Lucy Meacock to leave ITV Granada Reports after 36 years

After almost four decades, main presenter Lucy Meacock announces live on air she is leaving Granada Reports.

Lucy Meacock has decided to leave ITV Granada after 36 years as the main presenter of ITV’s flagship news programme Granada Reports.

Lucy began her broadcasting career at Tyne Tees TV with the Miners 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. 

Lucy said: "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."

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."

Lucy has been instrumental in welcoming new talent to the team at Granada including her co-presenter Gamal Fahnbulleh, who said: "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."

Lucy said: “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."

Across the North West, Lucy is regarded as the face of Granada Reports and always has the North West's back.

She is involved with many charities across the region, supports graduation week every year, and even made her feelings known on-air when UNESCO stripped Liverpool of its coveted world heritage status.

She said to viewers: "Liverpool will never lose its status in the eyes of Scousers, and the rest of us".

This prompted responses on social media, including: "We love you Lucy".

Lucy has also been referred to as the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time) of regional news.

Paying tribute, ITV’s Director of News and Current Affairs, Michael Jermey said: "Lucy is a one off. A brilliant, instinctive broadcaster with a profound respect for her audience and a love of the north west.

"A journalist with a passionate commitment to fairness and justice. Always on the side of the powerless and ready to question the powerful.

"She represents the very best of regional news and ITV has been lucky to have her at the core of our news service for so many years. We wish her all the very best for the next chapter in her life".

Lucy Meacock's final Granada Reports will be on Thursday 1st August 2024 on ITV1 at 6pm.