At what point is someone considered a “national treasure”? After lighting up our screens on BBC Breakfast for the best part of three decades now, Carol Kirkwood is surely a shoo-in for that mantle. The Scots-born weather presenter has been a reassuringly familiar TV presence since the 1990s, with her meteorological bulletins a much-beloved morning staple for millions across the UK. While Kirkwood, 62, would bat away such lofty praise (she is far too self-effacing to blow her own trumpet in that respect), her popularity among stalwart fans of the show speaks volumes.
Key to that appeal is her breezily efficient, down-to-earth and sunny demeanour, the perfect antidote to a bleak or gloomy forecast. How does it feel to be an integral part of daily life for so many viewers? “It is nice of you to say that,” says Kirkwood, with a bashful chuckle. “I don’t feel that I’m an integral part of people’s lives in the morning; I just do my job to the best of my ability.
Carol Kirkwood in her role as a weather presenter (Image: free) “I love it when I’m out and about and I meet people who will come up and talk to me. That is the biggest compliment you can have, that anybody would spend their time chatting to you because they feel they know you. I do genuinely like that because I like meeting the audience.
” A quick scroll through social media reveals myriad posts and column inches devoted to her on-air outfits. Mentioning this prompts another typically demure response f.