Carol Kirkwood

Carol Kirkwood (née MacKellaig) (born 29 May 1962) is a Scottish weather presenter, trained by the Met Office, and employed by the BBC, on BBC Breakfast. In 2015, she participated in the 13th series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing, finishing in 10th place.

Early life
Born Carol MacKellaig on 29 May 1962 in Morar, Inverness-shire, she was one of eight children to parents who were hoteliers in Morar. After attending Lochaber High School in Fort William, Kirkwood gained a BA in commerce from Napier College of Commerce and Technology (now Edinburgh Napier University) 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 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. 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 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 Met Office, 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.

Kirkwood is the main weather presenter on BBC Breakfast. The programme moved from London to MediaCityUK in Salford in 2012 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. 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 Strictly Come Dancing, which began in September 2015. She was partnered with professional dancer Pasha Kovalev.

Personal life
Kirkwood was previously married to Jimmy Kirkwood; they divorced in 2008. Kirkwood announced her engagement to her new partner, Steve Randall, live on BBC Breakfast from the Chelsea Flower Show, on 23 May 2022. They were married at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire on 27 December 2023. She lives in Bray, Berkshire.

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

TV appearances

 * BBC Breakfast (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
 * Strictly Come Dancing (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) ISBN 978-0008393380
 * The Hotel on the Riviera (HarperCollins, 2022) ISBN 978-0008393434
 * Secrets of the Villa Amore (HarperCollins, 2023) ISBN 978-0008550929