Keeley Emma Donovan (born 14 May 1983) is an English journalist and broadcaster, working for 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 ...

as a weather presenter for television and radio stations in the North of England.

Early life

Donovan was born in

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of ...

, and grew up in nearby

Tetney Tetney is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, just west of the Prime Meridian. History On the edge of the village is the site of a Marconi Beam Station from where telegrams were sent to Australia and India as par ...

. Her father, Terry Donovan, was from Liverpool and played professional football for Grimsby Town, Aston Villa, Burnley,

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

, and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. Her Irish grandfather, Don Donovan, played for both

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

and the Republic of Ireland. He managed

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

from 1965 to 1969. She attended the Humberston School. She took a course in media at Franklin Sixth Form College in Grimsby, then studied for a BA at

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body ...

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 ...

. She returned to Grimsby to do a post-graduate

NVQ National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are practical work-based awards in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland that are achieved through training and assessment. The regulatory framework supporting NVQs was withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by th ...

Diploma in

Broadcast Journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education and University Centre Grimsby (often Grimsby Institute or GIFHE or Grimsby College or UCG) is a further education college, and higher education university in Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire in E ...

in conjunction with East Coast Media.

Career

Donovan started her broadcasting career at the age of 14, presenting for Channel 7 Television (now

Estuary TV Estuary TV was a local television station based in the United Kingdom. Coverage Estuary TV was the UK's longest running local television station at the time of its closure. It reached approximately 140,000 homes in North and North East Linco ...

), a local cable TV station based in

Immingham Immingham is a town and civil parish in North East Lincolnshire, England, on the south-west bank of the Humber, Humber Estuary, northwest of Grimsby. It was relatively unpopulated until the early 1900s, when the Great Central Railway began de ...

. She went freelance while continuing her studies and began freelancing for

BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, sometimes abbreviated to BBC Yorks & Lincs, is the name for the BBC's twelfth English Region, based in Kingston upon Hull and created from the division of the former BBC North region, based in Leeds (now known ...

in 2005 and joined the locally based

Propeller TV Propeller TV is an Anglo/Chinese television production company. Until the beginning of April 2019 it provided a TV service broadcast from the SES Astra 2G satellite and was also carried on the SKY EPG at Channel 185. It was also available for s ...

a year later. After studying broadcast meteorology with the

Met Office The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...

and the

BBC Weather Centre BBC Weather is the department of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) responsible for both the preparation and the broadcasting of weather forecasting, weather forecasts. On 6 February 2018, BBC Weather changed supplier from the governme ...

, Donovan started presenting weather forecasts for the BBC's regional TV and local radio services in the Yorkshire and North Midlands, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and North East and Cumbria regions. She is also a reporter for the regional current affairs magazine, ''

Inside Out Inside Out may refer to: * Backwards or inverse Books * '' Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd'', by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason * ''Inside Out'', Christian book by Larry Crabb * ''Inside Out'', espionage thriller by Barry Eisler * ...

'', and an occasional newsreader and reporter for the Leeds edition of ''

BBC Look North ''BBC Look North'' is a name used by the BBC for its regional news programmes in three regions in the North of England: * '' BBC Look North'' for the BBC North East and Cumbria region * '' BBC Look North'' for the BBC Yorkshire region * '' BBC L ...

''. In September 2014, Donovan joined

BBC Radio Humberside BBC Radio Humberside is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the former county of Humberside which includes the unitary authorities of England, unitary authorities of East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, North Lincolns ...

, presenting the new Saturday morning show. She had participated in work experience at the radio station 15 years earlier. In September 2015, she co-presented her first networked TV series, the daytime factual show ''Break-in Britain'', produced by

BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

. In March 2016, it was announced that Donovan would co-present the new BBC series ''Countryfile Diaries'', a spin off of the ''

Countryfile ''Countryfile'' is a British television programme which airs weekly on BBC One and reports on rural, agricultural, and environmental issues. The programme is currently presented by John Craven, Adam Henson, Matt Baker, Tom Heap, Ellie Har ...

'' programme. In August 2017, Donovan was named as the new presenter of the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

and

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

variation of the

's ''Inside Out''; she was previously a reporter for the series.

Personal life

In July 2017, Donovan announced her engagement to fellow BBC presenter Johnny I'Anson. He proposed to Donovan during a romantic walk in the Lake District. They were married on 25 June 2018 in a rustic wedding at Castle Farm near Knaresborough. BBC Look North colleague Harry Gration conducted the ceremony. Their daughter was born in 2020. They live in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. In January 2023, Donovan revealed that she had suffered a miscarriage.

References

External links

Keeley Donovan
BBC One {{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Keeley 1983 births Living people Alumni of De Montfort University BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC television presenters BBC weather forecasters English people of Irish descent English television presenters People from Grimsby People from Tetney, Lincolnshire Television personalities from Lincolnshire