THE INTERVIEW Steph McGovern

Live from Leeds - Steph McGovern returns to the studio after a scary lockdown lesson in live TV

- Susan Griffiths

Lockdown posed all sorts of challenges, not least the need to transform our homes into effective workspaces. But Steph McGovern went one step further by turning her abode into a makeshift studio when she launched her new series The Steph Show at the end of March.

She’s no stranger to live TV, having worked as a presenter on BBC Breakfast for eight years, but admits hosting a show from her living room in Harrogate was ‘the most stressful broadcasting I’ve ever done in my life’.

‘You’re relying solely on technology and there were so many times I didn’t even know if I was on telly anymore, and it was just me chatting in my room. Technically, I feel I’ve been through the worst that could ever happen,’ says Steph, 38.

The series aired for a month before the decision was made to pull it until they could film from a studio in Leeds. Now she’s back with a reformatted lunchtime show, renamed Steph’s Packed Lunch, that airs live from a studio in Leeds Docks each weekday.

A couple of weeks ago she hit the headlines when she broke down in tears on her live show as she talked to football pundit Chris Kamara about his experience of racism growing up in Middlesbrough – Steph’s home town.

She told viewers she’d ‘had a moment’ when she returned to the screen after an ad break. This is what ‘live’ is all about – interaction with her guests.