Kate Muir is a Scottish writer, women's health campaigner and documentary maker. Her book, ''How to Have a Magnificent Midlife Crisis'' was published in 2025, following ''Everything You Need to Know About the Menopause (But Were Too Afraid to Ask)'' in 2022, and ''Everything You Need to Know About the Pill (But Were Too Afraid to Ask)'' in 2024. She is the creator and producer of two documentaries on the

menopause Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time when Menstruation, menstrual periods permanently stop, marking the end of the Human reproduction, reproductive stage for the female human. It typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 5 ...

including

Davina McCall Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She has presented various television shows for Channel 4, including ''Streetmate'' (1998–2001, 2016), ''Big Brother (British TV series), Big Brother'' (2 ...

: ''Sex, Myths and the Menopause'' for Channel 4 current affairs, as well the ''Pill Revolution'' documentary. She was chief

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...

of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' for seven years, and is the author of three novels.

Early life

Muir grew up in

Dalmuir Dalmuir (; ) is an area northwest of Glasgow, Scotland, on the western side of Clydebank, and part of West Dunbartonshire Council Area. The name is a lowland Scots language, Scots derivation of the Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic meaning Big Field. ...

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the north-west of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. ...

, and attended

Westbourne School Westbourne School for Boys and girls is an independent school for boys and girls aged 3–16 years old. It is located in the Broomhill area of south Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The headmaster is Aidan Edmanson. The school was founde ...

in Glasgow. At the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, she graduated with an LLB in Jurisprudence and Politics, and later completed a postgraduate journalism diploma at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

Career

Whilst at university Muir was the co-editor of the student newspaper the Glasgow University Guardian. Muir's first job was on the ''Ealing Guardian'', and then she worked as a reporter for two start-up newspapers: ''

News on Sunday The ''News on Sunday'' was a Left-wing politics, left-wing United Kingdom, British Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper. It was launched in April 1987. Publication ceased seven months later, in November 1987. Origins The founders of the ...

'' in Manchester and '' The Sunday Correspondent'' in London, before arriving at ''

'' in 1990 as a weekly interviewer. She was posted to New York in 1992, then Paris in 1995, then Washington D.C. in 1999 as a foreign features writer for ''The Times''. In Paris, she began a weekly personal column in ''The Times Magazine'' which continued for 11 years. In 2010, Muir became the chief film critic of ''The Times'', covering reviews and film festivals. At a

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

press conference in 2011 her question regarding Nazi aesthetics resulted in a huge ''faux pas'' for Danish director

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (né Trier; born 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. Beginning in the late-1960s as a child actor working on Danish television series ''Secret Summer'', von Trier's career has spanned more than five decad ...

and his subsequent ban as ''persona non grata'' from the film festival. During her time as a critic, Muir became a campaigner for Women and Hollywood, which advocates for equality and diversity in Hollywood and the wider movie industry. She has also worked with Time's Up UK and Birds' Eye View, a charity which promoted the distribution of female-led films. Muir left ''The Times'' in 2017 to work as a writer and filmmaker. Muir has written three novels: ''West Coast'', ''Left Bank'' and ''Suffragette City'', and the non-fiction books, ''The Insider's Guide to Paris'' and ''Arms and the Woman'', about the battle for female equality in the military. ''How to Have a Magnificent Midlife Crisis'' (Simon and Schuster) was published in June 2025, ''Everything You Need To Know About the Menopause...'' (Simon and Schuster) was published in January 2022, and ''Everything You Need To Know About the Pill'' in April 2024 (Simon and Schuster). Muir has also produced three documentaries of women's health with Finestripe productions in Glasgow for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. She is a professional speaker and advocate on women's health, contraception and the menopause.

Personal life

Muir has three grown-up children and lives with her husband Cameron Scott in London. She was previously married to author

Ben Macintyre Benedict Richard Pierce Macintyre (born 25 December 1963) is a British author, reviewer and columnist for ''The Times'' newspaper. His columns range from current affairs to historical controversies. He has written some 15 books, and received n ...

Publications

* ''How to Have a Magnificent Midlife Crisis'', Simon and Schuster, 5 June 2025, * ''Everything You Need to Know About the Menopause (but were too afraid to ask)'', Simon and Schuster, 20 January 2022, * ''Everything You Need to Know About the Pill (But Were Too Afraid to Ask)'', Simon and Schuster, 11 April 2024, * ''West Coast'', Headline Review, 4 September 2008, * ''Left Bank'', Headline Review, 2 January 2006, (released as a paperback on 25 September 2006) * ''Suffragette City'', Macmillan, 9 July 1999, *Arms and the Woman, 27 April 1992, Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd, *The Insider's Guide to Paris, Robson Books, 5 July 1999,

References

External links

''The Times''

''Scotsman'' June 2008

Twitter

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, Kate Alumni of Cardiff University Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish columnists Scottish film critics People from Hampstead People from Clydebank Scottish women novelists The Times people Living people Scottish women columnists Scottish women critics British women film critics Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Westbourne School for Girls