That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Carol Kirkwood

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

Weather presenter and author, Carol Kirkwood, joins Gaby for a joyful natter. Carol is a pure joy spreader, whether she's giving us the weather on the telly, or in her day to day life. She recently got married, so Gaby talks about this new chapter in her life, as well as her incredibly successful career as an author. Her latest book - 'Meet Me At Sunset' - was published in July. (which is when we recorded this episode) They also try to answer that age old question: Why are Brits so obsessed with the weather?Remember you can watch all our episodes via our YouTube channel - where you'll also find our extra Friday nuggets of joy (our bonus Q&A episodes) ENJOY Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carol Kirkwood, everybody I know says you are walking sunshine and you absolutely are. And you're always smiling, even though you've gone through stuff. And I've seen you in the street. And what you do for people is you lift everybody. So thank you for that. Gabby, what a lovely thing to say. I absolutely mean it. You're incredible.

You're incredible. And I witnessed it from afar. coming out of the tube station, and we bumped into each other in Oxford Street. But the people in front of me, you were talking to everybody, and they were all, there's Carol Kirkwood. Because you're in everybody's houses, you're there in their rooms, you're there in their bedroom. This sounds, makes you sound a bit strange. You're there in their kitchens.

You're there in their city rooms. You're there in, you know, at times when the news can be really, really very tough, especially at the moment. And you're there and you tell them about the weather and, you're there and you tell them about the weather and you make everything feel a little bit better. Oh, bless you. I wish you were my agent. There's a job going, Gabby. It's yours.

But you've, I mean, I know you started in TV a while ago. Yes. And you started as a presenter and all the things that you've done and radio. And it led you to where you are now. Because you started the BBC when you were very, very young. But did you was this? It wasn't part of your game. plan, being an author and being the face of BBC weather?

None of that was your game plan at all, was it? Not at all. And when I was at school, I wanted to be a Blue Peter presenter because it looked so much fun. We've had this conversation we both did, yeah. You'd have been great. But it wasn't to be, but ironically, I did spend 12 years in the Blue Peter Garden. And then, as you say, I got into television presenting. And things happen just by accident, you know, it's the usual.

feel that? Yes. I was in the right place at the right time and a publishing agent had just got in touch and asked, would I like to write a book, either fiction about myself? Sorry, I find this amazing and I'm sorry for interrupting, but you didn't say I want to write a book. They said, do you want to write a book? That's right. It came from nowhere. It came from nowhere. But again, ironically, when I was at school, I loved writing. I loved writing essays. And I was so. encouraged by one of my teachers and he would say instead of writing four pages, why don't you try ten, maybe try fifteen now, see if you can eke it out. And that was a challenge. And I would tell my nieces and nephews fairy stories, you know, before they went to bed, bedtime stories

at night, making them up using their friends as my characters. So they really, you could see their eyes growing bigger as they imagined their friends as fairies or whatever. And so when Kerr got in touch with me, the publishing agent, and asked when I like to do this, I thought, I'm going to give it a bash, because if it's hopeless, then nobody will ever publish it, and nobody will ever know I tried and failed. Anyway, he said, go away and write 5,000 words, and let's meet again in two days. So I did. In two days. Yes. But I love writing, Gabby. I love it. So, okay, we're going to take this bit by bit, because I find this incredible. So he said, go away, write 5,000 words, but you had, did you know what you were going to write?

I mean, I presume you went to the meeting with a whole idea, a whole story. No, I went to the meeting. Nothing. Nothing. I went to the meeting just to see what he was going to say, to see if I could maybe do something. So he asked me what I would write about. And I said, well, the kind of book I like reading is glamorous, Hollywood actors and actresses, you know, all that kind of thing. Lovely resorts, places that I've visited.

And that's why every book I've ever written has been somewhere I've visited, because visual imagery is so important to me. I want to take you, my reader, with me. I want you to know what the Mediterranean looks like with the gentle lapping waves, the sun just glinting on the crest of the wave, making it sparkle like a diamond,

that kind of thing. So if I've seen it, I can write about it. So I still want to take you back to the 5,000 words. So you had the meeting. Yes. You then went home and wrote 5,000 words from the top of your head. Yes. For a novel, was it...

What did you write? Did you write the beginning, middle and end? Did you write the... Yes. I wrote the whole lot. And it took me a while to get the ending right. And even when I'd written the ending, I thought, this ending's a bit weak.

It's a bit... And they lived happily ever after. kind of ending. So when I saw Kerr two days later, I did say that to him and he said, yes, you're right. But don't worry about that just now. We can see where you're going with this and let's put it around some publishers. So I went and had meetings with him with various publishers and was lucky enough to be offered a contract by Harper Collins. And I really like the lady I work with there, Kate Bradley, because she gets what I'm trying to achieve. And I, and I, thought, yeah, I've written a book.

Hooray, I'll just sit back now. It's not like that at all. You've got the bug. Yes, you get the bug. And then you almost start again because you've got your beginning and your editor may well say, now this is quite good, but you've got

too many characters. This is going to be too confusing as we go through the book. So you need to lose three of your characters. And I then think, but they're salient to the story. But anyway, Kate New Best. So I lost some of these characters And she steered me because I've never written a book

You know, books thick before. This is the beginning because you've done books. Now. Yes, not now. The very first one, yeah. And as you go through it, your characters build and evolve. You give them a life, you give them a voice, you give them a style, a career or not.

You give them good and bad times in their lives, just like we have. And then you get to the end of the book and you think, this ending is rubbish. I had about six endings for my first book because it wasn't strong enough

you build up and up and up and you don't want the boot to go splat at the end. You want it to go boom. As somebody who loves reading, I love reading and I love television and I love films, if there's ever an ending

that does that, it's the most frustrating thing. And also, you're not then going to go for the next one. That's right. And yours don't end like that, though. They never do. They're not falling off a clue.

live at all. No, thank you. Again, working with Kate, she helps me a lot. And the team at Harper Collins, they're all brilliant because I still think I'm a novice at this. No, hello. It's weird. You've got 20,000 books out there and you're going to come up with another, and I don't mean sales. I mean, you know, you've got, there's so many books that you've already written and there are so many more to come. I can tell it in you. Because when you talk about writing, you, I mean, You do light up anyway. You are, like I said, you are sunshine. But when you talk about writing,

as if you found the place that you now, your happy place. Gabby, I love it. I absolutely love it. And it's so liberating because you start with a blank page, literally, and you create people, characters that don't exist at the moment. And you take them wherever you want. And I like a book where I think, well, I didn't see it. that coming. And that's what I want to do with my books as well. Twists and turns and you might think,

oh, she's going to end up with this person or he's going to end up with that person. And no, it's not necessarily going to be like that. And you give them careers or not. There was one in my second book where one of the characters was very down on her luck. And she was working in a CD club. Now, her life could have gone one of two ways. And the obvious way was to go down because of what was happening to her. But I took her up at the end because I wanted a happy ever after, but not a predictable one. So the reader's taken down the line of this isn't going to work out well for this character, but it does. And you care about your characters, don't you?

I absolutely do. I can hear their voices. I can picture them. And do you know, the other thing that I love about reading any book is you, the reader, will create an image of the person in the book. I totally agree. That could be completely different to how I envisaged the person. But it's important for us because also it fires our imaginations

and something happens. When we're kids, we have imaginations and then suddenly it goes, okay, I'm just going to carry on and do what I do. And we need, that's why I love books because you get those pictures and things float around and you go into that world

and it takes you away from your everyday. So your new book, so your new book, are you, now I have spoken to you about your other books. So does this book make you, are you, look at the smile. For this one, do you want to give us a, go on, give us a synopsis. Okay, it's called, no spoilers. No spoilers.

Yeah. It's called Meet Me at Sunset. I love the title. Sounds like a song. It does a bit, doesn't it? And the cover as well, I mean, the art department are amazing. The cover just evokes lots of suggestions. about what's in the book.

So it's about characters who have lots of secrets in their lives. The main character, Camille Fontaine, is hiding behind her secrets. She's a fashion designer. So it's in the glamorous world of fashion this time. So it's a bit of a departure from the Hollywood side of things for this one only. And it's full of lies, blackmail, betrayal, and also. romance and the characters are intertwined in so many ways. It's difficult to tell you too much at this stage without giving away the plots.

No, no, no, no, we don't want spoilers. Okay, well. No, you can't do any spoilers. You're not allowed. Well, betrayal blackmail, not necessarily from an angle you think it's going to be coming from. Oh, okay. Secrets, of course, there are all secrets and lies, lies being told to help the blackmailer along the way.

And yeah, there's a chap in there that you think's going to be quite nice, and he turns out not to be so nice. And in actual fact, his name is Stuart, and that is my postman's name. And every time I see my postman, he says, have you got a character named Stuart yet? No, Stuart, I don't. So now... Have you told him? Yes.

What did he say? He's really excited, but he might not be as excited. When he reads them... Right. Have you told him about the character? Yes. I've told him he's a shady dude in the book. I think we were just about to have Carol Kirk would swear then for a minute.

That would not be. So for you in your, obviously you've got another book lined up because you said for this one. Yes. So you're obviously going back to Hollywood glamour for the next one. Yes. You do. You have it lined up. For you, your real life as well has been full of happiness and joy recently.

Because you only just got married. Was it two years ago? Just two years in December. Oh, Gabby. Best thing ever. Steve, my husband, is just gorgeous inside and ice. He really is. He's so kind, he's so thoughtful, he's funny, he's patient.

He doesn't get upset by trivia. You know, he's just... But you don't either, do you? No, sometimes I'm so tired all the time because I get up really early in the morning. And sometimes I can get bogged down with stuff. Like if my studio, for example, isn't working and I spend a lot of time by myself in the mornings.

I know, that must be so... I was going to say that. you do get up early and then you go in and you're on your own. Yes. Doing it all. Yes. Most days, most days I'm on my own. Sometimes there's somebody else in with me.

But there's nobody to talk to. There's nobody to refer to. Even simple things like exercising your voice. You know, I would sound really silly if I went into the studio and started to do my skills. Do it. It doesn't matter. I'd love that they cut you up. So I'd love that.

Charlie and Nagar and then you've been. there you are going, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Do you do that then? No, because I might tap. So how do you warm up your voice then in the morning? I don't. So I go in cold. No, I go in cold. So Nagar will say, good morning, Carol. And you might just go, hello. There be no voice there. No, morning, Naga.

You don't, so you don't speak to anybody, but until you speak to Naga and Charlie and Ben and Sally, whoever it is. No, no, that's the first. I take part in a conference at 10 past five where I'm listening. and I can ask any questions at that point. But that conference is on the phone. So, you know, the first people I speak to are either the technical manager in the gallery in Salford or the presenters. Okay, so, and I've asked you this before,

can you explain something to me? Why are we all so obsessed with the weather? We all have weather apps now on our phones. We all, we need you, Carol, to tell us, you know, because the weather apps don't really, they give you a 50% chance of something, and then that could be at 5 o'clock in the afternoon for three minutes. But why are we all so obsessed with the weather?

I think we want things instantly now, which is why we look at things. No, but we've always been obsessed. Always, should I take a coat? Shall I take my umbrella? What should I do? I mean, all generations, my kids, to my dad who's 90, you know, sort of, what's the weather doing?

We're all obsessed, no matter what? Our background, anything. Why are we so obsessed as in the UK with weather? I think it's because we're an island and so the weather can change so rapidly. We can have four seasons in one day. So we want to be prepared. But the other thing is, it's a real conversational starting point, isn't it?

If you're standing at a bus stop, somebody will say, nice day, and you think, yes, it is. And it's nice, it's friendly, it's warm. And the conversation, not necessarily the weather. Yes. And also, you know, walking here today, it was sunny when I left. It's going to cloud over. There might be a shower this afternoon. She's doing her weather. You can't help it. It's there, it's there, in you. Does it happen everywhere you go that somebody will say, oh, what's going to happen with the weather today? Yes. And the other thing I get asked a lot is, I'm getting married next September. What's it going to be like? And you think, well, I haven't been like next September. But there's a stock weather answer you give for that. one, which is, right, think about what I'm going to say, warm and close with a little sun later.

Oh, you see. That's your get out of Jill time. That is, that's very sweet. There is, there is, you have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders, I suppose, because, for weather wise, but also you, because you know what you bring to people, you know what you give, you have that gift of giving that to people and making them feel better about their day, even if you're going to say it's going to be tornadoes, torrential rain, whatever, very, very hot, you know, because we've got to remember extremes are bad everywhere. And the weather is changing and climate change is a terrifying thing

and we've got to look after a planet more. But you have a sort of responsibility to make people feel better and I know you've sort of said that before. You know what you give to people. Does that ever, is there ever a time that you want to walk through the street and just say, Oh! Do you ever get like that? No.

No, I don't. Because people are so kind. And, you know, like yourself Gabby, that day you were talking about when we bumped into each other, people are kind and people are pleased to see you. And oh my goodness, how flattering and how lovely is that. Because equally, you could be ignored or somebody could be very rude to you. And on Twitter or X, as it's now called, and email sometimes, some people are rude to you. Just don't read them.

No, and you have to think then when that happens, well, perhaps things aren't so good in their lives. It's about them. It's not about you. Yes. So the weather thing sort of came accidentally, didn't it? It did. So you were presenting, you were doing radio, you were doing television. But the weather thing, the BBC sent you on the weather course. Is that right?

Yes and no. So I started doing the weather for the weather channel, first of all, the American company. And that came about by accident. I was doing regular presenting for a cable corporation, local cable franchise. And they lost the franchise. And the day they lost it, everybody was told you're out of a job. And there was a guy working there who said, I want to be an agent. Can I represent you? Now, as you know, well, you probably have never experienced this. But when you have not a lot of experience and nobody knows who you are. You can't get an agent for love, no money. Yeah, no, it's crazy. It should be the other way around. Yes. Yeah, when you are somebody like yourself, they'll be falling over you to take you on the books. So I thought, yes, please, that would be great. So we did a show reel together. I changed my clothes, went to different parts of the building, did different kinds of reporting. And that evening, he was in the pub and he met the then managing director of the Weather Channel who was in the youth. Oh, I love stories like that.

Well, he was looking for presenters for the British side of the channel, which was about to open up. So right time, right place, right day. So my chap said, well, I've got somebody who would be great. I had never done the weather at all. So I went along, had an addition. Oh, my goodness, Gabby. I loved it. I took to it immediately because in some of our studios now, you can see what's behind you.

But in those days, you couldn't. It was a green screen. So you're looking at the camera that a newsreader would have auto queue on, but we have a map, a reversed map. A reverse? Yes. So you run your finger down a weatherfront that's not behind you, but you're looking at the camera, looking at where your finger is running it down.

You'd think, yes, I did that. And Birmingham. Oh, yes, I've got it! It is like that when you first start. And I thought, oh, I really, really want this job. And I was so lucky to get it. went to Atlanta, did some training there, then came back to the UK and then joined the BBC, and then went to the Met Office for further training.

But did the BBC sent you to the Met Office? Is that right? Yes. So in the early days, I was employed by the Met Office, but working at the BBC. And in order to work doing national at the BBC, you have to have qualifications. Right. So the Met Office trained you. And do you feel you're a presenter? Yes. If somebody, in the olden days, people used to have to write in their passport what they did. Would you write author first or would you write weather person, television presenter, strictly come dancing alumni? What would you write?

I think I'd present her. You would. Yes, I think I would. It's so strange. This is my fifth book that's coming out and I've already started the six. And probably ten as well. But it's so weird because I still feel so new at doing this. You've got imposter syndrome?

Yes. Yes, I think I do. The amount of people that come on this podcast and admit that, it's quite incredible. But that you've sold thousands and thousands and thousands of books, and you still feel that. Yes, and I think I'm not doing it for that reason to sell lots of books. I'm doing it because I really do enjoy it. It's like a hobby. I mean, it's a fairly full-time hobby.

All time, yes. But I really do enjoy it. And do you still enjoy the weather? Oh, yes. You do? Because it changes so much. Even with all the worry around the world with the weather. Yes, with climate change, definitely.

In fact, I did a course only last week on climate change. It's fascinating and it's scary, as you say. The world is warming up. When I first did my very first course at the Met Office, I remember the instructor saying at the time, or the lecturer rather, that in 50 years' time, the climate in the south of England will be similar to what it is at the moment in the south of France and will be growing grapes.

Well, that was 28 years ago, and we're already growing grapes in the south of England and making wine. So things are changing quite rapidly. And all the people that say it's not happening, that must get so frustrating. I mean, just look at what's happened, those wildfires in California. And Canada as well, recently. Yes, there's lots of them around them. We see them in France in the summer.

There are more wildfires. And the reason we're having such beautiful sunrises and sunsets at the moment is because of the smoke from the wildfires in Canada currently, which is coming across the Atlantic. It's not affecting our air quality because it's up. where the jet stream is and that's up where planes fly. Is that why our sunsets? The sunset, two nights ago, I've never seen a sunset like that in London. I mean, it was, it did look like the sun was on fire, but it was this extraordinary

colour. Is that because of the wildfires? Yes, that's smoke from the wildfires way up in the jet stream. Oh, that's awful! Yep. And there's so many things I could tell you about climate change because it's so... And our oceans, of course it was, we heard a... the king and David Attenborough and the Prince of Wales all talking about our oceans.

And that's being affected by climate change again. Yes, it is. And some of the ice is melting, the Arctic ice is melting faster than anywhere else. We have to stop this. We have to stop it, don't we? Yes, we do. And every little bit that we do will help. You know, things like putting out your recycling, washing it,

before you put it into recycling. So if you've got a jam jar, make sure you wash it. If you've got a flagon of milk, rins the milk out before you put it in recycling. So all these small things, look. It's very interesting. I was talking to somebody about three or four weeks ago on my radio show and they were saying, oh, I only do whatever it was.

I think it was their food waste. And I said, it's not only that, that's brilliant. If everybody did that. And if everybody put their recycling out and if everybody stopped driving for two minutes, you know, and putting their washing machine on at the times when it's not, all of those things, we can all do those little things. Yes, yeah, and instead of using your tumble dryer, hang you're washing outside.

Hang you're washing outside. Yes. And we're coming to the season, hopefully, when we're able to do that and it will dry. It's in, so there I was saying, everybody talks about weather, and we need to talk about the weather, but also it's, there's a wonderful social, site on socials that is all about what the Brits say

and it is always you know should I take my coat out should I do all of that Carol you are the person that brings the sunshine maybe not literally but you do for yourself

you do for us rather so thank you for that you're quite right what you say about climate change we need to do more we all need to buy your books because we need to disappear into them and it's the perfect holiday reading. So last summer we talked about your last one and I took

it on holiday. Did I miss? I think I messaged you afterwards. I took it on holiday. It was perfect. I was in Greece for five days and I just sat there with your book. Bless you. But it was the perfect and I mean that as a compliment because I just wanted to escape. Yes. And I can escape

into your book so thank you for the escapism as well. But thank you for the sunshine that you really do you do bring. You're so kind Carol. You're one of life's truly good people. Thank you very much. Same to you, Gabby. No, it's about you. About you. It's about you. Thank you so much. It's been a joy talking to you. It really has.

Thank you.