Katie Breathwick

Born in Leicester, Breathwick grew up in Oadby. Her mother was a primary school teacher and her father was an accountant. She has two older brothers, one of whom has Down syndrome.

Breathwick was educated at Stoneygate School, Loughborough High School and Uppingham School. It was there that she met her husband, Robert Thorogood, the creator of BBC One’s Death in Paradise. As a teenager she was a chorister at Leicester Cathedral. In 2018 Breathwick revealed as a teenager she worked as a shop assistant at WHSmith.[1]

Breathwick read Social and Political Sciences at Newnham College Cambridge, where she was also a member of the Cambridge Footlights. She was cast in two Footlights tour shows, Some Wood and a Pie (1993) alongside Robert Thorogood, Mark Evans (comedian), Georgie Bevan, Dan Mazer and William Sutcliffe, and The Barracuda Jazz Option (1994) with Robert Webb, Dan Mazer, James Bachman and Liz Hurran.[2] In her final year at Cambridge she co-presented a spoof radio show on the student radio station ‘for a laugh’ and discovered what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

Breathwick began her broadcasting career in 1997 as a reporter at Radio 106 in Nottingham, a brand new independent regional station covering 3 counties. From there, she moved to TV reporting and producing at Central News in Nottingham. In 1999 she joined News Direct 97.3, a rolling news radio station based at Grays Inn Road in London, and before long had secured the slot as one of their 3 breakfast presenters. From there she moved to LBC as a host of a Saturday morning talk show, co-presenting with the likes of Nick Abbott, Richard Mackney, Mark Dolan and a former contestant on The Apprentice, Tre Azam [3]. In 2005 Breathwick co-presented LBC News 1152 election coverage with veteran Sky News presenter Bob Friend (newscaster).[4]

In 2008 Breathwick moved to Classic FM as the breakfast newsreader, alongside long-running host Simon Bates. In 2015 she became the host of the overnight show at weekends on Classic FM, becoming the market-share leader for that slot in 2018.[5][6]

In 2018 Breathwick hosted a series of Q&As ahead of performances at Garsington Opera held every summer on Mark Getty's estate in Buckinghamshire, Wormsley Park.[7]

Breathwick is married to Robert Thorogood,[8] the creator of BBC One’s Death In Paradise, whom she met at school. They have two children.

In 2015, Breathwick stood as a candidate for the Green Party of England and Wales in the local council elections, securing 7% of the vote. [9]

• Katie Breathwick on Classic FM
• Katie Breathwick on IMDb