Nina Hossain: ITV Lunchtime News Presenter, Career and London News Story

Nina Hossain is a British journalist and presenter employed by ITN as the lead presenter of the ITV Lunchtime News, who also presents News at Ten. She has been a face of ITV News for more than twenty years, across London news, lunchtime news, evening news, election nights and the biggest national stories of her generation — from the Grenfell Tower fire and the COVID-19 pandemic to the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III.

Her career is often summarised as “ITV presenter”, which is true and almost useless. The interesting part is the route: a traineeship in Carlisle, a satellite medical channel, BBC London, and then a move to ITN that began by covering for someone else — and never really stopped, because covering for others, on different bulletins, at different times of day, is what a senior ITV presenter does.

Quick Bio

Early life and education

Hossain was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, to a Bangladeshi father and an English mother. Her father, Dr Tabarek Hossain (1935–2002), was born in India (now Bangladesh) and migrated to Britain in the 1960s, when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan. He was a psychiatrist with a specialism in alcoholism, who set up the Kirklees Alcohol Advisory Service in 1973 and was the founder and president of Concern for Mental Health in West Yorkshire. Her mother, Pamela from Nottingham, was an English nurse.

Of her Bangladeshi parentage, Hossain has said that she has never visited Bangladesh and does not speak Bengali, and that while her father never discussed religion, she and her younger sister Rezina were nominally Muslim. Those are her own words about her background, and this article reports them as such rather than expanding them into claims she has not made.

Her ambition to be a journalist began at an early age. She studied English Language and Linguistics at Durham University (St Cuthbert’s Society), then gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. The Durham degree explains the clarity of diction that later made her the word pronouncer for BBC One’s Hard Spell and its spin-off Star Spell; the Preston diploma explains the practical broadcast training that followed.

Border, the Medical Channel and BBC London

In 1996 Hossain was chosen for a traineeship at ITV Border on Lookaround, where she was a news presenter, producer and reporter. Four years in Carlisle, producing, reporting and presenting across the output, is the kind of grounding that no presenting course can replace: a trainee who has produced a bulletin understands what a presenter needs from a script, and a trainee who has reported understands what a script leaves out.

In 2000 she presented for The Medical Channel, a business-to-business satellite service for NHS professionals. In 2001 she became a presenter and reporter for BBC London News on BBC London, beginning with a stint as a reporter and presenter on Newsroom South East before going on to present BBC London’s flagship evening news programme. She was the lead presenter on BBC London News and Newsroom South East before working across ITV News.

London news is a particular discipline. It is not national news with London pictures. It is news for eight million people who live in one city, about transport, crime, housing and local politics that affect them directly — and it has to be presented with the same authority as a national bulletin, every night. Hossain’s later success on national bulletins was built on that London apprenticeship.

ITN and the Mary Nightingale connection

In 2004 Hossain joined ITN as co-presenter of the ITV Evening News during Mary Nightingale’s maternity leave. After Nightingale’s return, Hossain became a relief presenter for ITV News and ITV News London. That sentence, easily skipped, is the hinge of her ITV career: she arrived not as a star signing but as cover, proved she could hold a flagship bulletin, and stayed.

In 2010 she replaced Katie Derham as presenter of London Tonight, initially alongside Donal MacIntyre, and became the sole presenter by November of that year. She also co-hosted the ITV Lunchtime News with Alastair Stewart and served as a guest presenter on GMTV with Lorraine in 2010.

In 2019 she transitioned from ITV News London to become the lead presenter of ITV Lunchtime News, a role she continues to hold while also appearing on ITV News at Ten and weekend bulletins. She can be seen across the UK on the ITV Lunchtime News, is the main anchor of ITV News London in earlier descriptions of her career, and presents News at Ten — a range of bulletins at different times of day that few presenters sustain for years.

Election nights, pandemics and royal occasions

Since 2015 Hossain has presented for every general election’s overnight programme, and she has fronted special programmes and podcasts on politics, terror attacks, the Grenfell Tower fire, the COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine. She presented the series Coronavirus: Q & A for ITV throughout the lockdown period of the pandemic — a format that required answering viewers’ questions directly, at a time when official guidance changed weekly and confusion was itself a public-health risk.

Her career has seen her present coverage of all the major news stories of her time, including the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the coronation of King Charles III, and the last two major royal weddings. She has co-presented ITV’s Election Live coverage and hosted press conferences for ITV and the BFI, including for Broadchurch and Liar, interviewing actors, writers and directors, as well as In Conversation events with politicians including Peter Mandelson and Nick Clegg.

Her favourite story to cover, she has said, was the 2012 Olympics, because it gave viewers a reason to celebrate night after night. That preference is revealing: a presenter known for elections, terror attacks and pandemics choosing a celebration as her favourite story says something about why she stays in a job that is mostly bad news.

Documentaries, awards and life beyond the bulletin

When not writing and presenting daily news, Hossain has worked on the documentaries Exposure and On Assignment, hosted awards ceremonies and chaired conferences. She has won two personal Royal Television Society awards for her presenting and three Programme of the Year awards while fronting ITV Evening News and ITV News London, and won the RTS Presenter of the Year award for regional news. In July 2015 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield.

Away from the studio, she is a keen traveller and took time out in 2003 to sail around the world on a tall ship; she also loves snowboarding. Her acting credits include minor roles in Trauma (2004), Case Sensitive (2011) and Hidden (2011), and voice work for Duran Duran’s 2010 album All You Need Is Now. None of that is central to her journalism, but it explains the breadth of a presenter who is equally at ease chairing a conference, hosting an awards night and anchoring a breaking story.

What competitor biographies get wrong or leave out

1. They assert a date of birth that sources do not agree on. Older mirror sites claim 15 December 1973, while her current Wikipedia entry gives no date of birth at all, only her birthplace. Because the sources conflict, this article asserts no date of birth and no age. Pages that state one confidently are choosing one source and hiding the disagreement.
2. They skip the Border and BBC London years. The Carlisle traineeship and the BBC London apprenticeship are the foundation of the ITV career. Without them, she appears to have arrived at ITV fully formed.
3. They miss the Nightingale connection. Hossain’s ITV career began by covering Mary Nightingale’s maternity leave on the Evening News in 2004. That is a direct, documented link between two ITV presenters, and it is why this article links to Nightingale’s Presslix biography as well as to the previous article in the chain.
4. They reduce her to one bulletin. Lunchtime News, News at Ten, ITV News London, election overnights, Coronavirus: Q & A and documentaries are all part of the same career. A single-bulletin biography is incomplete.
5. They invent money and personal detail. No reliable net worth or salary figure exists, and personal details beyond what reference sources confirm are not published here.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Nina Hossain?

A British journalist and presenter employed by ITN as the lead presenter of the ITV Lunchtime News, who also presents News at Ten and formerly presented ITV News London.

Where was Nina Hossain born?

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. No date of birth is asserted in this article because sources conflict on it.

Where did Nina Hossain study?

Durham University (English Language and Linguistics) and the University of Central Lancashire (Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism).

How did Nina Hossain join ITV News?

In 2004, as co-presenter of the ITV Evening News during Mary Nightingale’s maternity leave, after a traineeship at ITV Border and presenting for BBC London News.

What awards has Nina Hossain won?

Two personal Royal Television Society awards, three RTS Programme of the Year awards, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in July 2015.

What is Nina Hossain’s net worth?

No reliable, sourced figure exists, so none is published here.

More on Presslix

• Deborah Haynes: Sky News Security and Defence Editor, Career and Investigations
• Mary Nightingale: ITV Evening News Presenter, Career, Awards and UK Broadcasting Story
• Presslix Journalists & Media

Sources and Further Reading

• Nina Hossain on Wikipedia — birthplace, parentage, education, career timeline and the absence of a stated date of birth in the current entry
• Agency biographies: ITV Lunchtime News and News at Ten roles, election and royal coverage, Coronavirus: Q & A, awards and the 2012 Olympics (plain-text sources)
• Reference and agency listings: Border traineeship, Medical Channel, BBC London, London Tonight and the 2004 Evening News role during Mary Nightingale’s maternity leave (plain-text sources)
• University of Huddersfield honorary doctorate record, July 2015 (plain-text source)

Note on this article: career, education and award details above are taken from the sources listed. No date of birth is asserted because sources conflict on it, and no net worth or salary figure is claimed because no reliable figure exists.