Victoria Derbyshire

Derbyshire was born in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, to Pauline and Anthony Derbyshire. She attended Bury Grammar School for Girls, an independent school, before studying English language and literature at the University of Liverpool. Afterwards, she attended a postgraduate diploma course in radio and TV journalism at Preston Polytechnic (now the University of Central Lancashire). She has claimed that her father Anthony physically abused her, her mother and her younger brother and sister.[3]

Derbyshire worked as a reporter in local radio, then joined BBC Radio 5 Live in 1998 as a co-presenter of the breakfast show with Julian Worricker. The programme won Gold Sony Awards in 1998 and 2002. In January 2003 Worricker left the breakfast show, and Derbyshire was partnered by Nicky Campbell. After being on maternity leave, she took over the morning news programme in August 2004.

Derbyshire has also worked on a number of television news and political programmes including: presenting Newsnight, appearances on This Week, an interview series, Victoria Derbyshire Interviews.., on the BBC News Channel, and Watchdog. She hosted a sports chat show on Channel 4 on Saturday mornings called SportsTalk. She was sent to cover some of the biggest global stories since joining 5 Live: 9/11, the Paris Concorde crash, general elections, World Cups and Olympic Games.

In September 2010, she interviewed her own BBC Radio 5 Live boss about why he was not moving to MediaCityUK in Salford when the station moved in autumn 2011. Describing the interview, The Guardian said: "Derbyshire's grilling of the station's controller Adrian Van Klaveren made Jeremy Paxman's infamous interview with Mark Thompson look like a vicar's tea party."[4] Derbyshire did not move to Salford and sometimes presented her programme from London.[5] In October 2011 Derbyshire made her debut on Have I Got News for You.[6]

In autumn 2013, under the new editorship of Ian Katz, Derbyshire began presenting Newsnight while continuing to present her daily 5 Live programme. Her final Radio 5 Live show was broadcast on 5 September 2014. Her current affairs programme began airing on 7 April 2015 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel. In 2018 she took part in an ITV programme, The Real Full Monty, in which she and seven other women affected by breast cancer, bared all to encourage women to check their bodies and look for signs of breast cancer. It was watched by 6.5 million people.

In 2019, she was one of six candidates shortlisted and then auditioned to replace David Dimbleby as the regular host of Question Time.[7] The position was awarded to Fiona Bruce.

Derbyshire married her partner Mark Sandell in autumn 2018, following her treatment for breast cancer. They have two children. It has been reported that Derbyshire had had an affair with Sandell at BBC Radio 5 Live, while he was married to another presenter, Fi Glover.[8][9]

In August 2015 Derbyshire announced on Twitter that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and would be having a mastectomy, but would continue to present her programme as often as possible during treatment.[10] She recorded video diaries about her cancer treatment, from her mastectomy through chemotherapy and radiotherapy.[11]

Her younger brother, Nick Derbyshire, was a county cricketer for Essex and Lancashire between 1994 and 1996.[12][13][14]

In 2009 she won the Nick Clarke Award for her handling of an interview with a man accused and then cleared of date rape.[15] At the 2011 Sony Awards she won the Gold award for Best News & Current Affairs Programme. At the 2012 Sony Awards she became the Sony Academy's Speech Broadcaster of the Year; the other nominees were Dame Jenni Murray, Evan Davis and Jeremy Vine. In December 2013, her broadcast from an animal testing laboratory received the 2013 "Best Live Journalism" Award at the Association for International Broadcasting; the judges said it was "classic investigative journalism, in-depth reporting, well-balanced and thoroughly researched". At the 2014 Radio Academy Awards (formerly the Sony Awards), she again won the Speech Broadcaster of the Year award, ahead of BBC colleagues Justin Webb, Jane Garvey and Melvyn Bragg, and in November 2014, the Association for International Broadcasting awarded her the best radio programme for a live broadcast from a dementia clinic that specialises in treating those with early onset dementia.

She was named PinkNews Broadcaster of the Year in October 2015 and 2016.[16] In January 2016 and January 2017, she was nominated for RTS Network Presenter of the Year.[17] In 2017, she won a BAFTA Television Award for her interview with four former footballers about the alleged sexual abuse they experienced as boys. In her acceptance speech, which she dedicated to the men, she said: 'You cannot underestimate the courage it took for these men to talk about this on national television, live. As a result of what they did, hundreds more potential victims have come forward to the police'.

In March 2018, she won two Royal Television Society Awards - Network Presenter of the Year, beating Andrew Neil and Julie Etchingham; and Interview of the Year, for her interview with the 4 footballers. Derbyshire was nominated for a fourth year running for Network Television Presenter of the Year at the 2019 Royal Television Society Journalism Awards.

• Victoria Derbyshire (Radio 5 Live)
• Victoria Derbyshire (BBC Two)
• Victoria Derbyshire on IMDb
• Interview with Bolton Evening News
• Victoria Derbyshire's blog at BBC Online