Alexandra Marie Dolan is a journalist, weather presenter and science teacher who went undercover for the documentary Undercover Teacher, produced by Allen Jewhurst. For this, she was suspended from teaching for one year by the General Teaching Council with the claim that ‘breached student trust’. The decision has received criticism from both teachers and commentators.
Alex Dolan was born in Cuckfield, in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex. She has an older brother. After growing up in Cambridge she attended The Leys School, an independent school in Cambridge and Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies, and studied Marine Biology at Newcastle University. In 2019, Dolan moved from Norwich to Cromer.
More recently, Alex Dolan has been employed as a presenter on Sky’s Ocean TV programme Ocean Rescue. She returned to presenting the weather on BBC Look East on 5 January 2016 following maternity leave.
Joanne Malin was born in 1967 to parents Kenneth and Dorothy and has 2 siblings. Joanne Malin is married but has no children. Originally from the Moseley area of Birmingham, Joanne Malin trained to be a dancer at the Italia Conti Academy in London and worked in local theatre productions. Her first professional show was Jack and the Beanstalk with Russ Abbot at the Birmingham Hippodrome, performing as Little Miss Muffet in the chorus. She then did a provincial tour with the show 42nd Street, before taking her next role as Frenchie in a six-month sell-out tour of Grease.
After more panto in Birmingham, she took a nine-month contract dancing on the QE2. At the age of 25, she then switched career and retrained by taking a National Council for the Training of Broadcasting Journalists course at Portsmouth, where she graduated with a distinction and won a prize for Best Documentary. Joanne started out working in the news departments of local radio stations before being hired by Reuters to work on breakfast news bulletins for Virgin Radio.
From here, Joanne Malin switched from radio to television, despite having no previous experience, and joined the infamous cable channel, L!VE TV in London as a newsreader and a stand-in presenter. During her time at the station, she presented coverage of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. In 1998, Malin joined Central Television (where she had already made a few guest appearances in her previous career as a dancer) and became anchorwoman for the West Midlands edition of Central News (later Central Tonight). She has also made appearances in regional programmes broadcast across the whole Central region.
In August 2006, Joanne Malin made the headlines after accidentally swearing during an outside broadcast on Central Tonight. She was in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire with the Central Tonight tour bus, in overcast weather conditions, when she ad-libbed “…it would be lovely here in the sun, but it’s pissing it down”. Joanne Malin apologised shortly after this on-air mistake.
On 10 October 2008, she announced her decision to leave ITV Central, shortly after the announcement of 60 job losses at the station and a major restructuring of Central News. Joanne Malin presented her final programme for the station on 31 October 2008. A week beforehand, Joanne Malin announced live during an interview on BBC WM that she would be joining the BBC on a two-year contract. She has presented a mid-morning show on BBC WM since February 2009, with a view to contributing to Midlands Today and the West Midlands edition of Inside Out. In early 2012 she moved to the lunchtime slot on BBC WM.
On 11 August 2012 it was announced Joanne Malin would leave the station in September 2012, but she continued to present across the BBC Midlands Today output.
Latterly, she has been a regular weekday presenter on the breakfast, lunchtime and flagship 6.30 programmes along with co-presenters Nick Owen, Mary Rhodes and Sarah Falkland.
She has also returned to the stage on three occasions, in 2007, 2008 and 2013, to appear in pantomimes at the Lichfield Garrick Theatre.
Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije grew up in West Kensington and attended Queen Mary College, she worked at Time FM in Romford, then as an assistant to the news editor at ITN News and at the Press Association; her first presenting job was at Vox Africa. Before hosting 60 Seconds she worked for BBC Look East. She has also presented 60 Seconds on BBC Three and on BBC News interactive.
At its launch in 2014, Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije worked for the London Live television channel, where she hosted Headline London at lunchtime.
Since January 2018, Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije has presented 5 News Tonight (Monday–Friday), 5 News at 5 (Fridays) and from June to August 2018, guest hosted a few editions of The Wright Stuff between Matthew Wright’s departure and Jeremy Vine’s arrival. In June 2021, she became a weekend presenter on TalkRadio having previously hosted some shows as a stand-in.
Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije attended a Star 100 event in 2017 – an event that promotes Ghanaian interests in the UK. She came to talk about her path to becoming a broadcaster. She told the audience that she has Ghanaian heritage, shared a career strategy she used to net her first job after becoming a mum at age 24.
Sarah-Jane Bungay is a woman of many talents. By day, she plans the news, gathers the stories, and produces the programmes. By night, she treads the boards, pursuing her love of amateur dramatics.
One of the best parts of my job is the variety I have – from producing South Today to being out on the road – and the occasional presenting stint as well. I’m a real ‘people person’ – and like to talk (a lot) which helps in rooting out stories.
The first clue I gave my parents of a prospective broadcasting career was when I used to pretend to be the host of a cookery programme in their kitchen.
I was most indignant when they’d try to come in to make a cuppa, protesting ‘Mummmmm… I’m presenting.!” One assignment which sticks in my mind – for the fear factor if nothing else – was being the co-driver with Roger Finn in the 2003 Sunseeker Rallye.
Racing through the forest near Ringwood at high speed was great fun – Michael Schumacher eat your heart out. I also enjoyed treading the boards in my spare time. I’ve enjoyed masquerading as Emily Pankhurst, Pandora (of Adrian Mole fame), and Marty in Grease.
More recently, I had to put on a bit of weight for my latest role with the Bishopstoke players – playing a six month pregnant woman. At least, with a false bump, I didn’t have to cope with morning sickness or swollen ankles!
Alice Baxter was thrilled to join the BBC in the summer of 2012. She currently presents a mixture of news and business programmes across BBC World, the BBC News Channel, BBC One and BBC Two.
Alice Baxter can regularly be seen presenting World Business Report, grilling CEOs, CFOs and politicians from all around the world. Interview highlights have included WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell, Lloyds of London’s Richard Ward and South Africa’s Minister of Trade & Industry Rob Davies, live from the BRICs summit.
In the news chair, and reporting from the BBC’s World Newsroom, Alice has covered a number of breaking news stories in 2013, including the escalation of tensions in Syria, Egypt and Turkey.
Alice Baxter has also, on occasion, ventured onto the airwaves to present the business segment on the Simon Mayo show on BBC Radio 2.
Prior to joining the BBC, Alice Baxter worked as a presenter at Sky News and in Moscow as a senior international correspondent and presenter for RT where she anchored major news and business stories for over six years, as well as presenting and co-producing an award-winning Russia travel series.
As a correspondent she travelled across the globe, reporting on a range of political, financial and social-interest stories, including a number of extended features from Greenland, the former Yugoslavia, South Ossetia, Austria and South Korea.
A history and drama undergraduate, Alice Baxter holds an MPhil in modern history from Cambridge University and a diploma in broadcast journalism from Cardiff University.
Away from work Alice Baxter tries to make the most of London’s vibrant arts and restaurant scene. A keen traveller and fitness fanatic she also loves to ski and run and cycles pretty much everywhere.
After graduating, Katya Adler initially briefly worked for The Times before moving to Vienna in August 1995 to work for Mondial Congress, an organiser of International Congresses. She began working as a correspondent for Austrian national public broadcaster ORF in late 1995, reporting locally and then internationally from Kosovo, Eastern Europe and across Southwest Asia and North Africa.
Katya Adler joined the BBC in Vienna in 1998, reporting on Austrian and Central European affairs. After becoming the BBC’s Berlin correspondent for a short period, from 2000 she was based in London for the BBC World Service presenting on European current affairs, and commuting weekly to Berlin to work as a news anchor for Deutsche Welle Television.
From August 2003, she was the BBC Madrid correspondent, travelling around Europe, Southwest Asia and North Africa to cover stories including the deaths of Pope John Paul II and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in a Paris hospital. Adler also reported on the Madrid train bombings. She admitted in an interview in 2019 that she had lied about being able to speak Spanish to get the Madrid correspondent job. Katya Adler later learned the language by listening to Spanish political radio and Mexican soap operas.
From December 2006 Katya Adler was the BBC’s Middle East correspondent, based in Jerusalem but reporting around the region from Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Libya. During this period she was also an occasional presenter or interviewer on HARDtalk.
Katya Adler has also presented a number of one-hour documentaries, such as Mexico’s Drug Wars for BBC2. Her film Spain’s Stolen Babies was runner-up for an RTS award in 2012.
At the end of April 2014 she was appointed the BBC’s Europe editor, replacing Gavin Hewitt. Her appointment was controversial because her LinkedIn profile stated that for 15 years she had regularly facilitated conferences for a number of clients including one for the European Union. This brought about criticism from Conservative Party MPs, including Andrew Bridgen and Philip Davies. Davies stated: “this cosy relationship between the BBC and the European Commission severely undermines your editorial integrity and ability to report matters in a strictly objective manner.” The BBC in written response clarified that Adler had at the time been working freelance for the BBC and a number of other broadcast organisations, and in 19 years had only been paid to chair one EU event in 2005, invited by the UK presidency, not the European Commission.
In early February 2017, the BBC broadcast a documentary by Katya Adler titled After Brexit: the Battle for Europe in which she examined the mounting challenges facing the European Union over the next few years. In June 2017 Adler became one of the four presenters of Brexitcast, a BBC podcast covering Brexit. In September 2019, Brexit Newscast became a regular television broadcast fixture on BBC1, usually following BBC Question Time, as of December 2020.
As of 2019, Katya Adler was paid between £205,000-£209,999, placing her on the list of the highest-paid BBC news and current affairs staff.
Luxmy Gopal is an English journalist and famous TV personality. She has been a reporter and newspresenter of the program ‘The North Leeds’ for BBC. She likes to travel and is passionate about exploring new places and cultures. She has visited many countries including Italy, Cuba, South Africa, and Spain. She can speak German and English fluently and knows a little French as well.
Luxmy Gopal went to Africa in 2019 on a Safari trip through Kenya and Tanzania, fulfilling one of her childhood dreams. There, she saw the vast wildlife of Africa and witnessed the pride of lions. Sometimes, she is seen do-sitting her family’s German Shepherd dogs.
In the early days of her career, Luxmy Gopal used to work on Sundays for Evening Standard, and Camberley News and Mails from 2010 to 2011. She led interviews, reported from courts, and published articles during this period.
Luxmy Gopal also served as editor for Arts London News in May 2011. From August 2011 to December 2011, she worked with Exaro News as an investigative journalist. There, she worked on the stories on the conflict of interest of the British Parliament members. She started her journey with BBC in September 2011 as a broadcasting journalist and went on to grow further in her career with BBC. She has been a TV reporter and video journalist for BBC since 2016.
Rebecca Jago started her career at Vibe FM radio station, working her way up from researcher to become the co-presenter on the breakfast show. After appearing in a television documentary about Vibe FM, she was spotted by producers of ITVNews Anglia who hired her as their weather presenter, and she also appeared on Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff, where she would introduce phone-in contributors.
In November 2001, Rebecca Jago joined the CBBC children’s news programme Newsround, becoming one of the two main presenters. While she worked on the programme, she appeared on a celebrity version of The Weakest Link but was the first to be eliminated after incorrectly answering the 50/50 question, “What is the safest way to read a firework instruction manual – A torch or a match?”
Rebecca Jago joined Capital London on 28 February 2003 to be Chris Tarrant’s foil on Capital Breakfast. She stayed with the new host Johnny Vaughan after Tarrant left in 2004, but her involvement ended when her contract ended in December 2004. She then had stints as a reporter on GMTV’s Entertainment Today programme, and Sky Sports News, before returning to ITV Anglia in May 2005 as a feature reporter and presenter. Since 12 February 2009, Jago has been the co-presenter of ITV News Anglia, alongside Jonathan Wills.
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