Catriona Shearer is a Scottish broadcast journalist and producer, who was a presenter on

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

's national news programme ''

Reporting Scotland ''BBC Reporting Scotland'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland in Pacific Quay, Glasgow. The programme usually followed after the nationwide bulletin ...

''.

Early life

Shearer grew up in

Shotts Shotts is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The town has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertra ...

, North Lanarkshire. Her father was a photographer and social worker and her mother was a primary school worker. She has one older brother. She daughter of graduated from

Edinburgh Napier University Edinburgh Napier University () is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napie ...

with a BA (Hons) degree in Journalism.

Career

After her graduation at Napier University in 2003, Shearer moved to London and joined

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

as a journalist and producer for the station's flagship news programmes - ''5 Live Breakfast'', ''Drive'', ''The Midday News'', and ''Weekend Breakfast''. She later moved to Cardiff, working for

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Wales, Welsh national radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the Welsh opt-out service of BBC Radio 4. As of August 2022, the stat ...

as a co-presenter for the Saturday afternoon sports show ''Sportstime'' and a producer on the station's entertainment, music and features output. Shearer later joined

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

as a producer for news programmes ''Newsdrive'' and ''Scotland Live'' and presented traffic updates during the flagship breakfast programme '' Good Morning Scotland''. She also presented a weekly online video podcast and worked on the radio quiz show ''Soundbites'' before becoming a television news presenter in 2007. Shearer currently presents ''Reporting Scotland''s breakfast bulletins on weekdays and is a stand-in anchor for the main 6:30pm evening programme. Alongside ''Reporting Scotland'', Shearer has also been involved with several

non-news programmes, including presenting a documentary on

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

's tour visit to Scotland and a guest appearance on the football comedy series ''

Only An Excuse? ''Only an Excuse?'' is an annual Scottish comedy sketch show that was broadcast on BBC One Scotland on Hogmanay from 1993 to 2020. It starred the actor and comedian Jonathan Watson and featured impressions of some of Scottish football's great ...

''. As a keen music fan, she has also presented BBC Radio Scotland's overnight ''New Music Zone'' strand and has contributed to Kruger magazine and

Gigwise ''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site featuring music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in London, England. History Gigwise was launched in 2001 in ...

. She is also a columnist for the Sunday edition of '' The Scottish Sun''. In May 2021, Shearer revealed on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

she would be leaving

after 16 years.

Personal life

Shearer married engineer David Balfour on 4 January 2014 at

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcol ...

. They live in

Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Hamilton (; ) is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits south-east of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh and north of Carlisle. It is situated on t ...

, and have two daughters, born on 17 January 2016 and 17 March 2018.

References

External links

Catriona Shearer
at bbc.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Shearer, Catriona Living people BBC Scotland newsreaders and journalists British women television journalists Scottish radio presenters Scottish women television presenters Scottish television presenters Scottish women radio presenters Scottish women journalists Alumni of Edinburgh Napier University Year of birth missing (living people)