Julie Etchingham
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Julie Anne Etchingham (born 21 August 1969) is an English journalist who works as a television newsreader with
ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...
. 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 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 ...
in 2002, and also presented editions of '' Five News'' when Sky won the contract to produce news programming for Channel 5 in 2005. Etchingham is currently a newscaster on '' ITV News at Ten'' and has been since 2008. She also presented the current affairs programme ''
Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
'' from 2010 until 2022 when she announced that she would still occasionally be reporting for the show. She was voted "Presenter of the Year" at the
Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
journalism awards in 2010 and 2016.


Life and career

Etchingham was born and raised in
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
,
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, where both her parents were teachers. She was raised as a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, and educated at the city's English Martyrs Catholic School. After school she attended Newnham College at the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
where she gained a BA (Honours) degree in English. She was the first girl from her school to attend Cambridge, and while reading English there was taught by Germaine Greer. She also co-presented BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's student programme ''On the Edge'', produced by Ian Peacock. She got her first job in journalism with BBC Radio Leicester while still at school, and joined the
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 ...
graduate programme from university. Working at BBC Midlands, Etchingham became a presenter on '' Midlands Today'', 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 ''
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'' programme. Etchingham joined Sky News in 2002, where she hosted a number of shows for the channel, including '' Sky News Today''. She was also an occasional presenter on '' Five News'' after Sky took over as news provider for Channel Five in January 2005. On 29 October 2007, during a speech by
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...
, Etchingham's microphone was left open and an aside was accidentally broadcast during live coverage of the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
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 heard to say: "Extermination". Sky News said afterwards that her comment was "regrettable". Etchingham later described the incident as "not my finest hour. I apologised to Cameron personally". Cameron took the incident in good humour, recorded a parody of the incident for Etchingham's 40th birthday and had a toy Dalek delivered to her home. On 31 October 2007, ITV confirmed that in January 2008 Etchingham would move to present the relaunched ''News at Ten'' with Sir Trevor McDonald. The programme returned on 14 January. 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. In October 2009, it was announced that Etchingham would present a relaunched ''
Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
'' programme from early 2010 – with the show airing once a week on Thursday nights. In April 2011, Etchingham and Phillip Schofield co-hosted ITV's coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. It was announced in April 2012 that she and Schofield would present the broadcaster's coverage of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June. In March 2013, she travelled to Rome to provide coverage of the
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of
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for ITV News. 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 David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...
to be held that year. The programme was called '' The ITV Leaders' Debate''. The debate took place on 2 April. Andrew Pettie of ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
'' 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." She later co-presented the ITV coverage of the general election with Tom Bradby. 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. In June 2016, she chaired ''Cameron and Farage Live: The EU Referendum'' and ''The ITV Referendum Debate'' for
ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...
. 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 A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
, in which she talked about running through fields of wheat, which became a
meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...
. 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. On 19 May 2018, Etchingham co-presented ITV's coverage of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with Phillip Schofield. On 9 July 2019, Etchingham presented ''Britain’s Next Prime Minister: The ITV Debate''. The programme was broadcast live from Dock 10, MediaCityUK. On 17 April 2021, she co-presented ITV's coverage of the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh with Tom Bradby. In a ceremony on 30 October 2023, Etchingham was appointed as the new Pro-Chancellor for Birmingham Newman University. The Pro-Chancellor role is an advocate and ambassador of the University and represents the University in a ceremonial and representative capacity. As of late 2024, Etchingham sometimes presents ''
Sunday Sunday (Latin: ''dies solis'' meaning "day of the sun") is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. Sunday is a Christian sabbath, day of rest in most Western countries and a part of the Workweek and weekend, weekend. In some Middle Ea ...
'',
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's Sunday morning programme covering religion-related news and current affairs.


Awards

Etchingham was voted "Presenter of the Year" at the
Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
journalism awards in February 2010. She was the first woman to win the award. She won it again in February 2016. In April 2016, Etchingham was named "Broadcast Journalist of the Year" by the London Press Club.


Personal life

In 1997, Etchingham married the television producer Nick Gardner. The couple have two sons.


Charity

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


Filmography


See also

* List of ITV journalists and newsreaders


References


External links

* * * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Etchingham, Julie 1969 births Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC radio presenters BBC television presenters English journalists English reporters and correspondents English Roman Catholics ITN newsreaders and journalists Living people English children's television presenters Mass media people from Leicester Sky News newsreaders and journalists Television personalities from Leicestershire People associated with Birmingham Newman University