Miriam O'Reilly

Miriam O'Reilly

Miriam O'Reilly (born 19 February 1957) is a television presenter, best known as a former presenter on the BBC One rural affairs show Countryfile.[1]

Contents

Early life and career

The daughter of an Irish farmer who came to England in the 1960s,[2] O'Reilly left school aged seventeen, keen to be a journalist.

She applied for newspaper apprenticeships while working several jobs, including work on the children's television programme Tiswas.[3] She then worked for the BBC on the Radio 4 programmes Farming Today, Costing the Earth and Woman's Hour. She also worked as a television presenter, on field and specialist reports, perhaps most notably on Countryfile.

After she was dropped from Countryfile in 2009, she successfully sued the BBC for age discrimination, saying at the start of her court case that she could no longer watch the programme after being axed from it, as it was too emotionally painful.[4][5] During the hearing, former BBC One Controller Jay Hunt (ten years O'Reilly's junior) was called as a witness, who O'Reilly accused of ageism, sexism and that she "hated women."[6] In January 2011, the day after Hunt began working at Channel 4, O'Reilly's claims for age discrimination and victimisation were upheld.[7] In February 2011 O'Reilly presented a show about ageism on ITV1 called Too Old For TV?, as part of the Tonight television series.[8] In March 2011, as part of its coverage of International Women's Day, The Guardian newspaper included O'Reilly in its list of the "Top 100 Most Inspirational Women" in the world saying, "The landmark judgement will change the way the BBC, and inevitably other broadcasters, operate."[9] Some time after the case, O'Reilly spoke about how dozens of older BBC women presenters had their careers saved as a result of her legal action. [10] O'Reilly was also included in an exhibition at BBC Television Centre of women who had made a significant contribution towards equality at the Corporation since its formation in 1922.[11]

In June 2011, O'Reilly returned to the BBC as the co-presenter for the third series of Crimewatch Roadshow with Rav Wilding. [12] In July 2011, a photograph of O'Reilly by Kate Peters was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in the People of Today collection.[13]

Personal life

O'Reilly is the sister of the playwright Kaite O'Reilly, winner of the Ted Hughes Award (2011) for her version of Aeschylus' tragedy The Persians.[14]

References

  1. ^ "BBC Daytime announces new rural affairs series, Country Tracks". BBC Press Office. BBC. 15 January 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/01_january/15/country.shtml. Retrieved 23 January 2011. 
  2. ^ Wynne-Jones, Jonathan (16 January 2011). "Miriam O'Reilly tells of anger at BBC". Telegraph Online (Telegraph Media Group). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8262000/Miriam-OReilly-tells-of-anger-at-BBC.html. Retrieved 23 January 2011. 
  3. ^ "Miriam O'Reilly". Woman's Hour. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/about/miriam_oreilly.shtml. Retrieved January 15, 2011. 
  4. ^ "Countryfile's Miriam O'Reilly wins BBC ageism claim". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/11/countryfile-miriam-oreilly-tribunal. Retrieved 12th Jan 2011. 
  5. ^ Summary of O'Reilly v BBC and link to full employment tribunal judgment http://www.agediscrimination.info/cases/Pages/ItemPage.aspx?Item=412
  6. ^ "Former BBC1 controller dropped older presenters 'because she hated women'". The Guardian. 5 November 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/05/miriam-oreilly-countryfile-jay-hunt. Retrieved 2010-11-07. 
  7. ^ Plunkett, John (11 January 2011). "Countryfile's Miriam O'Reilly wins BBC ageism claim". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/11/countryfile-miriam-oreilly-tribunal. Retrieved 11 January 2011. 
  8. ^ http://www.itv.com/news/tonight/episodes/toooldfortv/
  9. ^ "Mirian O'Reilly - Top 100 women". The Guardian. http://guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/mar/08/miriam-o-reilly-100-women. Retrieved 2011-04-13. 
  10. ^ http://www.agediscrimination.info/News/Pages/ItemPage.aspx?Item=558
  11. ^ "Miriam O'Reilly and Moira Stewart are belatedly honoured by the BBC". Daily Telegraph. 2011-03-14. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/8379137/Miriam-OReilly-and-Moira-Stewart-are-belatedly-honoured-by-the-BBC.html. Retrieved 2011-04-13. 
  12. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/04_april/08/crimewatch.shtml
  13. ^ http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp128445/miriam-oreilly
  14. ^ "Ceredigion poet Kaite O'Reilly wins Ted Hughes Award". BBC News. 2011-03-25. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-12863595. Retrieved 2011-04-13. 

External links

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