Carol Kirkwood, best known as the warm and familiar face of BBC Breakfast’s weather forecasts, recently opened up about her fascinating career path during a lighthearted chat with James Martin on his show Saturday Morning.
Although she is now a household name, Carol revealed that her beginnings were far removed from the world of television.
Early Skills and First Jobs
When James asked her about her earliest professional experiences, Carol reflected with a smile.
“Yes, that was a million years ago, right now, when you know, the days of the bows and arrows,” she joked.
“Business Studies, marketing, and accounting. So I learned to type and do shorthand, and in a way, that’s helped me with my writing, because I can quickly jot things down.”
Her ability to pick up those core skills would later prove useful when she stepped into broadcasting.
Carol Kirkwood Announcement Today
Before taking on her presenting role, Carol began her career behind the scenes at the BBC.
“I worked as a secretary at the BBC for a while, ironically as a production secretary on BBC Breakfast, and then I left,” she explained.
“But I’d still got lots of friends there and one of my friends said, ‘What do you want to do?’ and I said, ‘I’d love to be a Blue Peter presenter, but of course I’m too old, I’m never going to do it’.”
James encouraged her not to be so dismissive of the idea, saying, “Don’t be so daft,” to which Carol humorously added, “Well, certainly not now.”
A Fortuitous Opportunity
Carol went on to describe how her first break into presenting came in an unexpected way.
“When I left, one of my friends said, ‘We’re looking for presenters in television training, just a stooge presenter to train other people.’
“I said I’d go along and had an audition, and unbelievably got the job, and then later on, I thought, ‘Right, I want to do this for real’.”
Determined to develop her skills, she joined her local cable corporation.
“I was a researcher, a producer, a director, and a presenter. The only thing I didn’t do was the camera work when we were filming it,” she recalled.
Finding Her Path in Weather
That chapter eventually closed, but chance once again worked in her favor.
“There was a chap there who said he wanted to be an agent. And you know what it’s like when you’ve no experience, you can’t get an agent for love nor money.
“But when you have that experience, you can get an agent quite readily. So I said, that would be fab. We made a show reel together, just going around different places, wearing different outfits. And that very night, he was in the pub, and he met the chairman of the Weather Channel, the American weather channel, who was going to open up a branch in the UK.”
“The right place at the right time,” James remarked, before joking, “It’s always at a pub.”
Carol admitted she hadn’t been confident about auditioning for the role.
“And so when he told me I had an audition, I said, ‘I don’t know anything about meteorology, and he said, ‘Just go along and network, you probably won’t get it anyway’, but I did loads of research before this and watched all the weather reports because I knew I’d have to present the weather.”
The Magic of the Green Screen
Her biggest surprise came during the audition itself.
“But what was so magical about the audition, I hadn’t even contemplated that there was a green screen behind me, and so you can’t see anything. You just see the image that you see at home.”
From secretary to presenter, and eventually to becoming one of Britain’s most recognized broadcasters, Carol’s journey has been defined by timing, perseverance, and a willingness to seize every opportunity that came her way.