Ruth Elizabeth Dodsworth (born 21 May 1975) is a British broadcaster, journalist and weather presenter, best known for her work at

ITV Cymru Wales ITV Cymru Wales, previously known as Harlech Television and HTV Wales, is the ITV franchise for Wales. The new separate licence began on 1 January 2014, replacing the long-serving dual franchise region serving Wales and the West of England. Li ...

Career

Dodsworth began her career in radio, working as a researcher for

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales br ...

in the mid 1990s. She joined

(previously HTV Wales) in June 1996, training as a news reporter and presenter. She switched roles to become a weather presenter in 2000.Your Wales Weather Team

itv.com itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV brand (or the UTV brand in Northern Ireland). The website offers online streaming, ...

, 26 June 2020 She has also presented a wide range of local programmes for ITV Cymru Wales, including '' The Ferret'', ''Grassroots'', coverage of the ''

Royal Welsh Show The Royal Welsh Show ( cy, Sioe Frenhinol Cymru) is organised by the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, which was formed in 1904. It takes place in July of each year, at Llanelwedd, near Builth Wells, in Powys, Mid Wales. The first show was hel ...

'' and the ''

Llangollen International Eisteddfod The Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod is a music festival which takes place every year during the second week of July in Llangollen, North Wales. It is one of several large annual Eisteddfodau in Wales. Singers and dancers from around ...

'', ''

Wales This Week ''Wales This Week'' is a long-running Welsh current affairs television programme produced by ITV Cymru Wales (formerly HTV Wales). The programme deals with a wide range of topics relating to the Welsh public, and is usually told through the eye ...

'', ''A Little Piece of Paradise'' and the BAFTA-nominated ''Coast and Country''. Dodsworth is also a relief weather presenter for ITV's English regions, including

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

. In 2013 she began presenting ITV Wales program Coast & Country. In September 2015, Dodsworth joined regional radio station

Nation Radio A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...

as co-presenter of the station's breakfast show, ''The Big Welsh Wake Up'', alongside Niall Foster. In November 2016, she began co-presenting a weekday breakfast show for Nation's five local radio stations in south and west Wales –

Radio Pembrokeshire Radio Pembrokeshire is an Independent Local Radio station that broadcasts to Pembrokeshire. It is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting and broadcasts on 102.5 and 107.5 FM and DAB from studios near the St Hilary transmitting station, St ...

Radio Carmarthenshire Radio Carmarthenshire is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Carmarthenshire. It is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting and broadcasts on 97.1 and 97.5 FM from studios near the St Hilary transmitter in the Vale of Glamorga ...

Radio Ceredigion ''Radio Ceredigion'' () was an Independent Local Radio station that was broadcast to Ceredigion. It was broadcast across the county on 96.6, 97.4 and 103.3 FM. On May 31, 2019, the station became a relay of Nation Radio Wales. History From its ...

Swansea Bay Radio Easy Radio is an Independent Local Radio station that broadcasts to Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and East Carmarthenshire. It is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting and broadcasts on 102.1 FM and DAB from studios near the St Hilary transm ...

and

106.3 Bridge FM Bridge FM is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Bridgend County Borough and the surrounding areas. It is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting and broadcasts on 106.3 FM from studios at the St Hilary transmitter in the Val ...

. Dodsworth left Nation the following year. On 5 May 2022, Dodsworth presented the factual documentary ''Controlled By My Partner? The Hidden Abuse'' on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

. On 1 December 2022, Dodsworth made her debut as a guest weather presenter for '' Good Morning Britain'' on

ITV Breakfast ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited (previously known as GMTV Limited) is the national ITV breakfast television licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. The breakfast license r ...

. On 24 September 2023, Dobdsworth made her debut as a presenter for ITV National Weather.

Personal life

Born in

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, Dodsworth graduated from university with a degree in communications, before studying postgraduate journalism at

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

through an ITV-sponsored course. In August 2002, she married businessman Jonathan Wignall, who ran the Escape nightclub in

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

and an annual dance music festival in the city. They met at the 'Escape into the Park' festival during filming of Dodsworth's HTV Wales series, ''The Night Before the Morning After'', in 2001. Following a miscarriage, the couple had two children before moving from Swansea to

Cowbridge Cowbridge ( cy, Y Bont-faen) is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for e ...

in the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol C ...

in 2010.TV presenter Ruth Dodsworth's 'bully' ex-husband jailed
bbc.co.uk, 15 April 2021 Dodsworth left Wignall in October 2019, after he called her over 150 times in a single day, and threatened to take his own life as well as controlling her daily life.Abusive ex-husband of ITV Wales presenter Ruth Dodsworth jailed
itv.com, 14 April 2021 The following day, he was arrested on suspicion of harassment. Following his arrest, it later emerged Wignall had planted a tracker device on Dodsworth's car, linked to an app and a laptop computer. In March 2021, Wignall admitted a charge of coercive and controlling behaviour and stalking against Dodsworth over a nine-year period.

Cardiff Crown Court Cardiff Crown Court ( cy, Llys y Goron Caerdydd) is a historic building situated in Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales. The building is a Grade I listed building. As a Crown Court venue it is part of the Wales Circuit of Her Majesty's Courts Servi ...

heard Dodsworth had been left "frightened and broken" by his "verbally abusive and physically violent" behaviour. On one occasion, she was pushed by Wignall in front of family members, causing a fractured rib. He was jailed for three years for coercive and controlling behaviour and 9 months to run concurrent for stalking and also given a lifetime restraining order against contacting Dodsworth or their children and banned from attending her place of work.

Charity work

Dodsworth is an ambassador for Cancer Research Wales and the

Tŷ Hafan Tŷ Hafan is a Welsh registered charity that provides holistic palliative care for children with life-limiting conditions and their families from throughout Wales. A wide range of care and support is offered at the hospice, based in the Vale of G ...

children's hospice in the

. She also took part in a charity trek across the

Sahara desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

in early 2016Designer Julien to take on Sahara Desert challenge
South Wales Echo, 6 November 2015 and a trek along the

Laugavegur Laugavegur () is a hiking trail in South Iceland. It is the most popular trail in Iceland, with around eight thousand people hiking it every summer. In 2012, National Geographic listed it as one of the twenty best trails in the world. Laugaveg ...

trail in Iceland in September 2019.

References

External links

*
Your Wales Weather Team, ITV Cymru Wales
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodsworth, Ruth Living people 1975 births English television presenters ITV Weather People from Worthing People from Cowbridge