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Naga Munchetty

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Naga Munchetty
Munchetty in 2025
Born
Subha Nagalakshmi Munchetty-Chendriah

(1975-02-25) 25 February 1975 (age 51)
Streatham, London, England
EducationUniversity of Leeds (BA)
Occupations
  • Television presenter
  • journalist
Notable credits
Spouse
James Haggar
​
(m. 2004)​

Subha Nagalakshmi Munchetty-Chendriah (born 25 February 1975),[1][2] known professionally as Naga Munchetty, is a British television presenter, journalist and newsreader. She is a regular presenter of BBC Breakfast and has presented a range of BBC news and current affairs programmes, including BBC World News and BBC Two's weekday financial affairs programme Working Lunch. She also presents on BBC Radio 5 Live, where she co-hosts the television review podcast Must Watch with Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell.[3]

Early life and career

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Munchetty grew up in Leytonstone, Camberwell, Peckham and Streatham, south London.[4][5] Her mother, Muthu,[6] is from Tamil Nadu, India and her father is from Mauritius. They met when both were studying in Wales, her mother training to be a dentist and her father to be a nurse. They married in London in 1974, without the knowledge or approval of their parents.[7][8] She has one sister, born in 1976.[9] Her early education was at Graveney School, Tooting.[10] In 1997, she took a BA in English from the University of Leeds.[11] Her first job was as a journalist on the City pages of the Evening Standard.[12] She also worked on the business section of The Observer.[12]

Career

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Munchetty's television career began as a reporter for Reuters Financial Television, after which she worked as a senior producer for CNBC Europe, a business producer and reporter for Channel 4 News and a presenter on Bloomberg Television.[12]

Munchetty joined BBC Two's Working Lunch after the show was revamped in October 2008 and stayed with the programme until it was cancelled in July 2010.[13] Munchetty has hosted Radio 4's Money Box[14] and has reported from the City for BBC News, covering stories such as the 2010 Budget[15] and the pre-Budget report.[16]

From August 2010, Munchetty presented early morning bulletins, formerly known as The World Today, alongside Sally Bundock on the BBC News channel, BBC One and BBC World News. She joined Breakfast in April 2009 as a stand-in presenter and has been a regular presenter since 2014, presenting with Charlie Stayt on Thursdays to Saturdays.[17] From January 2021, Munchetty became the presenter on the 10am to 1pm Radio 5 Live programme on Mondays to Wednesdays replacing Emma Barnett, who moved to Radio 4's Woman's Hour. Munchetty co-hosted The Spending Review – The South Today Debate on BBC One with Sally Taylor in September 2010.[18]

Munchetty presented Paranormal Investigation: Live on Living over 30–31 October 2010 to celebrate Halloween.[19] Munchetty narrated the BBC documentary Fear and Faith in Paris looking at anti-Semitic attacks in Paris and their impact on the Jewish community in France. She won Celebrity Mastermind, which was broadcast in January 2013. In June 2016, she replaced Sian Williams as presenter of Sunday Morning Live on BBC One. In 2017, she was replaced by Emma Barnett and Sean Fletcher. On 26 August 2016, Munchetty presented an episode of Newsnight on BBC Two.

She was a contestant on the fourteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing, pairing with Pasha Kovalev,[20] and was voted out in week four (on 16 October 2016). She co-presented Britain's Classroom Heroes with Sean Fletcher in October 2017.

In 2017, Munchetty joined the cast of CBBC sketch show Class Dismissed playing a fictionalised version of herself as a media studies teacher who acts like a newsreader. On Boxing Day 2022, Munchetty appeared on the BBC quiz show The Weakest Link.[21][22] On 2 June 2023, and again on 8 December 2023, Munchetty hosted the BBC One panel show, Have I Got News for You.[23]

In July 2026, it was announced that Munchetty would leave her presenting role on BBC Breakfast at the end of the year to become the presenter of the BBC Radio 5 Live early morning show, 5 Live Breakfast, from January 2027.[24]

David Attenborough interview

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A July 2018 Breakfast interview Munchetty did with David Attenborough went viral for its perceived awkwardness after Munchetty asked Attenborough, who had been invited to talk about Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count, unrelated questions about the British Royal family and the RRS Sir David Attenborough. Attenborough, visibly unimpressed, shut down nearly all of her questions.[25][26]

Donald Trump comments

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In September 2019, Munchetty was ruled to have breached BBC guidelines by criticising US President Donald Trump for perceived racism. That July, while presenting Breakfast with Dan Walker, Munchetty took issue with Trump's comments telling his opponents to "go back" to the "places from which they came". Munchetty said: "Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism. Now, I'm not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean".[27]

The BBC was criticised for its decision to uphold complaints over Munchetty's comments. Several public figures, including Lenny Henry and Adrian Lester, signed an open letter, published in The Guardian, as "broadcasters and journalists of colour" asking the corporation to reconsider its ruling against her.[28]

On 30 September 2019, it was reported in The Guardian that the complaint was also made against her co-host Dan Walker but his comments were not the focus of the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit investigation.[29] Later that day, the Director-General of the BBC Tony Hall overturned the decision after looking into it personally.[30]

Personal life

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Naga married ITV broadcast consultant James Haggar in 2004.[31][32] The couple have lived in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire since 2010.[4][33][34] She previously dated Norwegian footballer Jonny Hansen.[35] She is a trustee of a Rickmansworth theatre, Watersmeet, and a governor at St Joan of Arc Catholic School, Rickmansworth.[36][37]

Munchetty in the pro-am round of the 2013 Women's British Open golf championships

Munchetty plays jazz trumpet and classical piano.[12] She plays golf and had a handicap of nine in 2015.[38] In April 2024, while talking to Paul Merton on the BBC Radio 4 programme Room 101, she revealed her handicap had gone down to six.[39] In October 2012, she won the Hertfordshire de Paula Cup at Bishop's Stortford Golf Club.[40] She has been a committee member of Moor Park Golf Club, where she has presented its charity golf day.[41][42][43]

Munchetty was diagnosed with adenomyosis in September 2022 and revealed her diagnosis during her BBC Radio 5 Live programme in May 2023.[44]

References

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  1. ↑ Moorhead, Joanna (17 June 2016). "Naga Munchetty: When I said I was studying English, my mum said, 'What are you going to do – become a poet?'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 March 2018. when I told them I was doing English literature at university
  2. ↑ "BBC Breakfast's Naga Munchetty shares inspirational post after celebrating 46th birthday". Hello!. 26 February 2021.
  3. ↑ "BBC Radio 5 Live - Must Watch". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2026.
  4. 1 2 Macfarlane, Jenna (19 March 2021). "Naga Munchetty: who is the BBC presenter – and why has she apologised for liking 'offensive' Union flag tweets?". Edinburgh Evening News.
  5. ↑ Wintle, Interview by Angela (22 May 2025). "Naga Munchetty: 'We have skull wallpaper in our bedroom'". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 6 April 2026.
  6. ↑ Duerden, Nick (11 April 2024). "Relative Values: the TV presenter Naga Munchetty, 42, and her mother, Muthu, 65". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "Naga Munchetty: When I said I was studying English, my mum said, 'What are you going to do – become a poet?'". The Guardian. London. 17 June 2016.
  8. ↑ Segalov, Michael (12 April 2020). "Sunday with Naga Munchetty: 'I'm bereft not to be playing golf'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  9. ↑ Duerden, Interviews by Nick. "Relative Values: the TV presenter Naga Munchetty, 42, and her mother, Muthu, 65". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  10. ↑ Webber, Richard (16 February 2018). "Mrs Berry and Mr Barbrook by Naga Munchetty". TES. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  11. ↑ "Prominent alumni". University of Leeds. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Naga Munchetty BBC News, 3 October 2008
  13. ↑ BBC's Working Lunch show to end BBC News, 23 April 2010
  14. ↑ Money Box BBC Radio 4, 24 July 2010
  15. ↑ The Full Story: Budget 2010 BBC News, 24 March 2010
  16. ↑ The Full Story: Pre-Budget report BBC News, 9 December 2009
  17. ↑ "Breakfast". BBC. Retrieved 22 July 2013. [dead link]
  18. ↑ The Spending Review – The South Today Debate BBC One, 9 September 2010
  19. ↑ The Host – Naga Munchetty Archived 20 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine Paranormal Investigation: Live, Living TV
  20. ↑ Naga Munchetty becomes latest Strictly Come Dancing contestant BBC News, 18 August 2016
  21. ↑ "BBC One – The Weakest Link, Series 2, Episode 3". BBC. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  22. ↑ "Naga Munchetty addresses major blunder on BBC The Weakest Link". MSN. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  23. ↑ Have I Got News for You – Series 66: Episode 9. BBC. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  24. ↑ "Naga Munchetty swaps BBC One's Breakfast for Radio 5 Live Breakfast". BBC News. 28 July 2026. Retrieved 28 July 2026.
  25. ↑ Sporn, Natasha (20 July 2018). "Sir David Attenborough wants to talk butterflies in awkward interview". Evening Standard. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  26. ↑ Noah, Sherna (20 July 2018). "Sir David Attenborough appears unimpressed in awkward BBC Breakfast interview". Irish Independent. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  27. ↑ "Naga Munchetty Trump comments 'breached BBC rules'". BBC News. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  28. ↑ Hirsch, Afua; Henry, Lenny; Lester, Adrian; Guru-Murthy, Krishnan; others (27 September 2019). "You can't be 'impartial' about racism – an open letter to the BBC on the Naga Munchetty ruling | Afua Hirsch, Lenny Henry, Adrian Lester, Krishnan Guru-Murthy and others". The Guardian. London. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  29. ↑ Waterson, Jim (30 September 2019). "BBC racism row: Naga Munchetty complaint was also about co-host Dan Walker". The Guardian. London.
  30. ↑ Kuenssberg, Laura (30 September 2019). "Tony Hall has overturned the decision about Naga Munchetty – he's looked personally at the decision and says her words did not merit a complaint being upheld against her". Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  31. ↑ "Naga Munchetty pictured in rare wedding snap – and she looks stunning". Hello!. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  32. ↑ "Naga Munchetty: When I said I was studying English, my mum said, 'What are you going to do – become a poet?' | Family | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  33. ↑ Duerden, Interviews by Nick. "Relative Values: the TV presenter Naga Munchetty, 42, and her mother, Muthu, 65". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  34. ↑ Wintle, Interview by Angela (22 May 2025). "Naga Munchetty: 'We have skull wallpaper in our bedroom'". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 28 March 2026.
  35. ↑ "How old is Naga Munchetty and who is her husband James Haggar?". Metro. 25 April 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  36. ↑ Duerden, Interviews by Nick. "Relative Values: the TV presenter Naga Munchetty, 42, and her mother, Muthu, 65". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  37. ↑ "Naga Munchetty: There's been noise about the BBC licence fee for decades". Belfast Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  38. ↑ Hodge, Ed (18 July 2015). "Naga Munchetty on how golf has changed her life". The Scotsman. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  39. ↑ "Room 101 with Paul Merton - Series 2 - Naga Munchetty - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  40. ↑ "Hertfordshire de Paula Cup hosted by Bishop's Stortford Golf Club. Friday 5 – Sunday 7 October 2012". Bishop's Stortford Golf Club. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  41. ↑ "Moor Park Golf Day in association with Claws Consultants". Action for A-T. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  42. ↑ "A Bunch of Wallies at Batchworth Park Golf Club". Women & Golf. 23 June 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  43. ↑ "Events & Training | Claws Consultants | Practical Property People". Claws Consultants. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  44. ↑ Roberts, Michelle (22 May 2023). "BBC's Naga Munchetty reveals womb condition adenomyosis". BBC News. Retrieved 22 May 2023. I'm in pain because I have something called adenomyosis. You probably haven't heard of it and I hadn't either until I was told 8 months ago that I have it.
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