Simon McCoy is a journalist and newsreader for the BBC on the rolling news channel BBC News between 2pm and 5pm on weekdays, in a segment titled Afternoon Live. He is also one of the main presenters of the BBC News at One and a relief presenter of BBC Weekend News. Shortly before 1pm GMT on 18 March 2013, McCoy and co-presenter Sophie Long read the final BBC News bulletin from BBC Television Centre, with BBC News moving to Broadcasting House in the West End of London for the BBC News at One.
McCoy started his journalism career at the Fleet Street News Agency in London before joining Thames TV as a researcher for Thames News in 1983. After time as a scriptwriter at Thames TV, in 1986 he joined the breakfast TV station TV-am as a news editor. In 1988, McCoy left to go to new satellite channelSky – initially as a producer on the Sky News breakfast programme Sunrise. After a year as a general reporter for the station, he was appointed Royal Correspondent, and between 1991 and 1996 McCoy covered all the major stories which affected the Royal Family. After a job which involved travel around the world throughout the years, Simon took a desk job, presenting Sunrise on Sky News. He also presented the Tonight programme – a topical chat show involving interviews with people from the worlds of showbiz, politics and sport. In 2003, McCoy co-anchored Sky's coverage of the Iraq War on location in Kuwait and Basra. He was on air for five hours every day of the conflict. In January 2004, McCoy joined the BBC, and could be seen on BBC Breakfast and BBC News 24, initially as a cover presenter for both. In September 2005, he took over the morning slot on BBC News alongside Kate Silverton following Phillip Hayton's sudden departure after Hayton fell out with Silverton. When reviewing the papers the following day, McCoy tried to point out the story, but was prevented by Silverton. In December 2007, Silverton left the shift to host the 8pm Update. In 2006, McCoy stopped regular appearances on BBC Breakfast upon Charlie Stayt's arrival at the BBC, but continued to be a relief presenter on the BBC Weekend News. Since 2008, McCoy has made a number of appearances as a stand-in presenter on Breakfast. On 9 March 2012, McCoy was apparently caught asleep at the newsdesk as BBC Breakfast handed over to the BBC News channel at 8:30 am, although McCoy denied he was dozing. On 7 June 2013, McCoy presented coverage of the Queen's visit to Broadcasting House to officially open the new part of the BBC's Headquarters which features the largest live newsroom in Europe. The new Broadcasting House sees the BBC's Television, News and Radio departments in one complex. The BBC's Children's and Radio 5 Live moved to Salford's MediaCity in 2012. The Queen opened the new complex with a live public broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. On 22 July, McCoy was on the roster for coverage of the birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who a few days later was named Prince George of Cambridge. Stationed outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital with often little or no news to share, McCoy's comments concerning the value of the news coverage made for headlines. He said: "The news is there is no news". In September 2013, a live broadcast by McCoy went viral after he inadvertently picked up a refill pack of A4 printer paper instead of his iPad while presenting to camera. A BBC spokeswoman said: "This morning as Simon McCoy was preparing to introduce this story, instead of picking up his tablet to hold as he went to air, he mistakenly picked up a ream of paper that was sitting next to it. In the rush of live news, he didn't have an opportunity to swap the items, so simply went with it." McCoy presents the weekday 2–5 pm slot, now titled Afternoon Live, on BBC News. McCoy made his debut on the BBC News at Ten on 27th August 2019.
Personal life
McCoy has a son, Max, from his first marriage. On 28 September 2007, he married Victoria Graham of BBC South West. They announced their separation in January 2019.
