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COUNTDOWN - FRIDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2021
BLACK TO FRONT DAY CHANNEL 4 Marverine appears on the show in Dictionary Corner with Lemn Sissay. Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon is on the numbers and letters & Sir Trevor in the hot seat!
Marverine Cole is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster.
Her media and journalism career spans more than 30 years, as a live TV Reporter, Producer and News Anchor for most of the UK’s most watched and listened to news and current affairs broadcasters. From ITV Central News to BBC WM and BBC Midlands Today, she then moved to Sky News in London to anchor the 5-hour rolling news programme ‘World News and Business Report’, and present radio programmes for BBC Radio 4 and BBC 5 Live. But Marverine is not only a journalist. She is one of Britain’s leading female beer commentators. She is an accredited Beer Sommelier, and the resident Beer Columnist for the UK’s most popular food and drink magazine, BBC GOOD FOOD. Being on Countdown, she said ‘I’m really proud to be on such an iconic show. Working with Sir Trevor McDonald is a complete dream, when I was a little girl watching the news with my Mum in Bartley Green, seeing him on TV was a real inspiration. It’s all his fault that I became a journalist. I told him so in the Green Room before we recorded the show. He apologised!’ ‘The Black to Front Day is seismic in terms of diversity in television. You can read the places I work and think ‘Wow she’s done really well’ but the truth is that behind each and everyone of the jobs I’ve done is also the story of the struggle to work in television as a Black British woman with a Brummie accent. I had to soften my accent to be accepted on TV and I have a faced negativity and racism from audiences through my whole career because you are doubly visibly – you’re Black, but also you’re rarely seen on screen and some people can’t cope with that. So what Channel 4 is doing showing audiences and other broadcasters, that there’s plenty of Black talent out there, that a whole day can be filled with shows of excellent presenters, journalists and experts and that talent can also be found further afield than London.’ 
Our all-black Countdown for Channel 4’s Black to Front was far more than a gimmick.
Read Marverine's thoughts here on inews 
Channel 4’s Black To Front: Countdown star Marverine Cole hopes takeover day proves ‘Black people aren’t a risk’
Read Marverine's thoughts here on Metro 
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JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR:
BUPA MIND MEDIA AWARDS 2019 
Photo by MIND - Journalist of the Year 2019
'I am truly honoured to have been given this award by Mind for my BBC Radio 4 documentary, Black Girl's Don't Cry. It publicly recognises the mental health challenges that black women in Britain today.
The programme highlights the worrying NHS data which shows that women of African-Caribbean heritage are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, panic disorder and OCD. It also reveals the academic research evidence which indicates that young black women are more prone to self-harm. The charity MIND does superb work, both regionally and nationally. I hope to be able to work with the charity in the future, to help build a deeper understanding of the issues affecting black women to ensure health services meet the needs of those who are suffering on a daily basis.' Marverine Cole Listen to the documentary on BBC Radio 4 HERE
L-R: Editor, Radio 1 and 1Xtra Newsbeat Debbie Ramsey, James Brown - MIM Productions, Jade Hart, Marverine Cole & Radio 1 Breakfast Presenter, Greg James
Photo by Chris O'Donovan |
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Copyright Marverine Cole 2020
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