A rising media star has told of her pride at reading the TV news for the first time today.
Leigh Milner shared a clip of her presenting debut on the BBC News channel this morning – reporting the latest news on the air crash in Washington DC.
Referencing her background growing up on a council estate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, saying ‘never in my wildest dreams did I think I would make it as a national newsreader, but I did it’.
Current and former BBC stars were quick to congratulate her including former Royal correspondent Jennie Bond who posted on X: ‘Well done! That first broadcast is a scary moment, isn’t it!? Good luck for the future.’
Senior BBC News exec Erron Gordon added: ‘Fantastic.’
The presenter, 35, is married to another BBC star Chris Berrow, a musician and radio presenter.
The couple now live with their son Theo (who turns two tomorrow) in Epping Forest, Essex.
Leigh has earned thousands of followers on social media for her behind the scenes insights about her job and sweet videos of Theo watching mummy on TV.
Leigh Milner anchoring BBC News this morning. Her debut broadcast included updates from the air crash in Washington DC
When not broadcasting on the BBC, Leigh presents a podcast with her husband Chris Berrow called Work Wife Balance
Leigh with her husband Chris, who she met while they were both working for local radio
When they are not broadcasting for the BBC Leigh and Chris host a podcast together called Work Wife Balance.
In a recent episode, they listeners an idea of how they juggle their commitments with Leigh saying: ‘This is a common question me and Chris get because we both work in the BBC. I work in telly, Chris works in radio and we juggle our work wife balance.
‘People go how the hell do you do it, when do you have a life? I just had a go at Chris this week saying “we work too much, I never see you”.’
Chris said: ‘Our job is a bit weird and sometimes we do night shifts and weekends, I have to now just for looking after Theo, but on the three nursery days we have we usually don’t work.’
The podcast has even featured interventions from her parents Gary and Jane.
Shedding light on her background, Leigh said: ‘I’m actually northern, really northern, if I have a couple more [drinks] I talk how I used to talk because I’m from Wakefield, that’s my roots.
‘Then I met this one [Chris] and I poshed up a bit. That’s why Gary – or G-Dog – is so Yorkshire and I’m actually northern.’
After graduating in 2010 with a degree in journalism from the University of Lincoln, she landed a job at BBC Look East, one of the country’s most watched regional news programmes.
Leigh and her husband Chris wearing sunglasses on the beach. The couple married in February 2020
Leigh on a beautiful sandy beach with her son Theo. Leigh picked up a national story after her ‘unbearable’ delivery e ‘unbearable’ after the hospital had recently suspended gas and air over fears midwives and doctors have been exposed to unsafe levels
Leigh and Chris met while they were both working in local radio, joking she fancied the ‘posh totty’ Cambridge graduate straight away but he had a girlfriend at the time so they became friends before ‘swooping in’ when he was single.
They married in February 2020 – sweet photos shared on social media by the loved-up couple show them dancing and exchanging vows barefoot on a beautiful sandy beach.
Baby Theo followed in February 2023 and even while giving birth Leigh managed to pick up a story that went nationwide.
Her delivery at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, was made ‘unbearable’ because the hospital had recently suspended gas and air due to fears midwives and doctors have been exposed to unsafe levels.
She had been promised other pain relief but ended up receiving only paracetamol as the labour progressed and doctors said there was no time for an epidural – an injection in the back to stop feeling pain – or anything else.
‘I desperately needed something to take the edge off,’ she said in an interview at the time.
Talking about her background, Leigh said she was ‘very northern’ but became ‘poshed-up’ after marrying her husband Chris
Leigh called her delivery an ‘absolute mess’ and compared it to a ‘Victorian birth’
Leigh was one of the first journalists on the scene after the late Tory MP Sir David Amess was murdered by terrorist Ali Harbi Ali during a surgery with constituents at a church in Essex
‘My whole body was shaking. I kept begging for pain relief but the only thing they said they could give me was paracetamol. The pain was so much that I was in and out of consciousness.
‘It felt like a Victorian birth and it shouldn’t have. From start to finish, that day was an absolute mess.
“It seemed like it would never end – it was a mess from start to finish. I understand they have to keep the staff safe, but they also need to support women giving birth.’
Leigh was also one of the first journalists on the scene when MP Sir David Amess was murdered by terrorist Ali Harbi Ali while meeting constituents in a church in Essex, which she describes as: ‘A day I’ll never forget’.
