Carol Kirkwood, who has worked on BBC Breakfast since 1998, admitted her job can be tiring as she spoke about her work. “I live with permanent sleep deprivation,” she said. “But I’m so happy doing my job that I don’t really mind.” The 56-year-old is the show’s regular weather reporter and gets up at quarter to three most mornings for work. Once in the office, Carol gets herself ready to do her live report for viewers and joked she looks like a man without make-up on.
“I have my hair and make-up done,” she told The Times. “That’s essential; without make-up I’d look like Alice Cooper!”
The broadcaster went on to discuss the importance of her role on the long-running programme.
“[Weather] is a fascinating subject — in Britain it changes all the time, and as a nation we are obsessed with it,” she said.
“The importance of getting information out about severe weather just ups the ante.”
She concluded: “We know how vital that information is to our audiences and how it can impact them.”
Unsurprisingly then, viewers were lost when Carol disappeared from their TV screens in the middle of a live segment earlier this week.
Her report was abruptly cut short on Monday’s show and she was replaced with an odd signage, which read: “Weather presenter editing playlist.”
Dan Walker, 41, and Louise Minchin, 50, who were presenting the programme that morning, were baffled by the technical blunder.
“Oh, she’s editing the playlist as you can see there,” Dan joked, before Louise quipped: “I can’t believe we’ve just lost Carol like that.”
Reassuring viewers at home, the father-of-three replied: “She’s OK by the way and we’ll be with her a little bit later on.
“But that is the end of the weather for now, we’ll sort that out for you and we’ll be back with Carol.”
He continued: “That was very dramatic, she just went and we got the blue screen of doom.”
The on-screen gaffe sparked concern among fans of the show, with some taking to Twitter to ask what had happened to Carol.
One person said: “BBC Breakfast lost Carol with the weather, pity,” while another asked: “@carolkirkwood what happened?
In an attempt to calm viewers down, Dan took to his own Twitter account to set the record straight and offer an explanation.
“Don’t panic @carolkirkwood is OK,” he stated. “Bit of technical stuff.”