Born in Amersham in 1973, Tori Lacey studied for a BSc in biomedical sciences at the University of Bradford before spending a year in Australia working as a nutritional consultant at a health retreat.
…Mills, Ivor
Ivor Mills received his education at Stranmillis College and Queen’s University, Belfast.
…Frank Mitchell and Ken Reid depart UTV
Long-standing UTV presenters, Frank Mitchell and Ken Reid today retired from their respective roles with the station.
…Redfern, Barrie
Barrie was born in Rotherham. He started out as a student broadcaster, before moving to BBC Local Radio.
…Bryans, Lynda
Lynda’s first foray into the world of broadcasting came in 1981, when she took up a role as a copy typist for Ulster Television. In the early days of her television career, Lynda spent a brief period as a television announcer with BBC Northern Ireland (c. 1987). She went on to become one of the regular presenters of the BBC’s local news programme in Northern Ireland, Inside Ulster (1986 – 1994).
…Hailes, Anne
Anne has been working in the media all her working life. She began her broadcasting career with BBC Northern Ireland in the 1980s, contributing to radio programmes, before establishing her own sixty-minute weekly magazine, At Home with Anne Hailes. She was also involved in programmes for the BBC World Service.
…Maxwell, Raymond
Raymond was an announcer/newsreader with UTV from the late-1960s. He later moved to RTÉ in Dublin, where he was one of the announcers appearing during the opening night of RTÉ 2. He was accompanied at the launch of RTÉ 2 by fellow announcers Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir and
Róisín Harkin.
Martin, Edgar
Edgar had a brief stint as a continuity announcer with Ulster Television in the early 1970s before heading around the corner to the BBC and taking on a similar TV role there.
…Baird, Brian
Long-serving Ulster Television announcer and newsreader. Brian was a regular face on the station during the 1970s and well into the 1980s. He retired from this role c. 1986. He was also a teacher and lecturer at Stranmillis Teacher Training College and a former president of the Ulster Society of Rugby Football Referees.
Brian died in December 1998 after a long illness. He was 69.
Marshall, Peter
Peter was a continuity announcer in various ITV regions: Ulster TV (1967 – 1969); Anglia TV (1970 – 1973); Southern (dates TBC); Thames Television (dates TBC); ATV (Midlands) (dates TBC); HTV West (dates TBC). He was also the national host of the TV Times Awards and Miss United Kingdom on the ITV network (1970s and 1980s). He also presented the BBC’s Come Dancing (1980 – 1983), and regularly reported for ITV’s Wish You Were Here? Marshall originally trained as a teacher, and then an actor with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before joining a Bournemouth rep company.
Gregg, Anne
Anne was born in Belfast. In October 1959, aged 19, she joined Ulster TV at its launch, as an announcer. She later presented the local news magazine programme Roundabout.
…Ballantine, Pamela
Pamela’s broadcasting career started off in radio: she read the news on Downtown Radio in the early 1980s. She also presented on BBC Radio Ulster. Pamela’s first appearance on Ulster Television – as a continuity announcer – was in 1984. As part of the announcer’s role, she also read the news.
She left the announcing team around the start of the new franchise period in 1993 and went on to co-anchor the station’s main news programme. She presented the lifestyle and leisure programme UTV Life (1999 – 2009). In May 2009, Pamela returned to UTV’s continuity department, after seventeen years. As well as the announcing role, she was also a relief weather presenter. A year later, her staff contract with the station was not renewed. Press reports claimed UTV had told Ballantine that her role was no longer available and had offered her freelance work which she later accepted.
Pamela continues to freelance at the station and act in an ambassador role. Since 2016, she has presented the new incarnation of UTV Life.
Fox, Liz
Liz is a former actress and continuity announcer at Southern TV, Ulster TV, Tyne Tees TV and BBC Radio External Services. She was also an announcer at Anglia TV and compere for Yorkshire TV’s Stars on Sunday.
Porter, Gillian
Gillian spent a brief spell on the BBC Northern Ireland TV announcing staff in 1992. She then moved to UTV, to take up a similar role there.
…Nesbitt, Mike
Mike’s journalistic career began within the BBC’s sports department in the mid-1980s. In 1986, he became one of the regular presenters on BBC Radio Ulster’s breakfast news and current affairs offering, Good Morning Ulster.
In 1990, he moved to PR company Anderson Kenny. By 1992 he had shifted back into regular TV presenting, becoming one of the main anchors on UTV’s regional news programme, Six Tonight. He quickly established himself as one of the key figures within the station’s news department.
However, in February 2006 came the shock announcement that Mike was not renewing his contract with UTV. Speaking at the time, he said: “I have decided to leave because I just feel very strongly that the time has come to move on.
“I believe it is time for a new challenge and I have several projects in the pipeline.
“I will be sorry to leave behind a very fine bunch of journalists, and above all, will miss working with my wife Lynda, who is a key factor in UTV’s success story.”
Other TV credits: Sunday Morning (ITV, 1999 2001), a religious affairs programme, co-presented with his wife Lynda Bryans; Counterpoint, and its successor Insight (UTV, 1992 – early 2000s), a current affairs programme; Home Sweet Home (UTV, 2004 – 2006), a home and garden series, co-presented with wife Lynda.
When he stepped away from on-screen roles, Nesbitt and his wife set up their own independent media services company.
In January 2008, Mike was confirmed as the Victims Commissioners for Northern Ireland – a role established by the Northern Ireland Assembly to highlight the interests of victims of The Troubles. He left that post in February 2010 to stand as a candidate for the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists in the Strangford constituency in the 2010 General Election. He lost out to the Democratic Unionist Party’s Jim Shannon. A year later, Nesbitt stood in the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, again in Strangford. He was elected, along with 5 other MLAs in that constituency. On 31st March 2012, he was elected leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. He remained in that role until 2017.
Johnson, David
Northern Irish announcer, voiceover artist and presenter. David is currently an announcer on BBC One/Two. He has previously worked as an announcer on the main national ITV channel.
…Simmons, Julian
Julian was a continuity announcer with Ulster Television/UTV from the early 1980s until April 2020.
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