Dermot Murnaghan

Boards, awards nights and senior conferences live or die on the room. A weak chair flattens the agenda, mishandles the difficult panellist, and lets the energy slide before the keynote even begins. The room needs an experienced hand who can read it, hold it, and move it on without losing the thread.

Dermot Murnaghan is a veteran British broadcaster who chairs conferences, hosts awards, and moderates panels for organisations that need an authoritative presence on stage.

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Why organisations work with Dermot Murnaghan

  • Four decades of live news anchoring, from ITV News at Ten to BBC Breakfast to Sky News, give him the composure to handle a difficult room, a running schedule, or a senior panel that needs steering.
  • Royal Television Society Interviewer of the Year for the Peter Mandelson interview that unseated a cabinet minister, a credential that buys him latitude with senior speakers and difficult subjects.
  • He has anchored some of the defining live moments of the last thirty years, including Princess Diana’s death in 1997 and Queen Elizabeth II’s death in 2022, which is the kind of pedigree that calms a nervous client on the day.
  • Corporate hosting CV across the Police Federation, Eurostar, the Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Which? and Royal Mail, with consistent client feedback on professionalism and ease of working.
  • Active interviewer on his podcast Legends of News, with recent guests including Sir Trevor McDonald, Nick Robinson and Jonathan Dimbleby, so the craft is current, not retired.

Biography highlights

  • Main presenter, BBC Breakfast, 2002 to 2007.
  • Main anchor, Sky News, 2007 to 2023, including the Sunday Murnaghan show and Sky News Tonight.
  • Host, BBC Two’s Eggheads, 2003 to 2014.
  • Royal Television Society Interviewer of the Year, 1999.
  • TRIC Newscaster of the Year, 2000.
  • Host of Legends of News, an Acast podcast on the history of British broadcast journalism.
  • Ambassador, Prostate Cancer Research, since June 2025.

Biography

Live news is unforgiving. The autocue breaks, the politician dodges, the breaking story lands in the middle of a different segment, and the anchor still has to be coherent, calm and on time. Dermot Murnaghan spent four decades doing exactly that across Channel 4, ITV, BBC and Sky News.

The credentials sit behind the craft. The Royal Television Society named him Interviewer of the Year in 1999 for the Peter Mandelson interview that exposed the Geoffrey Robinson loan affair and pushed Mandelson out of the cabinet. TRIC named him Newscaster of the Year in 2000. On ITV he was the anchor who broke the news of Princess Diana’s death in 1997. On Sky News he announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

For corporate audiences, that lineage translates into conference chairing, awards hosting and panel moderation. He has worked the room for the Police Federation, Eurostar, the Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Which? and Royal Mail. Clients consistently note that he is easy to work with on the day, briefed properly, and able to handle senior contributors without flattening them.

The craft is still active. His Acast podcast Legends of News features long-form interviews with Sir Trevor McDonald, Nick Robinson, Martha Kearney, Jonathan Dimbleby and Tim Marshall, among others. Since June 2025 he has also been an ambassador for Prostate Cancer Research, following his own stage four diagnosis, and speaks publicly about screening and early detection.

Key speaking topics

  • Conference chairing and facilitation
  • Awards hosting
  • Panel moderation
  • In-conversation interviews with senior figures
  • After-dinner speaking on a career in broadcast news
  • Men’s health and prostate cancer awareness
  • The craft and ethics of broadcast journalism

Ideal for

  • Corporate and association annual conferences that need an external chair to hold the agenda together
  • Industry awards nights requiring a recognisable, senior host
  • Leadership offsites and client events that include a fireside chat or in-conversation format
  • Internal communications, charity and CSR events on men’s health, screening and patient advocacy

Audience outcomes

  • A conference that runs on time, with senior contributors handled with judgement and warmth.
  • A panel that interrogates the topic rather than drifting, with the chair reading the room and steering it.
  • A fireside chat that lands the headline points the client cares about, in language the audience can quote.
  • For health-themed events, a candid first-person account of a stage four prostate cancer diagnosis and a clear case for earlier screening.

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Testimonials

What can I say other than, ‘Thank you! We couldn’t have done it without you!’. Of course, I am referring to the assistance you gave us in hosting our event on Friday evening. It was a real pleasure working with you and your calm professionalism was greatly appreciated.
British Parking Association Civil Enforcement Awards
This was the first time we used Dermot and he was a real winner with the audience… he was very easy to work with, very professional and did a great job for us.
Community Care Publication Conference: The Excellence Network
We’ve had some amazing feedback already, Dermot was a dream to work with…Please pass on my thanks to Dermot, it was an absolute pleasure.
People’s Postcode Lottery Annual Charity Gala 2017
Thank you very much for facilitating yet another excellent TalkBack session. The conference delegation and Central committee appreciate your knowledge on policing issues and your skills in managing the questions during the session. It was a pleasure to work with you again.
Police Federation Constables' Conference: Talkback
The event went really well and Dermot was fantastic.
The Which? Big Banking Debate
Dermot was a pleasure to work with, did an excellent job facilitating the day, managing the A&A sessions during the afternoon, and was a real hit with our delegates. We are very appreciative and grateful that he was happy to step in and help us.
The DTG Summit 2016