Suzanne Nicole Virdee (born 16 October 1969 in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, now the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

) is a British journalist and television presenter, working on 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 ...

basis with UK news organisation ITN.

Career

Virdee became a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

at the age of 18, working as a trainee reporter at the '' Solihull Times'' in her home town. She passed her journalism exams and switched to television journalism, working for '' Central News'' in Birmingham. Virdee went on to work for the ''

Sunday Mercury ''Sunday Mercury'' is a Sunday tabloid published in Birmingham, UK, and now owned by Reach plc. The first edition was published on 29 December 1918. The first editor was John Turner Fearon (1869–1937), who left the Dublin-based ''Freeman's ...

'' and the ''

Birmingham Mail The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire ...

'' (then the ''Birmingham Evening Mail'') before a 16-month stint with BBC WM. She returned to ''Central News'' as a reporter, presenter and producer before joining the BBC's ''

Midlands Today ''Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ''Midlands Today'' is produc ...

'' programme in April 2001, presenting late night bulletins before becoming a main presenter a year later, alongside

Nick Owen Nicholas Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme ''TV-am'' and the BBC's local news show ''Midlands Today'' since 1997. He was also the chairman of Luton ...

. Virdee has also worked as a relief presenter for ''

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 ...

''. On 29 March 2012, Virdee left ''Midlands Today'' after announcing she was unable to sign a five-month contract to continue presenting the programme. The BBC took Virdee off air two days earlier than planned after she released a press statement about her departure.Suzanne Virdee leaves BBC Midlands Today
BBC News, 29 March 2012 In August 2016, she joined ITN as a news correspondent for the ''

ITV Lunchtime News The ''ITV Lunchtime News'' is the afternoon news programme produced by ITN on the British television network ITV. It airs Monday to Friday from 1:30pm, covering British national and international news stories and is presented by Nina Hossain. ...

'' and early newsreader for ''

ITV News London ''ITV News London'' is a British television news service broadcast on both ITV London and the ITV Hub. It is produced by ITN. History London News Network The programme launched on Monday 4 January 1993 as ''London Tonight'', after Carlton T ...

''. On 25 May 2017 she made her debut fronting short updates for '' 5 News'' and covered bulletins for ITV news.

References

External links

*
Interview with Suzanne Virdee on Channel 4's IdeasFactory
* 1969 births Living people People from Solihull British television presenters BBC newsreaders and journalists ITN newsreaders and journalists ITV regional newsreaders and journalists {{UK-tv-journalist-stub