Simon McCoy (born 7 October 1961) is a British journalist and former newsreader on BBC News and
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
...
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...
News Agency in LondonSimon McCoy joins the BBC BBC Press Office. 18 November 2003. before joining Thames TV as a researcher for '' Thames News'' in 1983. After time as a scriptwriter at Thames TV, in 1986 he joined the breakfast TV station TV-am as a news editor. In 1988, McCoy left to go to new satellite channel
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
– initially as a producer on the
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...
breakfast programme '' Sunrise''.
After a year as a general reporter for the station, he was appointed
Royal Correspondent Royal correspondent is the designation often assigned to a journalist who specialises in reporting on the goings on of royalty. Examples from the United Kingdom include Jennie Bond and Nicholas Witchell, both of the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
...
, and between 1991 and 1996 McCoy covered major stories which affected the
Royal Family
A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...
.
After a job which involved travel around the world throughout the years, McCoy took a desk job, presenting ''Sunrise'' on Sky News. He also presented the ''Tonight'' programme – a topical chat show involving interviews with people from the worlds of showbiz, politics and sport.
In 2003, McCoy co-anchored Sky's coverage of the Iraq War on location in Kuwait and Basra. He was on air for five hours every day of the conflict.
In January 2004, McCoy joined the BBC, and could be seen on ''
BBC Breakfast
''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television Breakfast television, breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News (TV channel), BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from ...
'' and BBC News 24, initially as a cover presenter for both. In September 2005, he took over the morning slot on BBC News alongside Kate Silverton following
Phillip Hayton
Philip Hayton (born 2 November 1947) is an English television news presenter, reporter and former international correspondent for BBC News. He worked for the BBC from 1968 until 2005.
Early life
Hayton was born on 2 November 1947, in the town of ...
's sudden departure after Hayton fell out with Silverton. When reviewing the papers the following day, McCoy tried to point out the story, but was prevented by Silverton. In December 2007, Silverton left the shift to host the '' 8pm Update''.
In 2006, McCoy stopped regular appearances on BBC Breakfast upon
Charlie Stayt
Charles Jeffaries "Charlie" Stayt (born 19 June 1962) is a British newsreader and broadcaster. He is a journalist with the BBC as a presenter for ''BBC Breakfast''.BBC Weekend News''. Since 2008, McCoy made a number of appearances as a stand-in presenter on ''Breakfast''.
On 9 March 2012, McCoy was apparently caught asleep face-down at the newsdesk as ''
BBC Breakfast
''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television Breakfast television, breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News (TV channel), BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from ...
'' handed over to the BBC News channel at 8:30 am. McCoy joked that he had "just been told the Queen wanted me to cover her ''next'' visit".
Shortly before 1pm GMT on 18 March 2013, McCoy and co-presenter
Sophie Long
Sophie Rebecca Long (born 7 December 1976) is an English journalist who works for BBC News, mainly appearing as a presenter on the BBC News Channel.
On 18 March 2013, Long and co-presenter Simon McCoy read the final BBC News bulletin from BBC T ...
read the final BBC News bulletin from BBC Television Centre, with BBC News moving to
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...
to officially open the new part of the BBC's Headquarters which features the largest live newsroom in Europe. The new Broadcasting House sees the BBC's Television, News and Radio departments in one complex. The BBC's Children's and Radio 5 Live moved to Salford's MediaCity in 2012. The Queen opened the new complex with a live public broadcast on BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme.
On 22 July, McCoy was on the roster for coverage of the birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who a few days later was named
Prince George of Cambridge
Prince George of Wales (George Alexander Louis; born 22 July 2013) is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. George is the eldest grandchild of King Charle ...
. Stationed outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital with often little or no news to share, McCoy's comments concerning the value of the news coverage made for (often sympathetic) headlines. He said: "The news is there is no news".
In September 2013, a live broadcast by McCoy went
viral
Viral means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents).
Viral may also refer to:
Viral behavior, or virality
Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example:
* Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spread a marke ...
after he inadvertently picked up a refill pack of A4 printer paper instead of his iPad while presenting to camera. A BBC spokeswoman said: "This morning as Simon McCoy was preparing to introduce this story, instead of picking up his tablet to hold as he went to air, he mistakenly picked up a ream of paper that was sitting next to it. In the rush of live news, he didn't have an opportunity to swap the items, so simply went with it."
McCoy presented the weekday 2–5 pm slot, now titled ''
Afternoon Live
''Afternoon Live'' is a programme broadcast on the BBC News Channel between 2:00pm and 5:00 pm. It first aired on 2 October 2017. Due to reduced output by BBC News as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme is currently off air.
Presen ...
'', on BBC News.
McCoy made his debut on the '' BBC News at Ten'' on 27 August 2019.
In March 2020, McCoy took up the role of main presenter of the '' BBC News at One''.
On 25 March 2021, McCoy announced it was his last day working for the BBC. It was later announced he was moving to GB News to present an afternoon show alongside
Alex Phillips Alex Phillips may refer to:
* Alex Phillips (cinematographer)
Alexander Pelepiock (January 11, 1900 – June 14, 1977) was a Canadian-born Mexican cinematographer known for working in over 200 films, most of them during the Golden Age of M ...
titled ''McCoy & Phillips''. On his reason for leaving the BBC and joining GB News, he said he wanted a new challenge. He also said he was "not a leftie BBC journalist" and voted 'Leave' in the
2016 EU referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
. In July 2021, he moved to present the breakfast show, ''The Great British Breakfast'', alongside Kirsty Gallacher. In December 2021, McCoy left GB News.
Personal life
McCoy has a son, Max from his first marriage.
On 28 September 2007, he married Victoria Graham of
BBC South West
BBC South West is the BBC English Region serving Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, West Somerset, West Dorset and Channel Islands.
Services Television
''BBC South Wests television service (broadcast on BBC One South West) consists of the flagshi ...
. They announced their divorce in January 2019. In 2020 McCoy was reported as being in a relationship with the actress Emma Samms. They married on 9 October 2021 and live in the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...