Lucy Meacock, presenter of ITV’s flagship news programme Granada Reports, said she will ‘bow out quietly’ as her 36-year stint on the show came to an end on Thursday 1 August.
Meacock announced on X (Twitter) that it had been the ‘saddest of weeks’ ahead of her final programme at 6pm, following Monday’s horrific stabbing attack in Southport with Granada Reports covering the developing story this week.
After Meacock revealed her ‘difficult decision’ to leave Granada Reports in mid-July, Prolific North headed to ITV’s offices in MediaCity on Monday in the hopes of grabbing a chat with the broadcasting legend about her career and to find out what she might be up to next.
Just as the tragic news was unfolding in Southport, understandably, we weren’t able to speak to her ahead of the final show.
But for anyone in the North West – and beyond – it’s easy to see why she was recently hailed as a ‘trailblazer’ by co-presenter Gamal Fahnbulleh. Her career began at Tyne Tees TV covering the Miners strike in 1984 and she has worked on a variety of programmes during the days of Granada Television including UpFront, The Late Debate, The Main Ingredient, Origin Unknown, Hearts and Minds and This Morning from Liverpool.
There have been highs and inevitable lows covering major stories such as the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
Over the years, she has shared her personal stories on ex-colleagues including Tony Wilson, who was known as a ‘music maestro, Mr Hacienda, Mr Factory Records, Mr Happy Mondays, Mr Manchester’… and ‘Mr Granada’. In a tribute to Tony Wilson back in 2017, she affectionately reflected on how her on-screen TV partner and off-screen friend was always ‘bursting with ideas and enthusiasm like a runaway horse’. She recently shared a clip of some of their moments together:
Sadly, it’s not the only work friend she’s lost during her time at Granada Reports. Paying tribute to her former co-presenter Tony Morris, who passed away in August 2020 after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer, when the news was ‘grim’ he was always there to cheer the team up she said, in a personal reflection on Morris for ITV.
She added: “Grieving for a special colleague has been tough for all of us at Granada Reports. We like to think of ourselves as a family and at the end of our day it sometimes feels like we’ve climbed Snowdon together – with a lot of laughs along the way.”
Meacock recently announced the “time is right to move on”, after four decades working in television.
“I have often been overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of our viewers in difficult times, especially when we lost Tony Wilson and Tony Morris. What a joy it was to work with them both – I still hear both of them quoted often and I still have their numbers in my phone. I have certainly been lucky to work with the best of the best,” she said in a statement.
“It has been a complete honour and privilege to serve the people of this region and I will always have the interests of the North West at heart. A big thank you to all the people who have appeared on the programme over the years, sometimes when they have been facing some very tough challenges.”
But fret not, she recently took to X (Twitter) to assure fans that she will still be involved in a number of projects ‘promoting the best interests of the North West’.
Lucy Meacock’s final episode for Granada Reports aired at 6pm on ITV on 1 August. She signed off with a simple ‘that’s it from me – goodbye’ as co-presenter Gamal Fahnbulleh thanked her.
