Kaplinksy became the regular female host of the Six O'Clock News

The 35-year-old, who was born in Brighton and spent some of her childhood in Kenya, went to an all-girls' school and studied English at Oxford University before embarking on a career in the spotlight.

In 1997, Kaplinsky began presenting early morning bulletins at ITV station Meridian in the south of England.

Within six months she had landed a role on the channel's main evening news programme, and was soon heading for the capital and a stint as an anchor on London Today and its evening counterpart.

Stellar rise

Kaplinsky rapidly graduated from the world of regional to national news, moving in 2000 to Sky News where she was a regular host of the breakfast and evening programmes.

In 2002, the broadcaster began her five-year career at the BBC on the Breakfast programme, which was merely the start of her stellar rise at the corporation.

Kaplinsky has cultivated a lighter side to her repertoire

In 2005, she secured the permanent role of female co-presenter on the Six O'Clock News after initially filling in for Sophie Rayworth's maternity leave.

A year later she fronted the Ten O'Clock News - only the third woman to do so in the bulletin's history.

While Kaplinsky's tenor as a news presenter is cool and calm, the broadcaster has allowed more personal aspects of her personality to show through in other TV projects for the BBC.

She famously won the first series of Strictly Come Dancing in a flurry of sequins and feathers, creating tabloid gossip with her dance partner Brendan Cole.

Kaplinsky went on to co-host the show temporarily with Bruce Forsyth.

Painful

Other forays away from the news studio have included co-hosting the UK's selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, live New Year festivities from the Thames and the annual BBC charity event Children In Need.

Kaplinsky began her BBC career on the Breakfast sofa

Her light entertainment prowess also extended to hosting the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of VE Day in London's Trafalgar Square.

She also appeared on the satirical quiz show Have I Got News For You? as her BBC role continued to expand beyond the news bulletins.

In August 2005 she married investment banker Justin Bower, who The Mail On Sunday reported she met on a blind date.

She recently allowed cameras to follow her on a painful look at her family history in Who Do You Think You Are? in which it was revealed that some of her Jewish relatives had perished in The Holocaust.