989. Before moving to London, Liz was briefly co-host of 'Central News' from Birmingham. Liz can now be seen regularly as a presenter on BBC News 24, and before that presented on BBC World.
Image courtesy of Graeme Maver.
Rajiv was a bulletin presenter on 'Central News' (East edition).Central TV reporter and weekend news reader in the West Midlands region.
Weather presenter with ITV Central in the 1990s.Sharuna's broadcast career began as a reporter with BBC radio in the North West of England. She later became a presenter and video journalist for Channel One television.
Next stop was Carlton Television, where she reported and presented for 'Central News' (West). After three years there, she moved back to the BBC, to become a presenter and reporter with 'Midlands Today'.
Sharuna made British TV broadcasting history by wearing a sari whilst presenting the late 'Midlands Today' bulletin.
Best known for her work as a national radio disc-jockey, Harriett was a familiar face to viewers of Central TV in the 1990s as a presenter of traffic bulletins.
Long serving newscaster for 'Central News' (South) from 1989. Before that, Wes worked a West Midlands beat for Central TV in Birmingham from 1985.Presenter with 'Central News' (West).Co-presenter of 'Central News' in the East Midlands with Andy Craig, who went on to report for ITV's 'This Morning'. Anna trained as a lawyer and now practises in Nottingham.Regular presenter of 'Channel Report', on Channel Television, in the early and 1990s, who moved to Central Television in Abingdon, Berkshire, where she is now one of the main presenters on 'Central News' (South).
Vivien was a Central TV announcer and news reader in the early-1980s. She was also a daytime continuity announcer for Thames TV and Anglia TV at about the same time.
In 1983, she had a spell as a BBC TV announcer. She was a presenter, BBC Radio 2 in 1980; BBC Radio 2 announcer from 1980 until 1982. She also appeared as relief weather presenter on BBC TV's 'Breakfast Time' in 1988 and as a voice on BBC TV's 'Points Of View' in 1988 - TBC.
ATV Today reporter who, with colleague Chris Tarrant patrolled the streets of the Midlands, hunting down the region's strangest news and feature stories, which often featured odd balls and eccentrics. The Tarrant and Swallow double-act was entertaining, and always well done, and was very typical of ITV local news magazines of the 1970s. This sort of larking around fell out of favour with local television news editors in the 1980s as they tried to make their formats more serious. John moved on to present with Central. He retired from the company in the early-2000s.
Matt Teale is an award-winning journalist with a background in news reporting and documentary making. He's worked as a presenter for Setanta Sports News and ITV Central in the Midlands, during which time he won a coveted RTS Sports award.
Matt is currently a presenter on ITV London's regional news programme 'London Tonight'.
Annabel started off in local papers and radio. She was the first face to appear on Live TV, based in Birmingham, where she was a presenter and reporter.
Annabel has also worked for: Signal Radio; BRMB Radio; Birmingham Live; Central Television (East Midlands), reporter and then presenter (1997 - 2003).
Since 2003, Annabel has been a presenter and producer with 'North West Tonight' at BBC Manchester.
Suzanne's first job as a journalist was as a trainee reporter at the Solihull Times. She later worked for 'Central News'. It was then back to the newspaper industry and the Sunday Mercury and the Birmingham Mail. She then moved to BBC WM but, after 16 months, returned to 'Central News' as a producer, presenter and reporter.
Since 2001, Suzanne has worked as a presenter and reporter with BBC 'Midlands Today'. In 2002 she became one of the regular presenters on the main evening edition of the programme.
Suzanne's involvement with 'Midlands Today' was reduced somewhat between October 2005 and April 2006 when she took up a presenting role on the national 'Breakfast' programme.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Bob started his career as a reporter with ATV in the early-1970s, but left to join Yorkshire Television's news department where he became the first ever breakfast television presenter when the company experimented with 'Good Morning Calendar' in the mid-1970s.
Bob returned to ATV to anchor 'ATV Today' in the late-1970s, co-hosting the programme with Wendy Nelson and Anne Diamond. He moved over to Central TV in 1982 to present 'Central News' in the West Midlands with Wendy Nelson, and is still there today.
Alec's broadcasting life started with local radio in Italy in 1994. During his career he has worked for various local radio stations; in television he has spent time at Central Television and Star Sports Asia. He has also reported from London on Sky Sport Italy, based in Milan.
Alec currently presents the sports news on Sky News.
Keith Wilkinson is the longest-serving reporter at ITV 'Central News'/'Central Tonight', based in Birmingham. He joined the old Broad Street studios in 1984 and presented many bulletins from there in the 1980s and 1990s. He is now a senior on-screen reporter.
Keith has received many broadcasting awards for his investigative work with ITV, including the national award for BT Broadcaster of the Year, the ITV regional news Gold Award for best piece to camera and the Birmingham Press Club's Scoop of the Year.
He spent ten years in newspaper journalism in various parts of Britain before joining Central. Born in Lancashire, he began his career as a junior reporter at the Westmorland Gazette in Kendal, Cumbria.
