The Newsroom

Carol Barnes:

10 years since are death (March 2018)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
:-(
A former member
On thursday there, it was 10th anniversary of Carol Barnes death. I still think she was one of the best presenter and presentation was second to none,









Woodpecker and watchingtv gave kudos
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Wow, hadn't realised it was so long. A total pro and very much missed.

Vivid memories of the first day of the C4 Daily having problems when a contribution (Business news I think) wasn't ready and she calmly and expertly improvised a paper review to fill the time.
RD
RDJ
I remember it vividly as if it was yesterday. Can't quite believe it's now a decade ago since she was gone.

The saddest thing was that she only made her comeback to television and to ITV in particular two months earlier with the documentary 'Saving Ed Mitchell' about her former ITN colleague and his battle with alcoholism.

She was a great newscaster, and very sadly missed.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
Wow, 10 years. That's certainly flown by. She's still missed - what a phenomenal newsreader. I always thought it was a bit sad that Carol was effectively sidelined at ITN. During the 80s and early 90s, she was very much the female face of ITN. She certainly presented all the main programmes, including News at One, News at 545/540 and News at Ten. As Steve says, she launched Channel Four Daily too. However, I felt that once Julia Somerville joined from the BBC in 1987, Carol's role started to diminish. By the late 90s she was sidelined to relief cover for the Lunchtime News and presented most weekends until 1998. Her final role was as part of the launch team for the ITN News Channel (and subsequent return for the Iraq War coverage in 2003). It's a pity really as I always far preferred Carol to Julia Somerville, the latter being very much overrated in my opinion.

That said, I think Carol must hold the accolade for presenting practically every ITN bulletin ever invented. As well as the main three, she also presented ITN World News (Gulf War '91), Channel 4 News (usually at weekends ISTR) and even the Big Breakfast News (as shown in the video above). Apart from 5 News, I think she presented pretty much everything else. What a pro!

By the way, found while rummaging around ITN - this voiceover for Carol: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k06ir4rklxy4e4f/Carol%20Barnes%20VO.mp3?dl=0. To the best of my knowledge, Carol never presented the Weekend News during the 1999- era. But they were certainly prepared just in case!
MD
MrDexB
Must say, when I think of how I would imagine my idea of breakfast news, I always keep imagining her back from the dead for some reason. Shows how fantastic she was.
LO
Londoner
I worked with Carol's daughter Clare Barnes (who also sadly died very prematurely) and it was a privilege to meet Carol a few times.

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