Julie Etchingham

Julie Anne Etchingham (born 1969)[1] is an English journalist who works as a television newsreader with ITV News. A graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge, Etchingham joined the BBC as a trainee after completing her studies, and went on to present the children's news programme Newsround in 1994. She joined Sky News in 2002, and also presented editions of Five News when Sky won the contract to produce news programming for Channel 5 in 2005.

Julie Etchingham
Etchingham in 2017
Born
Julie Anne Etchingham

Leicester, Leicestershire, England
Alma materNewnham College, Cambridge (B.A.)
OccupationNewsreader
Years active1990–present
Notable credit(s)
Spouse(s)
Nick Gardner
​
(m. 1997)​
Children2

Etchingham is currently a newscaster on ITV News at Ten and has been since 2008. She has been the presenter of the current affairs programme Tonight since 2010, having replaced Sir Trevor McDonald.

Life and career

Etchingham was born and raised in Leicester, Leicestershire, where both her parents were teachers.[2] She was raised as a Roman Catholic,[3] and educated at the city's English Martyrs Catholic School.[3][4] After school she attended Newnham College at the University of Cambridge where she gained a BA (Honours) degree in English.[5][6] She was the first girl from her school to attend Cambridge, and while reading English there was taught by Germaine Greer.[7] She also co-presented BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's student programme On the Edge, produced by Ian Peacock.[8] She got her first job in journalism with BBC Radio Leicester while still at school, and joined the BBC graduate programme from university.[3]

Working at BBC Midlands, Etchingham became a presenter on Midlands Today,[9] but soon moved on to present national programmes after moving to London. Her credits at the BBC include BBC's Breakfast News, Newsround (where she beat 1,000 other competitors to the job in 1994) and the corporation's long running Holiday programme.[2]

Etchingham joined Sky News in 2002, where she hosted a number of shows for the channel, including Sky News Today.[3] She was also an occasional presenter on Five News after Sky took over as news provider for Five in January 2005.[10]

On 29 October 2007, during a speech by David Cameron, Etchingham's microphone was left open and an aside was accidentally broadcast during live coverage of the Conservative leader's address. Speaking on the issue of immigration, Cameron said: "Let me outline the action that a Conservative government would take. As we have seen, some of the increase in population size results from natural change – birth rates, death rates. Here our policy should be obvious ..." At this point, Etchingham was clearly heard to say: "Extermination".[11] Sky News said afterwards that her comment was "regrettable".[11] Etchingham later described the incident as "not my finest hour. I apologised to Cameron personally".[7] Cameron took the incident in good jest, recorded a parody of the incident for Etchingham's 40th birthday and had a toy Dalek delivered to her home.[3]

Etchingham in 2007

On 31 October 2007, ITV confirmed that in January 2008 Etchingham would move to present the relaunched News at Ten with Sir Trevor McDonald.[12][13] The programme returned on 14 January.[14] In June 2009, it was reported in the media that the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, had stopped a plane from flying out of Pakistan after he heard Etchingham was running late after an interview between the two.[15] In October 2009, it was announced that Etchingham would present a relaunched Tonight programme from early 2010 – with the show airing once a week on Thursday nights.[16]

In April 2011, Etchingham and Phillip Schofield co-hosted ITV's coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.[17] It was announced in April 2012 that she and Schofield would present the broadcaster's coverage of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June.[18][19] In March 2013, she travelled to Rome to provide coverage of the election of Pope Francis for ITV News.[20]

In March 2015 it was announced that Etchingham would chair a televised leaders debate for ITV ahead of the 2015 general election, the only leaders debate featuring Prime Minister David Cameron to be held that year. The programme was called The ITV Leaders' Debate.[21] The debate took place on 2 April. Andrew Pettie of The Telegraph described Etchingham's presenting style as "composure itself", adding that it was "a bit robotic but this was no bad thing: it was refreshing to see a TV interviewer resolutely refusing to hog the limelight."[22] She later co-presented the ITV coverage of the general election with Tom Bradby.[23]

In October 2015, News at Ten relaunched and returned to the single newscaster format, with former political editor Tom Bradby becoming the programme's new main presenter. Etchingham continues on the programme as Deputy Anchor, sharing the role with Rageh Omaar. Etchingham also files special reports for the programme.[24]

In June 2016, she chaired Cameron and Farage Live: The EU Referendum and The ITV Referendum Debate for ITV News.[25]

In May 2017, Etchingham returned to chair The ITV Leaders' Debate ahead of the 2017 General Election.

On 5 June 2017, Etchingham conducted an interview with Prime Minister Theresa May, in which she talked about running through fields of wheat, which became a meme.

On 3 July 2017, Etchingham presented a special edition of News at Ten celebrating 50 years of the programme. She interviewed Sir Trevor McDonald, a former presenter of the programme.[26]

On 19 May 2018, Etchingham co-presented ITV's coverage of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with Phillip Schofield.[27]

On 9 July 2019, Etchingham presented Britain’s Next Prime Minister: The ITV Debate. The programme was broadcast live from Dock 10, MediaCityUK.[28][29]

Awards

Etchingham was voted "Presenter of the Year" at the Royal Television Society journalism awards in February 2010. She was the first woman to win the award.[30] She won it again in February 2016.[31] In April 2016, Etchingham was named "Broadcast Journalist of the Year" by the London Press Club.[32]

Personal life

In 1997, Etchingham married the television producer Nick Gardner. They have two sons, both of whom were born in Hammersmith and Fulham, London.[33]

Charity

Etchingham is vice president of the stillbirth charity Abigail's Footsteps.[34] She is also a patron of the London homeless charity, Caritas Anchor House.[35] Since 2018, Etchingham has also taken on the role of president at the Women of the Year Lunch and awards.

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1994–1997 Newsround Presenter
2002–2007 Sky News
2008–2015 ITV Evening News Relief Newscaster
2008– ITV News at Ten Deputy Newscaster (2015–) Main Newscaster (2008–2015)
2009–2015 ITV News weekend bulletins Newscaster
2010–present Tonight Presenter
2011 The Royal Wedding of Prince William & Kate Middleton Alongside Phillip Schofield One-off special
2012 The Queen's Diamond Jubilee
2015, 2017, 2019 The ITV Leaders' Debate Chair
2015 ITV's Election Night Live Co-Presenter Alongside Tom Bradby
Exposure: Britain's Secret Slaves Presenter
2016 Cameron and Farage Live: The EU Referendum Chair
The ITV Referendum Debate Chair
2017 On Assignment Reporter 1 episode
2018 The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry & Megan Markle Alongside Philip Schofield One-off special
2018— Ask a Woman[36] Presenter Online series

References
  1. "This is the presenter with the most unenviable job this evening". The Independent. 2 April 2015.
  2. "My Life in Media: Julie Etchingham". The Independent. London. 11 October 2004. Archived from the original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  3. Troup Buchanan, Rose (2 April 2015). "Julie Etchingham: Who is the presenter overseeing the ITV leaders' debate?". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  4. mjs76. "Honorary Graduates 2012 no.8 – Julie Etchingham — University of Leicester". www2.le.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  5. "From the Headteacher" (PDF). Newman News. 13 December 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  6. "Julie Etchingham". Sky News. Archived from the original on 9 December 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  7. Rayner, Gordon (2 April 2015). "ITV leaders' debate: Julie Etchingham, an on-air gaffe, and a Dalek from David Cameron". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  8. "Former Student Profiles: Julie Etchingham". University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  9. "A profile of Julie Etchingham". Sky News. 11 February 2003. Archived from the original on 9 December 2009. Retrieved 31 July 2009.
  10. "Young launches revamped Five news". BBC News. 3 January 2005. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  11. Henry, Emma (30 October 2007). "Sky apologies over Tory 'extermination' quip". Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 1 December 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
  12. "News at Ten returns to ITV". itv.com. 31 October 2007. Archived from the original on 5 January 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
  13. Tryhorn, Chris (31 October 2007). "ITV confirms News at Ten return". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2008.
  14. Byrne, Ciar (14 January 2008). "The Trevor & Julie show: Inside the revamped News at Ten". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  15. "Why did Pakistan's president wait for ITV's Julie Etchingham?". The Guardian. London. 25 June 2009. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  16. Robinson, James (22 October 2009). "ITV to drop Big Ben from News at Ten titles". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  17. Edwards, Huw (26 April 2011). "Royal wedding: How do you commentate on a big occasion?". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  18. Nissim, Mayer (27 April 2012). "Phillip Schofield, Julie Etchingham confirmed for ITV Jubilee coverage". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  19. Linden, Shaun (27 April 2012). "Philip Schofield and Julie Etchingham reunite for Queen's Diamond Jubilee". ATV Today. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  20. "TV news and guide, TV and radio listings, film reviews guide". Radio Times. 2 April 2015. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  21. "Election debates agreement reached". BBC News. BBC. 21 April 2015. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  22. Pettie, Andrew (3 April 2015). "Election TV debate: ITV presenter Julie Etchingham was 'composure itself'". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  23. Conlan, Tara (4 May 2015). "TV companies vie for poll position in an election that no one can call". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  24. "Tom Bradby to become main presenter of ITV's News at Ten". The Guardian. London. 23 June 2015. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  25. Phipps, Claire (8 June 2016). "EU referendum morning briefing: what we learned from the Cameron v Farage debate". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  26. "News at Ten at 50: Sir Trevor McDonald reflects on some of his 'amazing' highlights". ITV News. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  27. "ITV Royal Wedding Coverage – contributor and presenters". ITV News. ITV. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  28. "Britain's Next Prime Minister: The ITV Debate". ITV Press Centre. 5 July 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  29. "Britain's Next Prime Minister: The ITV Debate – watch live the head-to-head between Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson". ITV News. 9 July 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  30. "Julie Etchingham award". ITV News. 25 February 2010. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  31. "'Gosh it's almost as good as Leicester City': Julie Etchingham on Presenter of the Year win". Archived from the original on 22 February 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  32. "Daily Mail and The Times win top spots at Press Club awards". londonpressclub.co.uk. 6 April 2016. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  33. "The day the Pope asked me to pray for him". Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  34. "Abigail's Footsteps | OUR PEOPLE". Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  35. "Caritas Anchor House: Supporters". caritasanchorhouse.org.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  36. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

See also
Media offices
Preceded by
Jon Snow		 RTS: Television Journalism
Presenter of the Year
2010		 Succeeded by
Jon Snow
Preceded by
Mary Nightingale		 Deputy Newscaster, ITV News at Ten
2015 – present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
N/A		 Female co-host, ITV News at Ten
2008–2015		 Succeeded by
N/A
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