Sarah Cullen

Cullen left the BBC after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1998, and underwent chemotherapy. She suffered further health problems later in life. Her memoirs of her early days at ITN, In Praise of Panic were published in 1982.

After being made redundant from ITN in 1991 she moved to radio, freelancing for Radio 4's PM, and was the recipient of a Bronze Sony Radio Academy Award as News Reporter of the Year in 1994. She joined the morning Today programme in 1994. During her career she developed a talent for getting the so-called "real voices" of people onto radio and television through her news reports, going out into the street to interview members of the public. Often she would be sent out to gauge opinion on issues of government policy, where she would seek out those who were most likely to be affected by a particular decision.

Cullen married fellow journalist Kieran Devaney in 1986. The couple had a son, Tom, and the marriage was dissolved in 1998.

After being sent for a brief period at the Liverpool Daily Post, she worked as a scriptwriter and desk editor for the broadcaster, before auditioning as an on-screen reporter. She was one of ITN's first female reporters along with Carol Barnes, Joan Thirkettle and Sue Lloyd-Roberts, and was appointed their Home Affairs Correspondent in 1983. On one occasion, her reporting was teased in a review for The Observer by Clive James: "'Each school will have to raise the cost of their computer,' announced Sarah Cullen on News at Ten ... Each channel will have to clean up their grammar: this is getting ridiculous."

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Cullen's father was the manager of a quarry in County Durham while her mother taught mathematics at a teacher training college. Her grandfather was John Bradley, editor of the Scottish Catholic Herald. She was educated at the Sisters of Notre Dame convent school, a boarding school at Southport, before studying for A-levels at a sixth form college in Cambridge. She was a student at University College London from 1968 to 1972, graduating with a BA degree in English. She interrupted her studies from 1970 to 1971 to take a paid sabbatical year as editor of the University of London student newspaper then titled Sennet. Cullen joined ITN as a graduate trainee in 1972.

Sarah Cullen (6 October 1949 – 22 January 2012) was a British radio and television journalist who worked for ITN, as well as BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Remembered for her red hair and volatile temperament, Cullen forged a reputation for reporting from the street, and undertook many assignments in Northern Ireland, including covering events during the closing days of The Troubles.