With over 20 years working in television, Susanna Reid is a familiar face that appears on Good Morning Britain. Susanna reveals the importance of those you don’t see on screen that have helped her successful career. 

“There’s a whole team of people that brings the programme together and I always say, even though we as presenters and reporters are the people on screen, could not succeed on screen without the work of every single one of the people that is in our team.

“We’ve got hair and makeup, which are an essential part of the job!

“If you went on air and you didn’t feel your absolute best then you’re just distracted by the fact you don’t feel great. Having great briefings with researchers, producers with great ideas, all that helps me to do my job.

“The team put in an enormous amount of work to make sure the programme is packed full of great content, great interviews. It’s all about providing the viewers with great dynamic news content live on air.” 

The early starts

Waking up at 3.45am everyday is no mean feat, but is a daily occurrence for Susanna Reid. She has spent more than 20 years appearing on our screens in the morning. She started at BBC Breakfast and now at Good Morning Britain, where she has been for over 10 years. 

“It’s something that’s always going to shock you, (having such an early alarm) but I don’t mind it. We have a great setup where I can just go into work in my pjs and I’ve got all my guest briefs and newspapers in the car to read.” 

Susanna arrives at Television Centre at 4.30am in the morning fully up to speed with the day’s top stories. She will be ready to go live at 6am. Of course hair, makeup, wardrobe and a shower are all the essential parts of preparing ahead of going live. 

The team behind the camera

Every contribution is something that Susanna recognises as important to the overall success of the programme. 

“All of that helps me do my job which has meant I manage to create an enormous career and a programme that is really successful. 

“Whether it’s the director, or the camera operators, or the autocue or the researchers, there’s a whole team that bring this programme together.” 

Proudest Moment:

It’s fair to say Susanna has covered her fair share of stories, events and breaking news. But there’s two more recent examples that Susanna is most proud of being part of the programme’s coverage. 

“The most impactful interview recently was when I talked to the families of two of the children who were killed in Southport last year. Else’s parents and Bebe’s parents. It’s an enormous privilege when they open themselves up and allow you to ask some quite difficult, sensitive things about that experience and be so courageous in talking about it. 

“They never want it to happen again and they want people to remember their daughters as the vibrant wonderful daughters that they were, and not associated with the horror that happened. It was a real honour to me and I was very gratified that they allowed me to do it.” 

More recently, Susanna presented GMB the morning after the Liverpool Parade Crash. She anchored the coverage reacting to a late press conference the night before and updates from the emergency services that morning. 

“For many viewers that will still be breaking news because a lot of families will have gone to bed last night and won’t be watching the bulletins after the press conference. The responsibility in the morning is to bring that to them. 

“We had an eyewitness that we interviewed love talking about their experience, they just got missed by the car when it came towards the pedestrians and we also spoke to the Mayor of Liverpool. The key about live news is you have to stay flexible, you have to stay responsive.” 

Advice for those aspiring to get into TV: 

Susanna has plenty of experiences so offered wise words to those aspiring to enter the world of TV: 

“Make sure you are skilled as you possibly can be in as many things as possible. The industry is changing and to be able to do a lot of different things well is a good idea. 

“Ask everybody who is doing a job that you want to do for advice and if there’s any opportunities. You never know who will say yes and help!” 

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