Other Newsreaders 

26 March 2006 tbs.pm/3489

Many people have presented the news over the years, including this lot.

Lesley Alexander

Bulletin presenter in the mid 1990s. She left Tyne Tees to join Calendar News in 1995.

Andy Craig

Starting off in television as a continuity announcer on Tyne Tees, Andy later he moved to the news department before leaving to set up his own production company and presenting other programmes, including ‘Late and Live’, a Tyne Tees programme broadcast on Friday nights in 1992. He now works as one of the main anchors on Meridian Tonight. Andy has been known to boast that he has presented most live programmes on TV, with perhaps the exception of Going Live.

Andrew Friend

Andrew Friend

A reporter at Tyne Tees, Andrew took over from Stuart McNeil as co-anchor on Tyne Tees Today in 1994 and remained on the Newcastle programme until the arrival of Mike Neville and the launch of North East Tonight in 1996. He returned to reporting and bulletin presenting, but soon moved behind the camera to work as a producer.

However one of his biggest projects came in 2005 when he was in charge of the project to move Tyne Tees out of City Road, to its new home in Gateshead.

Ingrid Haagman

The first host of Tonight, Ingrid came to Tyne Tees from Metro FM. A former model and star of BBC kids drama show Byker Grove, Ingrid had the dual problems of not being an established face and not appealing well to the over 50s – two main Tyne Tees considerations. It is therefore not surprising that her venture into TV didn’t last very long.

Ingrid had presented the Sussed evening show on Metro FM, and continued to do so during her time at Tyne Tees, joining her co-host Lee Finan half an hour into the programme at 7:30. However after her ten week stint at Tyne Tees came to an end, she went back to co-presenting the full show. She now presents the show on her own.

Kim Inglis

Kim Inglis in 2002.

Kim arrived at Tyne Tees in September 1995 as a reporter and presenter. She has also been a contributor to a number of regional programmes made by Tyne Tees.

With Mike Neville’s absence due to illness, she began presenting the south version of North East Tonight, with Andy Kluz.

Kim left Tyne Tees in the 2008 cutbacks which saw the station merge with Border. She last appeared on 13 February 2009.

John Lawrence

John Lawrence in the 1994 bulletin studio

John Lawrence joined Tyne Tees from Border TV and presented Tyne Tees Today regularly. He left for BBC North East And Cumbria when Mike Neville moved to Tyne Tees in 1996.

John moved behind the camera in the autumn of 2002.

Jake Lynch

Jake Lynch

Originally the Hull reporter on Yorkshire Television’s Calendar programme, Jake was the first face on Network North. His appointment was a controversial one, replacing at the last minute, Paul Frost, who was then penciled in for Tyne Tees Today in the North (although in the end, presented neither).

Jake was never the most relaxed presenter though he did improve with time, building up some on screen chemistry with co-anchor Dawn Thwelis. However, he didn’t stay long, moving off to join Sky News as Political Correspondent, later moving become Royal Correspondent.

In 2001 Jake moved from Sky News to the BBC as a reporter on BBC Radio Five Live and the BBC News channel.

Carol Malia

Carol Malia in the 1994 bulletin studio

Carol Malia also presented Tyne Tees Today. She too left for the BBC to present its new lunchtime news, but became the evening co-anchor (with John Lawrence) of Look North with the departure of Mike Neville from the BBC in 1996. With John Lawrence’s move behind the scenes, Carol became sole anchor in 2002.

Sheila Matheson

Shelia Matherson in 1988

Paul Frost co-hosted Northern Life with a number of people including one time Industrial Correspondent, Sheila Matheson. Shelia later moved behind the scenes at Tyne Tees, and remains at the company as a producer.

Eileen McCabe

Northern Life presenter Eilen McCabe

Co-host of Northern Life in the eighties, Eileen started at Tyne Tees as a researcher in the mid-1970s, becoming a newsreader around 1978.

She continued as a news reader, becoming one of the main presenters on Northern Life, until the mid-1980s, when she left the station and formed her own production company, which she runs to this day. The company specialises in interviews and current affairs.

Stuart McNeil

Stuart McNeil in the 1991 Northern Life studio

Doing many fill in stints in Northern Life, Stuart rose to be the station’s political editor, and was often seen doing news summaries at the end of Tyne Tees Today.

His time filling in for Paul Frost held him in good stead, and took charge of the new northern edition of Tyne Tees Today with Pam Royle.

Like his fill in stints, the job was to be short-lived, and Stuart left the front line moving to a more senior job behind the camera.

Claire Montgomery

Claire Montgomery

Claire previously worked at BBC Radio Gloucestershire and BBC Radio York, which included a large stint as the Scarborough district news producer.

From there she was poached by Yorkshire Television to work as a reporter for Calendar, but quickly moved to Tyne Tees in 1997 as a reporter and presenter, before presenting the new North East Today in 2001.

With the end of North East Today, Claire returned to bulletin presenting from the Teesside studios, and in 2005 was one of the team of presenters filling in for Mike Neville.

She continues to work for Tyne Tees as a reporter, following the 2008 redundancies.

Wincey Willis

Perhaps best known for being on TVam, Wincey originally worked as the weather presenter on Northern Life. The TVam revolving weather board was in fact first seen on Northern Life. She later returned to present Tyne Tees Weekend, the short-lived Sunday version of Tyne Tees Today, for a few months. Her current activities are unknown.

Jane Wyatt

Jane Wyatt in 1988

We know very little about Jane, bar the fact that she stayed on Northern Life for less than a year. She left Tyne Tees in the late eighties to join TVS. She worked on the Southampton edition of TVS News and occasionally co-anchored Coast to Coast with Fred Dineage. When TVS lost the franchise, Jane joined Meridian, presenting bulletins. When Debbie Thrower left the station in 1994, Jane was promoted to co-anchor of the Southampton edition of Meridian Tonight.

Jane left Meridian in September 1998 and now writes a column in the Southern Daily Echo.

Duncan Wood

Duncan Wood

Sports reporter and host of The Tyne Tees Match, Duncan was involved with the battle of all battles following the creation of Network North and Tyne Tees Today. After Stuart McNeil left, Duncan was one of two reporters to take over, sharing the anchoring role with Andrew Friend. Alas, Duncan wasn’t the winner and shortly afterwards was moved back to the sports desk. The return wasn’t for long, with Duncan taking a chance at the big time, moving to GMTV where he still works.

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4 responses to this article

Robert Clark 26 February 2013 at 9:29 pm

It’s regards Wincey Willis. I know where she is. She presents a regular show on BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester, as well as being invloved in enviornmental awareness campaigns. she is also an avid user of twitter. Indeed, I follow her, and once asked her if she missed Breakfast TV. Her reply was “Don’t miss getting up at 3.30 am!”

Robert Clark 23 January 2015 at 9:13 pm

Kim Inglis has her own website now, http://www.kiminglistv.com/

Marc Hall 18 February 2015 at 4:38 am

I worked with Andrew Friend at Durham Hospitals Radio in 1984 just before I joined the army. He now lives up the road from me in Perth and we catch up regularly.
On another note whatever happened to Charlotte Allen? I remember her being in TTTV all the time in the early 1970s

Vincent McGrath 21 February 2016 at 2:13 am

Can you remember one day back in the mid 70s when Tyne Tees TV had this whole day that was just one long party? I forget the occasion, but I can distinctly remember the school sketch with Roddy Griffiths in schoolboy shorts.

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