‘Interviewing Hugh Grant like shoving sand uphill'

Presenter and journalist Anthea Turner talks to new about her celebrity run-ins, hitting a special milestone and her plans for a TV comeback

- GEMMA MCCARTNEY

She hit the big 6-0 in May and it’s fair to say TV legend Anthea Turner didn’t quite have the celebrations she was hoping for.

But despite having to spend her milestone birthday behind closed doors, she did get to be with her fiancé, businessman Mark Armstrong.

The pair began dating in spring last year. Mark, 55, popped the question five months later, but it wasn’t until the country went into lockdown that they finally decided to move in together.

“In my mind we knew lockdown wouldn’t last forever, but we wanted to come out feeling like we’d achieved something,” she says. “What we achieved was living together properly.”

Many readers of a certain age (ahem!) will remember Anthea on Blue Peter in the early 90s, before she joined breakfast show GMTV alongside Eamonn Holmes. So it’s no surprise that she has some juicy stories from her years as a presenter, including run-ins with A-Listers Hugh Grant and Naomi Campbell, and receiving a lovely letter from acting legend Anthony Hopkins.

While Anthea has ruled out a return to breakfast TV – Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid are just too good, she tells us – she wouldn’t mind making a presenting comeback.

Here, Anthea discusses her dream TV gig, the secrets to her youthful looks and why she’s secretly happy her upcoming wedding has been postponed…

Hi Anthea. How was your recent birthday?