British and Irish TV talent
ITV 1 - TSW Presenters
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TSW's long serving weatherman, replaced by TV-am's Trish Williamson, and then Andy Yeatman from the local Met Office. After leaving TSW, Trevor continued to forecast for the BBC's 'Look North', and now combines this with a full-time job as a Rights Of Way Officer in Yorkshire.TSW's head of sport, who presented the sports segment on TSW's evening news magazine programmes, and also fronted TSW 'Newsport' on a Saturday afternoon. Pete was also a regular presenter on DevonAir Radio. He is now a regular presenter on Sky Sports.Jilly's first TV presenting job was with TSW in the 1980s, where she was a news reader. By the late-1980s, she was presenting national BBC TV news bulletins. She subsequently moved to ITN, where she presented bulletins for ITV and the 'Channel Four Daily'.
Jilly currently runs a media skills company (link below).
Website
TSW reporter and presenter who joined the company at the start in 1982 from a behind-the-scenes journalistic job at Southern Television which had lost its franchise.Long serving TSW reporter and presenter.
Westward TV's long serving weatherman, and for a short while meteorologist at successor TSW. Graham was a steady hand at the revolving weather map. Since leaving our screens, Graham has penned several successful newspaper columns, in the Plymouth Sunday Independent and Western Morning News.
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.Chris presented TSW's weekly sports magazine programme, 'SporTSWeek'. Allan Lunt writes to tell us that, sadly, Chris died in Macclesfield Hospital, aged 59, in May 2002.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'.
Sue was poached from BBC TV South West's 'Spotlight' news programme in the mid-1980s to co-host 'Today', TSW's flagship news programme, with Chris Rogers. Ironically, Chris left a few months later to anchor 'Spotlight', so the Beeb got its revenge! Shortly afterwards, 'Today' was relaunched again as 'TSW Today' with a new set and titles, and Sue became the main anchor, assisted by Dominic Heale at the news desk, and Pete Barraclough on sport.
Sue was visibly upset by the loss of the TSW franchise, and was quite emotional during the final minutes of the last 'TSW Today' programme on 31 December 1992. She bounced back, and a few months later could be found up the M5 in Bristol, co-hosting 'HTV News' with veteran newsman Bruce Hockin. Sue recently hosted HTV West's 'Gardening Calendar' and 'A Taste Of The West'.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Merryn Howe (nee Longfoot) replaced Kerry Swain as co-presenter of 'Today South West' soon after TSW took to the air. She 'partnered' Kenneth MacLeod on the programme until his retirement, and then continued with replacement John Underwood and then, briefly, John Doyle.
Merryn went on to present TSW's 'Consumer File' programme in the mid and late-1980s. After leaving TSW, she has popped up as a news presenter on regional magazine programmes across the country, notably as co-anchor of the BBC's 'North West Tonight' programme, from Manchester, in the mid to late-1990s.
Kenneth MacLeod was 'Mr Westward', joining the company on a freelance basis in the early-1960s as alternating host (with Reginald Bosanquet and Barry Westwood) of the then three-day-a-week 'Westward Diary'. At the same time, busy Ken was juggling commitments to Associated Rediffusion in London and Granada in the north.
Ken liked Westward, and when 'Westward Diary' moved to five days a week, he stayed on as the main anchorman for the programme for the next 20 years. A consummate professional, Ken was a garrulous character with an affable but confident air that made presenting live television look like a piece of cake, despite the many technical problems that were inherent in any live, local television in the 1960s and 1970s.
Viewers were extremely fond of him, and he obviously loved the South West and its people. Ken stayed on as main presenter of 'Today South West' when TSW took over in January 1982, but moved from the role a couple of years later.
However, he remained on South West screens with his own popular archive programme, 'Looking Back With Kenneth MacLeod' which ran, on and off, until the TSW franchise ended in December 1992.
He was an enduring character, and was selected to co-host with Sue King the hour long final edition of 'TSW Today' on December 31 1992, despite the fact that he had not been a regular presenter of the flagship news programme for around 8 years of the 11 years that TSW was on the air.
Kenneth died on January 31 2003, aged 75 - he is still fondly remembered by many South West television viewers, and will be for many years to come.
Lawrie was a journalistic jack of all trades for both Westward and TSW. For Westward, his main role was as a news reporter, and the presenter of light-hearted items on 'Westward Diary'. When he moved to TSW his role expanded, and he landed his own 'Points Of View' style correspondence programme, 'Televiews'. He also occasionally sat in the continuity announcer's chair, and occasionally presented 'Today South West' when the male anchor was on leave or indisposed. Before emigrating in around 1987, Lawrie was the regular host of 'The South West Week', a weekly local news review for the hard of hearing.Chris reported and presented for Border Television from 1979 until 1982 before moving to TSW in Plymouth where he became the main anchorman when 'Today South West' was relaunched as 'Today' in 1986.
A heavyweight reporter with a penchant for political stories, Chris co-hosted the revamped programme with Sue King, recently headhunted from the BBC in Plymouth, for several months, but then left to host the rival BBC 'Spotlight'. Chris fronted the BBC show for a couple of years in the early-1990s, but was replaced by Russell Labey.
Chris remained with BBC South West as political editor, hosting the regular Sunday lunchtime local political programme, and reporting politics for 'Spotlight'.
Chris' last appearance on TSW was as a guest on the final edition of 'TSW Today'.
Judi Spiers was one of the most popular announcers on Westward TV, landing the job as a relief announcer in 1977 after replying to an advertisement in the local Plymouth Evening Herald. Her zany sense of humour and cheeky, irreverent approach to the job - particularly the Gus Honeybun birthdays slot - won her many fans, and her role soon grew from the typical continuity announcer/news reader to Westward's homegrown action girl.
For TSW, in addition to her announcing and newsreading duties, she hosted the weekly Friday 'What's Ahead' entertainment guide with fellow announcer David Rodgers; and the regular 'Mr And Miss' TSW beauty contests. She also had her own TSW produced nationally syndicated chatshow - Judi! - which ran for six shows. She appeared as the news reader in TSW's nationally networked drama series, 'Heather Ann', in 1983.
Judi left TSW c. 1986 to pursue a national television career with the BBC, co-presenting 'Pebble Mill At One' and 'Open Air' on BBC One. She moved to BBC Radio 2 with her own Saturday morning show in the early-1990s, and also continued with televison work, including the nationally networked TVS production, 'Scavenger Hunt'.
Judi is now the regular mid-morning presenter on BBC Radio Devon, pens her own column in the monthly Devon Life magazine, and also presents for ITV 1 Westcountry.
Image courtesy of Graeme Maver.
Joined TSW as co-host of 'Today South West', presenting the very first programme with veteran anchorman Ken MacLeod. Kerry soon left the job, and her seat was filled by Merryn Longfoot. Kerry went on to newsread for TVS in Maidstone and Thames Television in London (1988/1989), and now presents for Meridian Broadcasting.One of the few TSW reporter/presenters to make the move from Derry's Cross to Westcountry TV in Plymouth in 1993. Mark has fronted Westcountry's sports output ever since.Reporter and newscaster for TSW, and before that, a journalist on Westward Television. Mike went on to work for TVS.
Fresh from her time on national breakfast contractor TV-am - where she was a researcher and later, weather presenter - Trish presented the weather on TSW in the late-1980s, taking over from long-serving Trevor Appleton. After a short stay with TSW, Trish handed over the reins to Andy Yeatman.
In the early-1990s, Trish was an ITV national weather presenter.
She left ITV to work mainly on travel documentaries; she was also employed on BBC contracts in East Anglia and other regions, including Humberside and the South West. More recently, she had been working for BBC Three.
Trish was the daughter of BBC Two's long-serving 'Man Alive' reporter, Harold Williamson. Harry also made a name for himself with 'Children Talking On Braden's Week' in the 1970s.
Sadly, Trish died in a car accident on Friday November 09 2007; her car swerved off the road at Weybread on the Suffolk-Norfolk border, ending up in a field. She had been on her way to her home at Harleston after picking up the keys to a new property at Fressingfield. She was 52.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Reporter and 'action girl' presenter for TSW's local news magazine programmes, who found her niche with community action type stories. Rene was always in her element during TSW's Telethons, and being very 'hands on' was often involved in various charity stunts. Still occasionally seen on Westcountry screens as a relief weather presenter on ITV Westcountry.Employed by the Meteorological Office, Andy Yeatman was the final TSW weatherman, taking over the role from Trish Williamson who left the company in the late-1980s.
