Every cloud has a...

CLICHED or not, the good, old editorial stand-by “every cloud has a silver lining” couldn’t be more appropriate for Tyne Tees TV’s journalist-turned-weather-girl Philippa Tomson.

The cutbacks at the regional ITV station has seen some familiar faces departing, others changing roles and 31-year-old Tyne-Wear presenter Tomson offered the position vacated by well-known weatherman Bob Johson.

There is a slight pause when I ask her if it was weather or the more inclement forecast linked to unemployment which led to her decision to take on a new challenge.

“I’m not sure if my job was being axed. It’s been a horrible time for people because the management structure is changing, but I was never told I was at risk of losing my job. I did want to continue living in the North-East,” says Tomson, who is about to appear a lot more on the screens of Tees Valley and North Yorkshire viewers as a result of Tyne Tees relocating all broadcasts to its Gateshead base with Pam Royle and Ian Payne fronting the news presenting.

Tomson is the first to admit that her knowledge of weather is as patchy as the average cloudy day in spring and is currently spending two days a week at the Met Office in London becoming the next forecasting face of TV, presenting as many as 12 bulletins a day.

Facing a start date in March – which may depend on her progress – she says: “I have to learn how to use the weather forecasting equipment and I have to know how to use the graphics programs because I’ll be creating my own on-screen forecasts with text. I’d love it to still be the days where you stuck weather symbols on a map of the region but those days have gone.”

And, of course, the presenter took the sensible step of consulting departing expert Bob Johnson for some well-weathered words of advice. “He was fantastic. He told me that forecasting is a lot easier these days, but stressed that you have to be very organised and I have to admit that I’m not a very organised person.

So that’s going to be hard. Lots of people have asked if I’m going to be using the anagrams of place-names like Bob, but I will be a completely and utterly different kind of presenter and I aim to bring something new to the job,” says Tomson, who doesn’t mind viewers using her nickname of Pip – although she’s not quite so sure that extends to her brother’s nickname of Smelly Pips.

The Gateshead-based reporter is definitely different to garrulous Bob Johnson. Her model-like looks have meant she was approached to become a clothes-horse for Christian Dior designer Alvin Loy in the past. “I just met him socially and he asked me to model. To be honest, it’s a lot harder going on the catwalk than presenting because you feel everyone is judging you and nothing feels permanent because you’re in and out of clothes all the time. But I did master that bizarre walk,” she says.

Her nose for news, developed from starting out as an 18-year-old trainee newspaper reporter on the Express And Star in Wolverhampton, means that her weather role is being expanded to cover environment and climate change. “I will be giving forecasts from the scenes of big weather-related stories and I’ll still have the opportunity to investigate and present,” she says.

Tomson has already run into a climate-based story involving her own family. Her parents live in Bewdley in Worcestershire where the River Severn burst its banks and flooded part of the town in 2007. “I know the British love to talk about the weather, but I feel that the way our climate is changing is going to make the weather full of news,” she says.

HER TV news career started at Central ITV in Birmingham where she was, at one stage, working as a volunteer at weekends while still churning out the exclusives back in Wolverhampton.

She recalls presenting a latebreaking story on air and realising that the area being cordoned off by police was where she lived.

“I did worry how I was going to get home that night. I’ve also reported on the Royal Marines in Norway and ended up sharing a tent with ten guys, including the cameraman, in freezing conditions which was a bit snug. Another memorable day was when I was sent to swim with a herd of pigs when the news editor saw a story that pork tasted better if pigs went swimming. I ended up presenting a report surrounded by panicking pigs who were nearly kicking off my two-piece swimming costume,” says Tomson who has also done a parachute jump from a plane for charity since arriving in the North-East three years ago.

Having acquired a dog, called PG, and a partner since arriving in the North-East the glam presenter aims to forge a reputation as amenable as that of her predecessor.

“I’m learning a new vocabulary to describe the weather but Bob got away with using terms like skitey bits, so I’m sure that I can come up with the odd phrase or two that will stay with the viewers,” she says.