Anne MacKenzie

On 29 March 2007, the BBC announced that Anne Mackenzie would front BBC One network coverage of Election Night 2007 and would continue to host The Big Debate series for BBC Scotland throughout the election campaign. Mackenzie also teamed up with David Dimbleby for the main BBC broadcast on 3 May 2007.

On 27 July 2007, the BBC announced that Mackenzie would no longer present Newsnight Scotland. The Scottish press speculated whether this development stemmed from 'ageism or saving money' as she worked as a freelancer. Glenn Campbell presented Thursday editions of the programme. The BBC stated in 2007 that they were in talks with Mackenzie about other projects.

On 5 May 2005, Mackenzie presented the UK election coverage for BBC Scotland from a 'Scottish perspective'. This was the first time BBC Scotland's Election Night programme was broadcast on BBC One Scotland.

In August 1999 it was announced that she had been chosen to present Newsnight Scotland with Gordon Brewer. On 6 October 1999, she was part of the launch team for Newsnight Scotland, BBC Scotland's late night news and current affairs programme, which was a response to the creation of the newly devolved Scottish government. She was a regular presenter on the programme, usually presenting the show every Thursday night.

Some commenters saw Mackenzie as a fierce interviewer. Gavin Docherty of the Sunday Mail wrote in 1999: "She is best known for her confrontational interview style - and the politicians know there is always the chance she'll jump down their throat and dance all over their tonsils".

Mackenzie hosted Westminster Live from 20 January 1998. She was also a regular stand in for David Frost on the Breakfast with Frost programme in 1998 (and again in 2000). She also presented the BBC's late night political programme Despatch Box

In October 1997, Mackenzie left Radio Scotland as part of schedule changes to Reporting Scotland. She would now host the programme with Jackie Bird on alternate nights, as part of a mini revamp of the broadcast. This was short lived, as she left the show two months later, in December 1997, to front London-based Westminster Live.

Mackenzie was involved in the station's political coverage during Westminster and Holyrood elections. She has reported for BBC Scotland in the 1997 and 2001 general elections and the 1999 and 2003 Scottish parliamentary elections. During the 2003 campaign, Anne Mackenzie interviewed all the Scottish party leaders and chaired The Big Debate for BBC Scotland.

Mackenzie's bosses offered her another night fronting the nightly broadcast. She was now at the helm every Tuesday and Wednesday night. Mackenzie continued her work with Radio Scotland and also fronted political shows, including Cross Examination. Anne Mackenzie was involved in BBC Scotland's coverage of the 1996 Dunblane Massacre.

Anne Mackenzie was recruited by the BBC in 1995. She presented her first edition of Scotland's national news programme, Reporting Scotland, on Wednesday 6 December 1995. She went on to host every Wednesday early evening broadcast. She also presented Good Morning Scotland on BBC Radio Scotland three mornings a week.

Anne Mackenzie was recognised in 1995 with a BAFTA award. This was for her work for the North Tonight nightly broadcast. In 1999, she hosted the first ever Scottish Politician Of The Year Awards on STV.

Mackenzie married Neil McConaghy in 1992 at an Aberdeen church. They have a son named Jack Donald Stewart, who was born in September 1998. She lists reading and music as her main hobbies.

Mackenzie hosted the political show Crossfire from the mid-eighties. She also presented several regional affairs shows, such as We The Jury and One Life To Live. She was involved in Grampian's coverage of the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster. Anne Mackenzie also fronted many North Tonight specials for the station. In 1989 she interviewed the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, from Grampian's Dundee studios.

In 1981, she became a trainee journalist at the age of twenty. She reported and co-hosted the regional TV station's news programme North Tonight for fourteen years.

Anne Erica Isobel Mackenzie (born 10 March 1960) is a former BBC political and current affairs presenter. Mackenzie worked as a newscaster between 1981 and 1997. She started her career with Grampian TV, in Aberdeen, before joining BBC Scotland in 1995. She became a political and current affairs presenter in 1998, anchoring several BBC network programmes. Mackenzie was also part of the Newsnight Scotland team, with BBC Scotland, from its launch in October 1999 to July 2007. She could also be heard fronting factual programmes for BBC Radio 4 in London. She is not known to have worked in these roles after 2007.

Mackenzie was born in Stornoway and grew up on the peninsula of Point, Outer Hebrides. Her mother Katie Ann (née Maclean; 1924-1979), was a midwife, and her father Donald (1924-1996) was a postmaster at his parents' post office in Portnaguran. Donald MacKenzie also fought in the Second World War. She has one brother, Lewis, who has a PhD in physics and is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow.

Mackenzie's paternal grandparents were Donald (1880-1967) and Annie Mackenzie (née Macdonald; 1900-1987). They were married in June 1921 in Aberdeen They ran the Portnaguran Post Office beside their house in Aird Point for most of their lives, where it is assumed they met. Donald MacKenzie was a direct male-line descendant of The Hon. Alexander Mackenzie (1680-1757), the second son of Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth and his wife Lady Frances Herbert, the eldest child of William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis and his wife Elizabeth, the second daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester.