Meet the team

Noel Thompson

Noel has presented and reported for network BBC programmes from Newsround to Newsnight, had a three year stint presenting Breakfast News, and has been a regular face on BBC World’s Hard Talk, where he has interviewed international figures from the world of arts and politics.

Noel has twice won the Royal Television Society Best Regional Presenter Award, and has won the IPR Journalist and Broadcaster of the Year Awards. In 2007 year he received an Award of Distinction from Belfast Metropolitan College for his contribution to journalism.

Away from the BBC, Noel goes cycling and hill-walking to stay fit, and sings opera and choral music with Castleward Opera and the Belfast Philharmonic Choir. He’s been teaching himself the piano, forty years after he last had a lesson, and he says it’s the hardest and most frustrating thing he’s ever undertaken. Barry Douglas can relax!