Lucy Meacock is to leave ITV Granada after 36 years as the main presenter of flagship news programme Granada Reports.
Meacock began her broadcasting career at Tyne Tees TV, covering the Miners’s strike in 1984. Since then she has become a hugely respected presenter and journalist in the North West. Audiences have welcomed her into their homes in the region since 1988.
Lucy said: “This has been one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made. But the time is right to move on now. For me it has always been the best job in the world, with the best people in the world, in the best region in the world. I am very grateful that I was given this job so many years ago. I have always tried my hardest to make a positive contribution and I hope I will be remembered with some fondness in the years ahead.
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.”
Joining back in the days of Granada Television Lucy worked on a remarkable variety of programmes, including UpFront, The Late Debate, The Main Ingredient, Origin Unknown, Hearts and Minds and This Morning from Liverpool.
“I’d also like to say a heartfelt thank you to the wonderful people who I have worked with in more than 40 years in TV and thank you to our viewers who have been kind enough to invite us into their homes. We have really appreciated that. 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.”
Current head of news for ITV Granada Reports, Lucy West, who’s worked with Lucy on some of the biggest stories in the North West over the last decade said: “It has been a great honour to work with Lucy Meacock who is a broadcasting icon, her enthusiasm and commitment to the North West has never faltered and we will miss her hugely. As a team we all have enormous respect for Lucy who we admire for her formidable questioning, great judgement and wise advice.
“We’ve been through some very challenging times both on and off screen. Personally, I will miss her honesty, integrity and determination to deliver the very best for our audiences and the team. We wish her all the very best for the future and know Lucy will remain a good friend of Granada Reports.”
Meacock’s current co-presenter Gamal Fahnbulleh, added: “Lucy has been a trailblazer, a role model and mentor to hundreds of journalists during her 36 years at ITV Granada Reports. Her warmth and kindness is matched only by her desire for colleagues to be the best version of themselves. Her enthusiasm for the job is infectious and I have learned so much from her in the time that I have been at ITV Granada Reports. I will never forget her reassuring words when I joined the team almost four years ago. Lucy Meacock’s generosity of spirit will be sorely missed in the newsroom and studio. Wishing my friend the very best with her future endeavours.”
Meacocks concluded: “One of the things I have enjoyed the most in my career is seeing the rising stars arrive in the newsroom and flourish. It is one of the reasons I became Chancellor at Salford University. It is their turn now. It’s been the best gig for 36 years and as I move on I will be the first to congratulate my successor and wish them, Gamal and the Granada Reports team all the very best for the future. Good night and thank you for watching.”
Editor of ITV Regional News, Guy Phillips and director of news and current affairs, Michael Jermey were also among those offering tributes to Meacock as she announced her departure. Meacock’s final Granada Reports will be on Thursday 1st August 2024 on ITV1 at 6pm.
Meacock took to Twitter this morning to assure fans, including Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham and nighttime economy tsar Sacha Lord, that they hadn’t heard the last of her, following an outpouring of dismay on the platform over her departure:
