Carol Kirkwood (née MacKellaig) (born 29 May 1962) is a Scottish weather presenter, trained by the

Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...

, and employed by the BBC, 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 ...

''. In 2015, she participated in the 13th series of BBC One's ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

'', finishing in 10th place.

Early life

Born Carol MacKellaig on 29 May 1962 in Morar, Inverness-shire, she was one of eight children of parents who were hoteliers in Morar. After attending

Lochaber High School Lochaber High School is a six-year comprehensive secondary school located in the town of Fort William, Lochaber, in the Highland region of Scotland. The current Head Teacher is Scott Steele. Associated primary schools There are eleven primary ...

in Fort William, Kirkwood gained a BA in commerce from Napier College of Commerce and Technology (now

Edinburgh Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

) in Edinburgh.

Career

After graduation, Kirkwood joined the BBC's secretarial reserve in London. After a series of internal moves, she presented short slots on BBC Radio Scotland, and then

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

and BBC Radio 4. Following her marriage to Jimmy Kirkwood, she left the BBC and subsequently worked in recruitment and then as a training consultant for a management consultancy in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. In 1992, she spent time on a now defunct cable TV channel, Windsor TV, latterly called Wire TV, along with Sacha Baron Cohen. Kirkwood rejoined the BBC at the corporation's Elstree Studios training department in 1993 as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

presenter, during which time she also presented a bi-monthly programme ''Talking Issues'' for HTV West. In 1996 Kirkwood joined the new UK operation of The Weather Channel, but after it closed down she underwent training under the guidance of the BBC at the

, before joining BBC News in April 1998 as a weather presenter. She has since appeared regularly across all of BBC Weather's output on both radio and television, including BBC News, BBC World News, '' BBC News at Six'' and the live forecasts as part of the BBC's coverage of the

Wimbledon Tennis Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...

. Kirkwood is the main weather presenter on ''

''. The programme moved from London to

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by Peel Media; its principal tenants are media organisations and the Quayside MediaCi ...

in Salford in 2013 but Kirkwood stayed in London presenting the weather on ''Breakfast'' via video link. She presented the BBC's ''The Weather Show'' and is also a regular contributor and reporter for '' The One Show''. In 2011, Kirkwood co-presented the BBC One series ''The Great British Weather''. She also presented the weather on BBC Radio 2's ''

The Chris Evans Breakfast Show ''The Chris Evans Breakfast Show'' (currently referred to on-air due to sponsorship reasons as ''The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky'') is the name given to two versions of a radio programme hosted by broadcaster Chris Evans in the United K ...

''. Kirkwood has appeared as a guest on CBBC's show '' Hacker Time''. In 2014, she appeared on BBC One panel show '' Would I Lie to You?'' In October 2018, Kirkwood had a cameo appearance on '' Hollyoaks''.

''Strictly Come Dancing''

In August 2015, it was announced that Kirkwood would be taking part in the thirteenth series of ''

'', which began in September 2015. She was partnered with professional dancer Pasha Kovalev.

Personal life

She was married to Jimmy Kirkwood; they divorced in 2008. Kirkwood announced her engagement to her new partner, live on ''BBC Breakfast'' from the

Chelsea Flower Show The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the ''Great Spring Show'',Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural ...

, on 23 May 2022.

Awards

Kirkwood won the TRIC award for best TV Weather Presenter in 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2012–2017. She received an Honorary Fellowship from Princess Anne for "contributions to broadcasting" at

Inverness College UHI Inverness ( gd, Colaiste Inbhir Nis) is one of the thirteen partners that make up the University of the Highlands and Islands, based in Inverness in the Highland council area of Scotland. A new main building at Inverness Campus was opened ...

, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, on 17 November 2015.

TV appearances

*''

'' (1997–present) – Weather presenter *''The Great British Weather'' – Co-presenter *'' Hacker Time'' – Guest *''The Weather Show'' – Presenter *'' The One Show'' – Reporter *'' Would I Lie to You?'' (2013) – Guest, 1 episode *'' Victoria Derbyshire'' (2015–2020) – Weather presenter *''

'' (2015) – Participant *'' Hollyoaks'' (2018) – Cameo appearance as Weather presenter *''The People vs Climate Change'' (2021) – Narrator *'' Saturday Kitchen'' (2022) – Guest, 1 episode

Books

* ''Under a Greek Moon'' ( HarperCollins, 2021) * ''The Hotel on the Riviera'' ( HarperCollins, 2022)

References

External links

*
Carol Kirkwood
on Twitter {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkwood, Carol 1962 births Living people Alumni of Edinburgh Napier University BBC Radio 2 presenters BBC Radio 4 presenters BBC Radio Scotland presenters BBC weather forecasters BBC World News People educated at Lochaber High School People from Lochaber Scottish women radio presenters Scottish television presenters Scottish women television presenters Weather presenters