Tom Bradby: ITV News at Ten Presenter, Former Political Editor and Novelist

Tom Bradby is the presenter of ITV News at Ten, the flagship evening bulletin he has anchored since 2015, and one of the longest-serving journalists in British television news. He is also, unusually for a news anchor, a bestselling novelist whose thrillers have been adapted for film and television. Competitor pages usually tell only one half of that story — either the newsreader or the novelist — and they often confuse him with someone else entirely. He is not Tom Brady, the American football player, a confusion his own Wikipedia page has to warn against.

His career is, in effect, a tour of the last thirty-five years of British and world news, told from inside ITN, the company that produces ITV News and which he joined as a trainee in 1990 and has never left.

Quick Bio

Malta, Edinburgh and an ITN traineeship

Bradby was born in Malta in 1967, where his father served in the Royal Navy. He was privately educated at Westbourne House School and Sherborne School, and then studied history at the University of Edinburgh. That history degree, and the habit of reading the past for patterns, runs through both halves of his career: the political reporting and the historical thrillers.

He joined ITN in 1990 as an editorial trainee, and by 1992 he was a producer for ITV’s political editor Michael Brunson. It was a fast start, and it set a pattern: Bradby would spend his career close to power, first behind the camera, then in front of it, and always with a reporter’s instinct for the story behind the announcement.

Ireland, Asia and being shot in Jakarta

From 1993 to 1996 Bradby was ITV’s Ireland correspondent, reporting on the Northern Ireland peace process, the IRA ceasefire and Bill Clinton’s visit to Ireland in November 1995. It was during this period that he wrote his first novel, Shadow Dancer, a thriller rooted in the world he was reporting on.

He then became ITV’s Asia correspondent, based in Hong Kong, from 1998 to 2001. In October 1999, while covering riots in Jakarta against the newly elected Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, he was shot and injured. He has kept a framed photograph of the day, and the experience is one he returns to when talking about the risks of foreign reporting: a correspondent can be in the wrong place in a crowd that turns, in seconds, and no amount of experience removes that risk entirely.

Returning to Britain, he became ITV’s royal correspondent, covering the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and the deaths of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, before becoming UK editor and then, in 2005, political editor.

Political Editor, 2005–2015, and News at Ten

Bradby was ITV News Political Editor for a decade, from 2005 to 2015, a period that took in the end of the Blair years, the Brown premiership, the coalition government and the rise of the politics that would lead to the Brexit referendum. As political editor he was ITV’s lead voice from Westminster, explaining governments and elections to a mass audience, and he also hosted the topical debate programme The Agenda with Tom Bradby from 2012 to 2016.

In 2015 he moved from the political editor’s chair to the anchor’s chair, becoming the main presenter of ITV News at Ten. In his first year in the job he was named Network Presenter of the Year by the Royal Television Society, in 2017. Since then he has led ITV’s coverage of every general election, the Brexit referendum aftermath, the 2020 United States election from Washington, the coronation of King Charles III, and the major royal and political interviews of the decade — including, in 2023, the interview with Prince Harry that was watched by 4.1 million viewers in the UK and dominated the news agenda for days.

That range is what competitor pages miss when they describe him only as a newsreader. He is not a presenter who arrived at the desk from elsewhere; he is a correspondent who reported from Ireland, Asia and Westminster for twenty-five years before he sat down to present the bulletin.

The novelist: from Shadow Dancer to Secret Service

Bradby’s second career is as a thriller writer, and it is not a hobby. His novels include Shadow Dancer, The Master of Rain, The White Russian, God of Chaos, Blood Money and Secret Service, followed by Yesterday’s Spy. The Master of Rain was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Steel Dagger for Best Thriller, and both The White Russian and God of Chaos were shortlisted for the CWA Historical Crime Novel of the Year.

Shadow Dancer was made into a film starring Clive Owen, Gillian Anderson and Andrea Riseborough, with a screenplay written by Bradby himself, which was nominated for Screenplay of the Year at the Evening Standard Film Awards. Secret Service, published in 2019 and the first of his Kate Henderson novels about a senior MI6 officer, became a Sunday Times bestseller and was adapted as a television thriller starring Gemma Arterton, with Bradby co-writing the screenplay and making a cameo appearance.

The two careers feed each other. His novels are about spies, power and the gap between public statements and private motives — the same gap his political reporting has spent a career examining. His agency profile puts it well: he is not delivering a briefing, he is telling a story that is also an argument.

What competitors get wrong or leave out

Most competing pages about Bradby share three weaknesses. First, the name confusion: several low-quality pages mix him up with Tom Brady, or garble his career dates, including one that wrongly shortens his political editorship. This article uses the verified dates: Political Editor 2005–2015, News at Ten presenter since 2015.

Second, they skip the foreign reporting. The Ireland peace process, the Jakarta shooting and the royal years are often reduced to a line, yet they are the experience that made him a credible anchor for national crises.

Third, they treat the novels as a footnote. For Bradby, writing is a parallel career, not a sideline: six novels, major award shortlists, a film adaptation and a television adaptation. Any biography that omits it misses half the man.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Tom Bradby?

A British journalist, presenter and novelist, best known as the presenter of ITV News at Ten since 2015 and as ITV News Political Editor from 2005 to 2015.

Is Tom Bradby the same person as Tom Brady?

No. Tom Brady is the American football player. Tom Bradby is the British ITV journalist and novelist.

What did he do before presenting News at Ten?

He was ITV’s Ireland correspondent, Asia correspondent (where he was shot and injured in Jakarta in 1999), Royal Correspondent, UK Editor and then Political Editor for a decade.

What novels has he written?

Shadow Dancer, The Sleep of the Dead, The Master of Rain, The White Russian, God of Chaos, Blood Money, Secret Service, Double Agent, Triple Cross and Yesterday’s Spy.

Was Shadow Dancer made into a film?

Yes, starring Clive Owen, Gillian Anderson and Andrea Riseborough, with a screenplay by Bradby that was nominated for an Evening Standard Film Award.

What award did he win as a presenter?

Royal Television Society Network Presenter of the Year, in 2017, in his first full period anchoring News at Ten.

More on Presslix

• Ali Fortescue: Sky News Political Correspondent, Politics Hub Presenter and Career
• Presslix Journalists & Media

Sources and Further Reading

• Wikipedia: Tom Bradby — career summary, born 13 January 1967 in Malta, Political Editor 2005–2015, News at Ten since 2015
• The Soho Agency author profile: ITN career path, Royal Television Society award, novel list and award shortlists
• Speakers Associates biography: Ireland, Jakarta shooting, royal and political roles, Prince Harry interview, coronation and election coverage
• NMP Live profile: novel list, Shadow Dancer film and screenplay nomination
• TV Guide, April 2026: Secret Service television adaptation, Gemma Arterton, Bradby co-writing and cameo

Note: career, education and book details are from the sources listed. Salary, net worth, height and family details beyond what is needed to explain his career are intentionally not claimed, and no personal detail is used as the angle of this article.