Who is Julie Etchingham? ITV newsreader hosting the Tory leadership debate tonight
SHE IS the newsreader who brings us the day’s headlines during ITV News at Ten. And Julie Etchingham will now step up to host the Tory leadership debate tonight. Here’s everything we know about the broadcaster… Who is Julie Etchingham and what’s her background? Julie was born in August 1969 in Leicester to her teacher […]
SHE IS the newsreader who brings us the day’s headlines during ITV News at Ten.
And Julie Etchingham will now step up to host the Tory leadership debate tonight. Here’s everything we know about the broadcaster…
Who is Julie Etchingham and what’s her background?
Julie was born in August 1969 in Leicester to her teacher parents and was raised as a Roman Catholic.
She went to local schools in the city before becoming the first girl at her school to land a place at Cambridge to study English.
After graduating she joined the BBC’s graduate programme and worked at BBC Midlands before moving to London, where she became a well-known face on kids show Newsround.
After a long stint at the corporation, she moved to Sky News in 2002, and became one of the main news anchors on the channel.
But when ITV announced they were to bring back News at Ten, she was poached by the channel to host the programme alongside Sir Trevor McDonald.
While at ITV she has been named Royal Television Society Presenter of the Year in 2010 and also fronts the Tonight show.
The experienced host featured on ITV’s Tonight Special, which looked at the headlines around the Manchester attack.
In May 2015, she chaired a televised leaders’ debate during the general election campaign and last year hosted an EU referendum debate between David Cameron and Nigel Farage.
Julie has been married to TV producer Nick Gardner for 20 years and the pair have two sons together.
Is she hosting tonight’s Tory leadership debate?
Yes. The debate will be held live on ITV at 8pm on Tuesday, July 9.
Julie Etchingham will moderate the debate on the questions between the two candidates.
The head-to-head will be live in front of a studio audience.
Viewers have already submitted their questions, and those selected will appear in the audience where they can ask their question direct on the night to the candidates.
What did Julie do during the Leaders’ Debate?
On May 18 ITV broadcast another Leaders’ Debate for the upcoming general election.
Julie chaired the event, keeping the party leaders in check and making sure the debate ran smoothly.
She hosted similar events during election campaigns in 2015 and 2016 and was praised for not trying to “hog the limelight.”
What other major news stories has Julie Etchingham reported on?
In her time in broadcasting, Julie has reported on some of the biggest news stories over the past 20 years.
Notable headlines include interviewing the then Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari and anchoring the coverage of Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton in 2011 with Philip Schofield.
Since 2010, she has also fronted the current affairs programme Tonight, which is broadcast once a week on a Thursday.
Julie also still presents News at Ten but is now a deputy anchor behind Tom Bradby. She shares her presenting duties with Rageh Omaar and often files special reports for the bulletin.