Former radio duo join ITV’s Daybreak

Two TV news anchors who started their careers in radio have been announced as the presenters of the first hour of a revamped Daybreak on ITV1.

Ranvir Singh joins from BBC North West Tonight, while Matt Barbet makes the move from 5 News.

The pair will present the 6-7am news hour on Daybreak. The main 90-minute chunk of the programme between 7am and 8.30am will be hosted by Lorraine Kelly and Radio 2 Sunday morning DJ Aled Jones.

Matt started out at Radio 1, reading the news for Dave Pearce and later on the Sara Cox breakfast show from 2002. He moved onto BBC London before joining Channel 5 as a news presenter. He said: “I’m hugely excited to be joining the team at ITV. During my career to date I’ve been privileged to cover some massive stories, from the Afghan war to the Royal Wedding, and I’m looking forward to bringing that experience to my new role on Daybreak.”

Ranvir joined BBC Radio Lancashire in 2002 before moving onto BBC GMR. She made the switch to TV in 2005 and became the North West Tonight co-anchor in 2007 working with Gordon Burns and more recently Roger Johnson. She has also done cover presenting on BBC Radio 5 live over the last couple of years. It was announced last month that she was leaving North West Tonight to have a baby. She said: “I’m very excited about joining Lorraine, Aled and Matt. We’ll be buzzing with all the morning news and having a laugh along the way I hope. I can’t wait to get started!”