Susanna Reid's Morning Glory

BBC Breakfast star Susanna Reid is officially the person most of Britain would like to wake up to, according to a Radio Times poll to mark the morning show's 30th anniversary. The strain of the morning London-to-Salford commute clearly doesn't appear to be affecting the popular TV host, 42, who won by a huge margin - pulling in more votes than the rest of the top ten combined. Second in the survey was Sian Williams, with 12 per cent, who left the show when it headed north last year, followed by Bill Turnbull who pulled in 8 per cent as fans chose from more than 40 presenters. Sophie Raworth, who left the show in 2003, came fourth, and another current presenter Louise Minchin was fifth.

Reid said: "I am honoured to have earned the respect and appreciation of Breakfast viewers. I feel lucky even to be on the list of those brilliant presenters who have hosted this programme over the past 30 years." Tim Glanfield, editor of radiotimes.com added: "The names in the top ten span the BBC breakfast show’s 30-year history, but there was one runaway winner. Susanna Reid is undoubtedly the host most viewers want to wake up to."


Reid, who first appeared on TV acting in the Channel 4 mini-series The Price in 1985, began her journalistic career at BBC Radio Bristol in the 1990s. She was a late night reporter for BBC News 24 but was asked to stand in for a newsreader who had not arrived for their shift. The channel’s bosses were impressed and Reid was swiftly made a full-time newsreader. She began working on Breakfast in 2004 and took over from Williams as the show’s main female presenter in 2012. In addition to Breakfast, Reid also presented the BBC programmes Sunday Morning Live from 2010-2011 and Turn Back Time: the Family in 2012.

Late last year, a magazine called reid "the sexiest thing outta Croydon since Kate Moss". Playing down her looks, she laughs and replies: 'I can’t believe there haven’t been lots of fabulous women living in Croydon between me and Kate." But it’s not just the TV ratings that point to Susanna’s ability to engage men and women viewers alike. A quick YouTube search or glance on Twitter between 6am and 9am most mornings will show how her every move and sexy outfits create waves of attention.

Unfazed, Susanna claims she does not follow fashion and is regularly left running around, slipping a different dress over her head just moments before she and Bill go on air. "You can find yourself at ten to six wearing the same thing as another presenter," she says. "I have all my clothes at work and I have twice this week had to change at the last minute because of a pattern or colour. You don’t want the audience to think you are not working well together. You have to make sure that you all look good together."

She says she gets no clothes allowance and doesn’t have a stylist, but seems to naturally look good in almost anything she wears on screen when quizzing MPs and celebrities. "I go to certain websites, look at what is available and if I like it I buy it, as long as it is under or no more than £50," she says. "I just buy what I think suits me. I don’t have a lot of time to go out shopping so it has to be mainly online stuff." Susanna prefers fitted dresses and, with regards to her wardrobe, knows "every detail is scrutinised" especially since viewers complained about her cleavage in several 2010 episodes of BBC Breakfast.

There have even been fake photos of her online in a state of undress. She says: "There is a picture of a lovely woman on the internet and somebody has put my head on her body. I feel sorry for her, she has probably got a perfectly serviceable head of her own." But when asked if this has put her off googling herself, she says simply: "I am aware of what people write. I am a great fan of social media, you couldn’t operate if you didn’t know what people were talking about," she adds. "But I have an enormously thick skin. I take on board what I think is useful and ignore the rest."