I joined BBC North West in 1988 as an assistant film editor on Brass Tacks, ‘Rough Guide’ travel series and ‘Reportage’. In 1991, I moved to the News dept in Television Centre, London where I edited packages for national news and current affairs. I started camerawork in 1993 with assignments in Bosnia and Northern Ireland. In 1997 I joined the BBC’s Business Bureau in New York and travelled all over the USA with correspondents Richard Quest and Paddy O’Connell.

In 1999, I moved to the BBC News bureau in Moscow where I covered wars in Chechnya, Afghanistan post 9/11 and was embedded with British troops in Iraq during the 2003 invasion.