Mehrwan F. Amroliwala was born in Leeds in 1962, the son of a Royal Air Force officer with roots in India as a Parsi Zoroastrian.
As his family name indicates, his ancestral hometown is Amroli in Surat District of the state of Gujarat in western India.
In 1984, he graduated in law and politics from Durham University. Following a period working as a chartered accountant, he joined the BBC in 1989.
He became a network BBC news correspondent in 1990.
He spent time based in Northern Ireland, reporting on events including the Shankill bombing, the Greysteel shootings and the first IRA ceasefire.
Other notable assignments included the fall of Srebrenica, travelling through the Balkans during the conflict in Bosnia, and the Waco massacre.
By 1997, Matthew was based in London as a political correspondent at Westminster.
Later that year, he joined BBC News 24 at its launch as one of their evening presenters.
Since then, he has presented on the channel across various timeslots, including the late afternoon programme with Jane Hill and later Maxine Mawhinney.
In April 2006, he was reunited with Hill in the 11am – 2pm news slot. In March 2013, the duo moved to a 2 – 5pm slot.
On 8th September 2014, Matthew began presenting Global (taking over from launch presenter Jon Sopel) on BBC World News.
Matthew presented The Elders Debate on the BBC News channel (7th June 2015), featuring Jimmy Carter (US President 1977 – 1981), Kofi Annan (UN Secretary General 1997 – 2006), Mary Robinson (President of Ireland 1990 – 1997) and Hina Jilani (lawyer at the Supreme Court of Pakistan).
On 27th June 2016, he presented his first edition of World News Today on the channel and BBC Four.
In February 2023, it was announced that Matthew would be one of five news presenters to launch the new combined news channel broadcasting in the UK and across the world.
He made his debut on Monday 3rd April 2023 during the late afternoon shift and appeared wearing a Nehru shirt and no tie. He had discussed this informally with bosses and, as they did not seem opposed to the idea, he proceeded.
Since June 2023, he has presented the afternoon news programme Verified Live.
He was an occasional BBC One weekend news presenter from February 2001 to December 2009 and on 10th September 2011.
He presented the Bank Holiday lunchtime news on BBC One on 29th May 2023 and the BBC One Sunday lunchtime news on 14th April 2024.
He was nominated by the Television and Radio Industry Club as Reporter of the Year in 1993 for his reporting on the Troubles in Northern Ireland and went on to cover the IRA ceasefire in 1997 and the Good Friday Agreement.
Away from the BBC newsroom, he presented Crimewatch alongside Kirsty Young (BBC One, January 2008 – March 2015) and Crimewatch Solved (BBC One, 2010).
He appeared as a newsreader in Ashes to Ashes (BBC One, 2nd April 2010).
He is married to Channel 4 News presenter Jackie Long and they have five children.
Personal information
Clips of Matthew on The TV Room
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Online presence
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: Matthew Amroliwala. COPYRIGHT: BBC.
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