Suzanne Virdee

Suzanne is a highly experienced journalist with 13 years broadcast experience with ITV News and BBC News. She worked at ITV News, before being headhunted by the BBC to become the main co-presenter of the regional news programme, BBC Midlands Today. Her work there saw her win a best presenter award. She helped increase viewing figures which regularly peaked at more than 800,000 a night. During big news stories, such as the collapse of the car maker MG Rover, they peaked at a million.

She was also a regular face on BBC Breakfast news, presenting the early programme from London from 6 to 6.30am before moving to the bulletins desk to bring half hourly updates interviewing correspondents across the country and worldwide on the issues of the day.

Suzanne is a qualified journalist who learned her craft as a newspaper reporter. She became news editor of her first newspaper at the age of just 21. She then moved into radio and then TV. While working for BBC radio as a reporter and producer she was a stand in presenter on its daily consumer show. She was the news editor on the day that devastating floods hit the Midlands, co-ordinating a team of radio reporters as well as programme presenters.

She also presented a live 'one year on' anniversary programme for BBC Radio on the 9/11 bombings, with live link ups to New York and interviewing VIP speakers from all faiths and communities.

During her BBC TV career she has reported live on the visit of Pope Benedict the XVI's visit to Birmingham; the closure of the MG Rover plant which saw 6000 workers lose their jobs; the takeover of Cadbury by the American company Kraft; the General Election 2010 and following Conservative Party Conference. She has regularly interviewed ministers and Prime Ministers and also chatted to some of our best loved actors and entertainers including Ken Dodd, Lee Evans, Frank Skinner and Jimmy Osmond.

She hosted live BBC Children in Need programmes for the Midlands and even took part in a "Strictly Come Dancing" style dance off with a fellow presenter to raise money for the charity, which she won!

On a more serious note Suzanne has also presented the BBC documentary programme, Inside Out.

While in newspapers she was given the job of reporting from Westminster Abbey on the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales for a regional newspaper special edition. Her 'colour' feature was taken by all the regional newspapers in the country.

Suzanne is that rare mix of presenter who can tackle the most serious and important of news stories as well as the more fun and frivolous without losing any of her authority.

Now working as a freelance journalist, Suzanne also works as a media trainer, event host and has just written a book, called A Teenage Girl's Guide To Being Fabulous, out now on Amazon.
She is also a blogger for the Times of India Newspaper.

Suzanne is Anglo-Asian. Her father is Indian and mother English.

Her book A Teenage Girl's Guide To Being Fabulous is available tinyurl.com/q7jy517