All job interviews are nerve-wracking, but imagine trying to bag your dream role with millions of people watching you.
That’s what presenter Sally Nugent had to do after Louise Minchin quit BBC Breakfast last year after two decades.
When Louise, 53, made the announcement to viewers last June, pal Sally had known about her decision for weeks – and was encouraged to apply to be her replacement in the main role.
Although she was the obvious front-runner, having spent 10 years on the show and acted as a stand-in previously, dozens of other presenters applied.
It meant that filling in for her again became a trial in front of the cameras, pilling extra pressure on her broadcasts.
Sally recalls: “Every day I just came in and did my best. Actually it’s quite liberating because it’s out of your hands.
“There was a panel interview and a BBC board – a bit like doing an A-level exam. The scrutiny was really intense. Louise gave me a little pep talk before.
“You can do your best, give the best interview that you can possibly do, the best presentation, think about how to make the programme as good as it can possibly be. But they test you because the programme is so big now.”
Sally was given the role in October, and calls it as “one of the best jobs in telly”, explaining adding: “Louise told me she was leaving before it was announced.
“We talked about what she was going to do and all the exciting adventures she had planned, and what it was going to be like getting a normal night’s sleep.
“We both got very giddy. At the end of the conversation she said, ‘Well, you’re going to obviously have to go for the job.’ I was like, ‘what?’ And then I went, ‘Well, I am, aren’t I, because it’s brilliant.’
“I’ve been filling in for so many years and love it.”
Sally now sits alongside co-host Dan Walker. They have been friends for almost two decades, having both begun in regional TV.
Next month they will be able to sit a little closer as Covid restrictions ease, so they can ditch their laptops and use screens hidden in their coffee table for updates.
The move will help them appear a little friendlier – but it has a downside for Dan. He said: “Sally’s coffee is much stronger than Louise’s was. I cannot bear the smell of coffee. I’ve never drunk a cup in my life.”
But he adds: “The best thing about working with Sally, and this was the same as Louise, is it’s never a fight. If you watch some TV combinations, they’re fighting for space or the limelight.”
Sally, who says Dan’s annoying habit is playing Wordle in a 30-second mid-show break, was an obvious choice as host because she was already well-liked by viewers for her sports reports and in-depth interviews with big names.
After university, Sally worked as a reporter at BBC Radio Merseyside before moving to BBC North West Tonight as a sports presenter and did the first ever TV interview with Wayne Rooney when he was just 16.
She joined BBC television in 2003 and filled in as co-presenter on the Breakfast red sofa from 2011.
Last year she won Royal Television Society awards for interviewing footballer Marcus Rashford on ending child poverty and getting behind rugby league hero Rob Burrow’s campaign to fight motor neurone disease.
Rob’s pal and former teammate Kevin Sinfield praised Sally for her help, and she was at the finish line of Kevin’s 101-mile Leicester to Leeds run to raise money for the MND Association.
Kevin said: “BBC Breakfast has done a wonderful job, with Dan and Sally persuading people to get behind it.”
Of Marcus, she says: “He’s a great kid. He recognised in BBC Breakfast a place where he could just be honest and talk to people who maybe had similar upbringings and make a difference.”
Sally puts her success down to enjoying chatting and being brought up in the Wirral to “not treat people differently” whether they are famous or not. But even at 50, she thinks she has room for improvement.
“I learn something new every single day,” she says. “I learn loads from Dan. Dan is very generous. The only way you can do this job and improve is to make mistakes, move on, get better every day. You can do all the preparation the night before, but once that red light goes on, it’s just us two. You can’t do this job unless you trust the person you’re sitting next to 100%.”
Sally’s alarm goes off at 3.30am and she leaves her Cheshire home at 4.10am, while her husband, 14-year-old son and cavapoo dog are asleep. After a bowl of porridge at 5.50am she is on air until 9.13am.
Following a morning meeting she uses a piece of advice from a Breakfast TV veteran.
“Bill Turnbull had the best routine,” she says. “He said to have a morning sleep. So I always try. I go back to bed at around 11am then set my alarm and get up by 12. And get out in the daylight, it’s important.”
Grinning, Dan adds: “She gets into her pyjamas! Sleep is important obviously, but sleep in the day? It’s a complete waste of your time.”
Another thing the pair disagree on is Strictly Come Dancing, as Dan, 44, still brings up his time on the show and thinks Sally would be great at it.
For now she is unsure, but she will don the sequins soon for a charity version of the show, The Burrow Strictly Ball, where Dan will be a judge.
“I have a dance teacher and I will do a salsa with him – it’s so far out of my comfort zone,” Sally admits. “There are very few people who can persuade me to dance, but Rob Burrow can.”
Perhaps if it goes well we could see Sally lifting the Glitterball trophy at the end of the year.
*BBC Breakfast is on seven days a week from 6am on BBC1. Sally and Dan host the show Monday-Wednesdays.
