Mark Carruthers

Mark Carruthers OBE (born 1965) is a Northern Irish journalist. He currently presents a number of television and radio programmes for BBC Northern Ireland.

Mark Carruthers
Alma materQueen's University Belfast
Occupation(s)Broadcaster and Journalist

Broadcasting work

Carruthers first joined BBC Northern Ireland in 1989 contributing to Good Morning Ulster and PM Ulster on BBC Radio Ulster.[1]

In addition to having presented BBC Newsline, he has also presented Spotlight and Let's Talk for television and Evening Extra on BBC Radio Ulster.[2]

In August 2009, Carruthers became part of the presenting team of Good Morning Ulster as part of a series of presenter changes at BBC Radio Ulster.[3]

He is now the presenter of The View[4] and Sunday Politics on BBC One Northern Ireland.[5] He also presents the weekly politics podcast Red Lines on BBC Sounds.

He has been nominated for four Royal Television Society awards for his work – in 2022, 2020, 2018 and 2003. In 2005 he and his BBC Newsline co-presenter, Donna Traynor, lifted a prestigious IFTA (Irish Film and Television Award) for Best News Programme.

Personal life

Carruthers was born in Londonderry, grew up in Limavady, County Londonderry, studied at Coleraine Academical Institution[6] and went on to study for degrees in Political Science and Irish Politics at Queen's University Belfast.[2]

Carruthers has an interest in the theatre. He was one of the founders of Tinderbox Theatre Company in 1988 [6] and took part in drama groups at college and university, including a stage appearance in a Riverside Theatre, Coleraine, production of Oliver! alongside James Nesbitt.[6] He was Chairman of the Lyric Theatre Board until 2015 and was at the forefront of the campaign to rebuild the theatre on its south Belfast site for almost ten years.[2][7]

He was appointed an OBE for services to drama in Northern Ireland in the 2011 New Year Honours list.

He is co-editor of Stepping Stones - The Arts in Ulster 1971-2001 which was published by Blackstaff Press in 2001.[8] In 2013 Alternative Ulsters – Conversations on Identity was published by Liberties Press, a series of interviews by Carruthers with leading writers, actors, journalists and politicians. The book was a success and was re-issued in paperback in December 2014. The following year Alternative Ulsters was shortlisted for the prestigious Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize.

In July 2019 Carruthers was awarded an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Literature) from Queen's University Belfast for distinction in broadcasting.

He is married with three children and lives in south Belfast.[2]

References
  1. Belfast Telegraph: "Mark: 'I'm a real morning person'"; dated 31 August 2009, accessed 7 April 2010
  2. BBCi: BBC Newsline - Meet The Team: Mark Carruthers' profile
  3. BBC Press Office: "Radio Ulster makes presenter changes to news and current affairs programmes" dated 11 August 2009; accessed 6 April 2010
  4. "The View - BBC One". BBC. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  5. "Sunday Politics Northern Ireland - Mark Carruthers - BBC One". BBC. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  6. The Belfast Telegraph: "My passion": dated 29 December 1998; accessed 9 February 2009
  7. Lyric Theatre - Education Programme Archived 2009-02-17 at the Wayback Machine: accessed 9 February 2009
  8. "Mark Carruthers: Confessions of a political anorak". 17 September 2016.
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