McLean at the British Academy Television Awards 2009
Andrea McLean
1969-
Presenter
Andrea McLean is a Scottish television presenter best known for her roles with ITV.
Although born in Scotland, McLean and her sister were raised in Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. The family then moved back to Scotland when she was 15, but later settled in Chester. She describes her unique accent as a cross between Scottish and Caribbean which at times can be heard quite strongly, despite living in England since the early nineties.
McLean studied for her BA Hons in Modern Studies at Coventry University, and later gained a Post Graduate Certificate in Periodical Journalism.
McLean started her career as a freelance travel writer in 1993. She joined Central Press Features in May 1994, promoted to Production Editor in 1995. In June 1996, McLean joined The Weather Channel, and worked as a weather reporter for Talk Radio. In 1997 she worked on Channel 5's daily talk show Espresso as one of the programme's panellists.
In June 1997, McLean joined GMTV as a weather presenter. Andrea co-hosted GMTV Today with Ben Shephard and Eamonn Holmes, and hosted LK Today in Lorraine Kelly’s absence. Her bubbly personality and journalistic training brought her to the attention of various producers, resulting in her presenting shows such as the first series of Our House for UKTV Style.
McLean filled in for Jackie Brambles on Loose Women when Brambles went on maternity leave. In July 2008, it was announced that McLean would quit working on GMTV to focus on her role on Loose Women, to share the permanent host job with Brambles. Andrea currently co-anchors Loose Women with Carol Vorderman, Ruth Langsford and Kaye Adams.
On 17 November 2013, Andrea appeared in a celebrity edition of The Chase, and won £21,750 for Breast Cancer Care. On 11 December 2013, McLean did a reverse bunjee jump, live on Loose Women for Text Santa. She was catapulted 37m into the sky at over 50 mph outside The London Studios, after Loose Women reached its Text Santa target of £50,000.
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