#newsreader

tomorrow never knows

Why wouldn't you tell me? I could have done something about it. I could have fixed it. I could have done something about it! And now there's no one!

Happy Birthday Kirsty Jackson Young born 23rd November 1968 in East Kilbride.

I first remember Kirsty from her collaboration with Angus Simpson, they had a great chemistry between them.

Kirsty was brought up in Stirling and attended Cambusbarron Primary School and Stirling High School.

Kirsty’s journalistic career began in 1989, when she became a newsreader for BBC Radio Scotland. In 1992, she moved into television to present Scotland Today news programmes mainly with the aforementioned Angus.

She was the launch host of Five News in 1997 During her time as presenter of 5 News Kirsty received the prestigious Sir James Carreras Award for Outstanding New Talent of 1997 at the 46th Variety Club Show Business Awards. A month later, in March 1998, she was named Newscaster of the Year awards.

From January to September 1998,Kirsty co-hosted Talk Radio’s weekday breakfast programme. From 1994-95 she was the host of ‘Kirsty’, a bi-weekly live discussion programme on the week’s hot topics, on STV, also for STV she also presented Late Edition, a live, late-night entertainment and music show. In 1996 Kirsty was a guest presenter of ITV’s The Time, The Place. Her BBC credits include presenting and reporting for Holidays Out, Holiday `96 and Film `96 on BBC1, and presenting BBC2’s consumer affairs show, The Street.She is a regular guest presenter for BBC2’s Have I Got News For You and was an occasional stand in for Michael Parkinson’s Radio 2 Show and Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 Show.

From 2006 to 2018 she was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and previously presented Crimewatch on BBC One from 2008 to 2015.

In 2019 Kirsty revealed she suffered with fibromyalgia and has since eased back on her working life she is however is president of Unicef UK and still supports many charities.. In October 2023 Kirsty did make a welcome return to broadcasting in a series of BBC podcast, Young Again, where she quizzes star guests on their youth, including Jamie Oliver, who admits he was 'really annoying'....what do you mean "was"?

In an interview on 8th August 2024 with Emma Barnett, Young said she was living in chronic pain and said she felt a sense of "failure and shame", as well as a reluctance to talk about it to other people She said that living with her chronic pain could make her feel 'hollowed out' and to lose her sense of self. Young supported self-management techniques to help live with chronic pain.

I love it! I was so disappointed there was only one episode so far because I NEED MORE! I think I went through the full range of human emotion at least once in that single episode. I was laughing, cheering, yelling profanity and creative threats at some of the characters, hugging my pillow, collapsing sideways onto the couch. My heart broke. I kept pausing it to appreciate a detail I'd noticed. I was a mess!

Like, the show is set in the 80s but the show itself has a very 80s vibe, so I was just taking in the costuming and set design. These characters go through, or watch, very real things (like the Challenger explosion) and then go report on it, proud they've done a good job doing so (which, yeah, it's their job; I just found it jarring). The old has-been reporter complaining about glamor in the news to the old boss guy while Helen's absence from the screen results in a severe ratings drop. The has-been reporter dude's wife so far seeming like a "pick me" and so far not getting any praise for it. Modernizing the way the news is presented and the folks holding it back. Helen is amazing.

But Dale.... Like, Dale and Lestat are played by the same person, so of course there's going to be similarities in appearance. There were definitely a few expressions I noticed that were the same. And while I'm keeping in mind keeping in mind that we've barely seen the real Lestat, I had fun seeing all the differences as well as the things that could be shared. At first, I just really wanted to know what made the IWTV casting director look at him, playing this awkward dork with questionable singing ability, and say, "Ah, yes, this guy should be the Vampire Lestat. The vampire. The one who becomes a rock star."

And then I realized that he spent a good chunk of the episode's start running around on the verge of a panic attack, he cried multiple times, and he just has major heart eyes for Helen, who I assume is his love interest. Like, I think he'd do whatever she told him (at least for now). And suddenly things began to click into place.

I just remember sitting there listening to Dale sing in the car and being impressed that the same actor, a few years later, would do, "Long Face".

Anyway, that's my rambling for now. Can't wait for more episodes!