# Declan Harvey

Declan Harvey (born 13 September 1983) is a journalist and presenter with BBC News. He anchors the BBC's flagship nightly television news programme in Northern Ireland, BBC Newsline, and the daily radio drive time news programme, Evening Extra, on BBC Radio Ulster.

## Classical training

Harvey is a classically trained actor, and holds a first-class honours degree in acting from Rose Bruford College. He worked for several years as a professional actor on stage and television, and voice-over artist. He had many roles on stage and on television. He was arrested on The Bill.
Harvey holds an MA in Theatre Practices, specialising in voice. He has worked as a professional voice and communications coach.

## Career

Harvey qualified from the London College of Communication as a broadcast journalist in 2010. During his training, he volunteered at OnFM 101.4, a community radio station based in Hammersmith, where he presented a weekend magazine programme, LiveWires, with Storm Huntley.

### Global Radio

Harvey joined the Global radio group in 2010, as a reporter working across LBC, Classic FM, Capital FM and Heart. He was also a relief presenter on the rolling news station LBC News.
He became the full-time reporter for the award-winning Nick Ferrari at Breakfast programme. During his time at Global, Harvey was the lead correspondent covering the July 7th London Bombings Inquests, the preparations for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which were held in London, and the Stephen Lawrence murder trial in 2011 – 2012.
He was a contributor to Dale&Co, the political column website by Iain Dale.

### BBC Radio 1

In 2012, Harvey joined Newsbeat on BBC Radio 1, later becoming a political reporter, covering two UK general elections, and the 2016 US presidential election, as well as that year's Brexit referendum.

### BBC World Service

In 2017, he became a frequent relief presenter on Newsday for the BBC World Service. Harvey fronted BBC Minute for a short time.

### BBC Northern Ireland

He relocated to Northern Ireland in 2017, becoming a news reporter for BBC News NI across radio and television. In 2020, it was announced that he would become a full-time presenter of Evening Extra, alongside Tara Mills. The two would later be joined by Richard Morgan on a full-time basis.
Throughout 2021, Harvey co-created and co-hosted the BBC podcast Year '21, a 'week-by-week' telling of how Northern Ireland was created, exactly 100 years previous. The podcast received critical acclaim and a number of international awards and nominations. In 2023, the team produced a follow-up series, Year '98 The Making of the Good Friday Agreement.
In December 2021, the BBC announced that Harvey would become a main anchor of its flagship television news programme, BBC Newsline. He rotates his presenting duties between TV and radio.

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Category | Awards | Programme/Station | |
| 2011 | Young Journalist of the Year | IRN Sky News Awards | LBC | Won |
| 2014 | National Radio Journalist of the Year | Sony Radio Awards | BBC Newsbeat | Finalist |
| 2019 | News Reporter of the Year | IMRO Irish Radio Awards | BBC News NI | Gold |
| 2019 | Best Documentary | New York Festivals Radio Awards | Did a Serial Killer Murder My Sister? | Bronze |
| 2021 | Best Podcast | New York Festivals Radio Awards | Year '21 | Finalist |
| 2021 | Best News Programme | IMRO Irish Radio Awards | Evening Extra | Silver |
| 2022 | Best History Podcast | New York Festivals Radio Awards | Year '21 | Silver |
| 2022 | News Broadcaster of the Year | IMRO Irish Radio Awards | BBC News NI | Gold |
| 2023 | News Broadcaster of the Year | IMRO Irish Radio Awards | BBC News NI | Gold |

## Background and personal life

He was born in, and grew up in, Letterkenny.
As a youth, Harvey attended Scoil Colmcille and St Eunan's College for his education. As a child, he was a member of Rainbow Theatre Group. Harvey began working at Highland Radio as a summer job when he was 15, answering phones. He moved to England to attend drama school aged 19.
Declan lives with his partner, Ciarán, in Belfast.