11 minute read
Northern gem
It’s good to be back
Steph McGovern is something of a Teesside icon.
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Not only is she incredibly proud of the place she calls home, but her hometown is very much behind everything she represents. She’s been navigating life as a new mum, she’s launched a new TV show in lockdown, and she’s putting a positive spin on current affairs. It’s good to have her back on home turf, says Elysia Fryer…
It’s 2.15pm, Steph has just come off air and we’re awaiting an update on new lockdown measures - a subject that has become a part of everyday life for now, but something we’re all learning to live with. For Steph, it’s all about channeling positivity. And her new Channel 4 show, which has brought her back to her home county, allows her to do just that. “As I imagine a lot of people feel right now, it feels brilliant to get out of the house and get back to routine,” says Steph. “It’s really nice to be back out working and to be around people again - obviously it’s all socially distanced, but it’s wonderful to be back in amongst it.” Steph’s work ethic is refreshing. She doesn’t shy away from the fact that she’s a hardworking lass - ready to roll her sleeves up and tackle whatever it is that comes her way. After having a very successful early career in engineering, picking up a national award at the age of 19, she’s given us a number of reasons to trust that she’s able to take on a new challenge. Her latest challenge, of course, being a new daytime studio show in Channel 4’s new home at Leeds Dock. That, and settling into life as a new mum. She’s not afraid to tell us how tough it is, but that’s what makes her tick. “I’m no different to anyone else in that it is hard to try and do your job well while trying to be there for your kids,” she says. “For me, it’s really lovely that in lockdown I got to spend a lot of time with my daughter, but now it’s also nice that she sees her parents go to work. She spends time with grandparents and enjoys socialising with other kids at her little classes. “But there’s no shying away from the stuggles. It’s not easy. I have so much respect for single parents. I am lucky in that me and my partner tag team amazingly well, but I couldn’t do it on my own. I don’t know how people do it - hats off to them.” Between parenting and presenting, Steph has really come into her own - and much of that has to do with returning to work, falling back into routine, and setting up home in glorious North Yorkshire, just a stone’s throw from her native Middlesbrough. It’s great to see Steph back on the big screen. And to be able to bring national TV to a new home in the north, is something to be incredibly proud of. “It’s so good to be back,” Steph smiles. “We had so many plans for the show that we were unable to put into action because of lockdown, so to be able to actually do those things and see the show come to life, is just brilliant. Having a studio full of people, and to have them all interacting, feels like a big win right now. It’s really nice to create what I always had in my mind and finally be able to share it with others.” The show was due to hit our screens back in April, but the world had other plans. A few curve balls were thrown in, but nothing Steph and the production team couldn’t overcome. “The show was supposed to launch in the studio in April, but obviously we couldn’t because we were in lockdown. So the options were, we don’t do the show at all, or I try to do it from home, which obviously suddenly meant that my house turned into a TV studio. That, of course, brings in an element of madness because my baby was only a few months old, and with no childcare and a partner that works full time, you can imagine how manic it was. >>
“But, equally, everyone was adapting and pivoting, so we just had to muck in and change the way we worked. Everyone, in a sense, has become a live broadcaster from home - no matter what their job is. We’ve had to pivot and do Zoom calls, Microsoft Teams catch-ups, or whatever else. Our homes quickly became our office, our studio, our classroom - our everything. “I guess you can say it was a setback in the sense that we couldn’t go into the studio, but it was also a really great time to try stuff out - and that has really helped us in the long run now we’re in the studio.” The show itself breathes new life into daytime TV. It’s a place where you can take some time out on your lunch, learn something new, enjoy a bit of banter and see a few familiar faces. “It is what it says on the tin, really,” Steph explains. “It’s a ‘packed lunch’ show of 100 minutes, where we have lots of chat, talking about the biggest news stories of the day - either a funny take on them, or just having a chat about it. “People from all walks of life are featured on the show. We have our ‘lunch mates’ who are essentially an audience who give their views and chip in throughout the show, and we have some famous faces too. We cover everything from health and expert advice, to food and consumer stuff. It’s a laid-back studio show full of fun, food, news and gossip, but it also provides content that will hopefully inspire, entertain and inform. “We’re changing as we go. We’re learning things all of the time. The show today is very different from yesterday’s show, and that’s something we’re keen to keep up. “We’ve got regulars like Oti Mabuse, Vogue Williams, Gemma Atkinson, Lady Leshurr, Paul Sinner and Jan Ravens. We’ve also got Russell Kane, who is just brilliant at broadcasting news in a funny, lighthearted way. “So we’ve a core team of people in the
studio, then we’ve got really cool people like Giovanna Fletcher who does lots of stuff around fertility and parenting. “I like to call it a blended family of people. We’re all just trying to learn from each other, but also make each other laugh as we go. With everything going on in the world, we just want to have a bit of fun with it.” In a time where we’re seeing a lot of negative - albeit important - information on the news, to be able to digest that information in an informal, easy-to-follow setting, with a few laughs thrown in for good measure, is what we all need right now. “Positivity is key,” Steph explains. “When I was filming in lockdown, I used to call it the ‘positivity power hour’. Yes, sometimes we’ve got to talk about some tricky stuff, but we try to be quite uplifting about everything we do. “We run lots of stories about people who have had extraordinary things happen to them. We had a little boy who saved his mum’s life because he knew that the number on his toy ambulance was a number that he could ring to get through to the emergency services. “We had a girl on the show today who has lost all of her hair and now she’s a real ambassador for alopecia. These are the stories we want to be sharing. The backstory might be tough, but the positivity that comes out of them is something we could all do with smiling about at the moment.” Being a fellow ‘Boro lass’, I’m keen to find out how Steph is settling back into life in the North East. Balancing her time between her home in North Yorkshire and her studio home on Leeds Dock, she’s got the best of both worlds. “As I’m sure you already know - accent and all - I’m from Middlesbrough, so the studio is only up the road really. I live between Middlesbrough and Leeds, in North Yorkshire, so it means I’m not far from my parents, who are fantastic at looking after the baby. “It’s also just so nice to be doing national telly from this side of the country for a change. “Our ‘lunch mates’ tend to be locals, but it’s great to have a national show, based in the north, presented by a northerner. “There’s definitely a Yorkshire flavour to it, which is really refreshing, and is hopefully going down well with our viewers across the country. A good bit of Yorkshire charm can go a long, long way. “It’s just wonderful to be able to have a great job in a place that I love - and not have to live in London to do it. I think our region continues to prove itself, and we’re all very much behind it.” On to the important stuff. The Boro... “I’m over the moon that I can get back to Middlesbrough and the place I grew up can become a part of my daughter’s life,” she says. “I just love all the ‘northerness’ that comes with it - which you really do miss when you’re down south. The local pubs, the attitude and the friendliness.” Everyone feels a sense of pride in their hometown. Whether we set down our roots in that place, or we pack up and move on, it is instilled in us - it becomes a part of who we are and what we do. It’s something special. A mark Middlesbrough has left on both Steph and I. “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for growing up in Middlesbrough. That is absolutely categorically the reason I’ve done well. My school was brilliant at making us resilient, helping us to build confidence and giving us aspirations to be whatever we wanted to be. It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, or what your parents do as jobs - actually, you can be just as good as anyone else. I had that instilled in me in school, and it has stayed with me since. “I went to a school that had a lot of people from tough backgrounds, but it was a melting pot of brilliance because it was all about working together. We did loads of visits to local businesses and that instantly gave me that tangible sense of work. I’ve worked from the age of 15, in loads of different jobs. I was an engineer originally
- I’ve done loads of things, and that’s because at school, we were shown the world of work. It wasn’t all about exams - it was about finding your feet, developing as an individual and as a group, and mucking in to kickstart a career in whatever you were passionate about. “I understood what work looked like from a young age, so I wasn’t afraid of it. I didn’t feel like I was choosing from one of the three jobs you were told about in your careers education - it was much better than that. And all of that just made me ambitious.” Steph’s career took an interesting turn at the age of 19 when she was awarded Young Engineer for Britain. The award came when she was working for Black & Decker in Spennymoor - a far cry from the public facing role she has taken on today. “After winning the engineering award, I got interviewed in the media a lot because I was a woman in engineering and because I’ve got a northern accent - all of that made me unusual in the media world. “I didn’t know anyone in the industry, and I didn’t know much about what goes on behind the scenes, because business and engineering was all I knew. I got a bit of work experience and just worked my way up from the bottom. I worked behind the scenes for a long, long time. I was producer for the big news bulletins on the BBC’s 10 o’clock news. I got asked to go and cover someone on the radio one day and that’s where my presenting career started. Telly came next, and the rest is history - here I am.” Steph’s career has taken her from site to office to newsroom, spanning Manchester, London and Middlesbrough. She’s picked up heaps of experience, been involved in many political debates and has certainly made her mark in the media world. But after chatting with Steph about her new chapter, it seems she’s just getting started. A whole new world of parenting awaits as she settles down with her partner and daughter in North Yorkshire. But she will be forever grateful for her childhood in Teesside, the place that led her to ‘the now’. “What’s not to love? We’ve got the Riverside - the home of The Boro - we’ve got Saltburn for fish and chips, Baker Street - packed full of cool little micro pubs and what have you - and of course, we’ve got the beautiful Roseberry Topping - there’s no better place to take in the views of our wonderful town.” The Steph Show airs weekdays on Channel 4 at 12pm.
