Celina Alexandra Hinchcliffe (born 21 March 1976 in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

) is an English television sports broadcaster. She has worked for

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

and

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

Early life

Hinchcliffe is the daughter of television producer

Philip Hinchcliffe Philip Michael Hinchcliffe (born 1 October 1944) is a retired English television producer, screenwriter and script editor. After graduating from Cambridge University, he began his career as a writer and script editor at Associated Television be ...

and her uncle is the actor

Geoffrey Whitehead Geoffrey Whitehead (born 1 October 1939) is an English actor. He has appeared in a range of television, film and radio roles. Early life Whitehead was born on 1 October 1939 in Grenoside, Sheffield. After his father was killed in the Second Wo ...

. She was educated at the independent

Sir William Perkins's School Sir William Perkins's School is a private co-educational day school for girls and boys aged 11 to 18 in Chertsey, Surrey, England. Founded in 1725, it is situated on 13 acres of greenbelt land on the outskirts of Chertsey. The ''Good Schools Gu ...

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey, founded in AD 666 by Earconwald, St Erkenwald, and gained a municipal charter, market charter from Henry I of Engla ...

, and then gained a BA in Drama and English from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

in 1997.

Career

Hinchcliffe initially worked with various theatre companies.

BBC

Hinchcliffe got her first break in broadcasting in 2001 at

BBC Southern Counties Radio BBC Southern Counties Radio (BBC SCR) was the BBC Local Radio service for the England, English county, counties of Surrey and Sussex. The station also covered a large part of north-east Hampshire. It was the first BBC local radio station to in ...

, reporting on the likes of

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

and

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

. At around the same time, she also appeared on the BBC One game show '' Dog Eat Dog''. From there, she worked as a reporter on African Football for the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, and then at

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 ...

. In the summer of 2002, she joined

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

and

BBC World News BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

as a sports presenter. In 2005, she fronted

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

's live coverage of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

's matches in the women's European football championship. On 21 January 2006, she became the first woman to present

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's Saturday lunchtime show ''

Football Focus ''Football Focus'' is a BBC television magazine programme launched in 1974, broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday lunchtimes during the football season. The programme, along with '' Final Score'', is a remnant from the former flagship sports show ...

''. In 2005 she was the first woman to present ''

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a Association football, football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights during the Premier League season. ''Match of the Day'' is one of the BBC's longest-runn ...

''. In 2006, she presented

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

's coverage of some England's qualifiers for the

FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

. In 2008, she also appeared on the '' BBC 8pm News summary'', while usual presenter

Ellie Crisell Ellen Jane Crisell (born 19 July 1976) is an English journalist and television presenter working for the BBC. Crisell has presented the BBC One 8:00 pm news summary, and is a relief presenter on the BBC regional news programme BBC South Ea ...

was on maternity leave. In light of

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

presentation moving to

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

, Hinchcliffe made her final on-air presentation on the BBC on 21 February 2012, presented with her favourite chocolate cake by the floor manager.

Sky News

Hinchcliffe joined

in March 2012 and began presenting sports bulletins for them from January 2013.

Freelance

As a freelancer, she covers the French Open tennis for ITV alongside John Inverdale.

Personal life

Hinchcliffe married in May 2009, and gave birth to a son the following year. She suffered from post-natal depression but recovered after receiving counselling. She had her second son in 2013. Hinchcliffe lists her interests as film, theatre, and live music. She is also a supporter of

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

.About Celina Hinchcliffe
BBC Sport, 28 April 2006

References

External links

* 1976 births Alumni of the University of Birmingham BBC sports presenters and reporters English association football commentators English television presenters Living people People educated at Sir William Perkins's School People from Windsor, Berkshire Sky News newsreaders and journalists Sky Sports presenters and reporters {{England-sport-bio-stub