A long-serving BBC presenter has announced her departure from the national channel in favour of competitor ITV.
Alex Lovell began her career as a stage actor before going to children’s television, then quiz show BrainTeaser, before finally joining BBC Points West in 2005 as the show’s primary female presenter.
But, after 18 years at the leadership, she has announced her resignation.
In a ‘major’ career move, the broadcaster will join Sabet ‘Seb’ Choudhury as co-host of ITV’s Westcountry news bulletins in January.
Before Seb came to ITV last year, the duo had previously appeared together on the BBC.
Announcing the news on X, formerly Twitter, Alex shared: ‘After 18 years presenting BBC Points West I have taken the huge decision to leave at the end of November. Thank you to all my amazing colleagues and lovely viewers for all the love, laughs and tears – we’ve shared it all haven’t we.’
‘I am super excited to be joining ITV West Country in December and I will be in the studio with my lovely friend Seb Choudhury in January,’ she added.
The news was also confirmed by ITV News’ Ian Axton, who shared on the same platform: ‘Really delighted that Alex Lovell will be joining ITV Westcountry from January to present our programmes alongside Sabet Choudhury. What a team!’’
A BBC spokeswoman said in a statement that Alex was a ‘treasured’ member of BBC Points West who was appreciated by both audiences and colleagues.
‘We’d like to thank her for all she has done for the BBC over the last two decades. She’s a natural at what she does, and we wish her luck for the future,’ they wrote.
Alex took on an unexpected duty on the job earlier this year, mounting the BBC Bristol studios’ roof to save a fledgling bird.
The broadcaster was caught on camera scaling a ladder to rescue the creature only seconds before it aired.
While climbing the ladder, she joked: ‘Disclaimer, I won’t sue anybody’, before making her way over the pipes and into the corner of the roof where the bird was chirping.
She then vanished from view to pick up the bird and release it as the team clapped.
