ITV reporter Lucy Meacock has announced she will leave Granada Reports after 36 years as the main presenter on the show.

Meacock, 64, who began her broadcasting career at Tyne Tees TV, presents the regional news programme, based in Salford, Greater Manchester, alongside Gamal Fahnbulleh, who became her co-host in January 2021.

She said: “This has been one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made.

“But the time is right to move on now. For me it has always been the best job in the world, with the best people in the world, in the best region in the world!

I am very grateful that I was given this job so many years ago

“I am very grateful that I was given this job so many years ago.

“I have always tried my hardest to make a positive contribution and I hope I will be remembered with some fondness in the years ahead.

“It has been a complete honour and privilege to serve the people of this region and I will always have the interests of the North West at heart.

“A big thank you to all the people who have appeared on the programme over the years, sometimes when they have been facing some very tough challenges.”

She added: “I’d also like to say a heartfelt thank you to the wonderful people who I have worked with in more than 40 years in TV and thank you to our viewers who have been kind enough to invite us into their homes.

“We have really appreciated that. I have often been overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of our viewers in difficult times, especially when we lost Tony Wilson and Tony Morris.

“What a joy it was to work with them both – I still hear both of them quoted often and I still have their numbers in my phone!

“I have certainly been lucky to work with the best of the best.”

Head of news for ITV Granada Reports, Lucy West, called Meacock “a broadcasting icon” and said “we will miss her hugely”.

“As a team we all have enormous respect for Lucy who we admire for her formidable questioning, great judgment and wise advice,” she said.

“We’ve been through some very challenging times both on and off screen. Personally, I will miss her honesty, integrity and determination to deliver the very best for our audiences and the team.

Lucy Meacock's generosity of spirit will be sorely missed in the newsroom and studio

“We wish her all the very best for the future and know Lucy will remain a good friend of Granada Reports.”

Her co-presenter Fahnbulleh described Meacock as a “trailblazer, a role model and mentor to hundreds of journalists during her 36 years at ITV Granada Reports”.

He added: “Her warmth and kindness is matched only by her desire for colleagues to be the best version of themselves.

“Her enthusiasm for the job is infectious and I have learned so much from her in the time that I have been at ITV Granada Reports.

“I will never forget her reassuring words when I joined the team almost four years ago.

“Lucy Meacock’s generosity of spirit will be sorely missed in the newsroom and studio.

“Wishing my friend the very best with her future endeavours.”

Meacock’s final Granada Reports will air on Thursday August 1 on ITV1 at 6pm.