Victoria Derbyshire

Victoria Derbyshire
Victoria Derbyshire in 2011
Born	Victoria Antoinette Derbyshire (1968-10-02) 2 October 1968 (age 48) Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England
Nationality	British
Years active	1993–present
Employer	BBC
Known for	Journalist, television presenter

Victoria Antoinette Derbyshire (born 2 October 1968) is an English journalist and broadcaster. Her current affairs and debate programme has been broadcast on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel since 2015. She also occasionally presents Newsnight. She formerly presented the morning news/current affairs and interview programme on BBC Radio 5 Live between 10 am and 12 noon each weekday and was a Radio 5 Live presenter for 16 years, departing in late 2014. She left at the same time as fellow 5 Live broadcasters Richard Bacon and Shelagh Fogarty.

Derbyshire was born in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, and attended Bury Grammar School for Girls before studying English language and literature at the University of Liverpool. Afterwards, she attended a postgraduate diploma course in radio and TV journalism at Preston Polytechnic (now the University of Central Lancashire). She has claimed that her father, Anthony, abused her, her mother and her younger brother and sister.

Derbyshire worked as a reporter in local radio, then joined BBC Radio 5 Live in 1998 as a co-presenter of the breakfast show with Julian Worricker. The programme won Gold Sony Awards in 1998 and 2002. In January 2003 Worricker left the breakfast show, and Derbyshire was partnered by Nicky Campbell. After a spell of maternity leave, she took over the morning news programme in August 2004.. One of the main features of the programme was Derbyshire's relationship with her listeners, who trusted her as they shared some personal and dark experiences; a memorable example was "Rachel", an alcoholic GP who described her descent into alcoholism as she opened a can of beer live on air.