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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Abigail O'Leary

Who is Fiona Bruce? Everything you need to know about BBC leaders' debate host

Tonight's two hour Question Time special will see party leaders go head-to-head taking questions from a studio audience.

The one off special will air at 7pm on BBC One and will also be available to watch online on the BBC iPlayer live or Radio 5Live.

The BBC's usual Question Time host Fiona Bruce will be hosting this evening - and pushing the politicians to answer the questions.

On the show Fiona Bruce said:  “Question Time has a proud history of giving the public - the voters - the chance to put their points and questions directly to their elected representatives.

"That’s never more important than during an election campaign.

"I’m very much looking forward to these special programmes."

Fiona Bruce was named as new leader of Question Time in January of this year (PA)

Who is Fiona Bruce?

Fiona Bruce, 55, is a BBC journalist, newsreader and television presenter.

She joined the BBC as a Panorama researcher in 1989 and went in to become the first female newsreader for News at Ten.

Bruce, who studied languages at Oxford, has also presented a number of the broadcaster's flagship programmes, including Crimewatch, Fake or Fortune and the Antiques Roadshow.

She became the host of Question Time in January of this year - taking over David Dimbleby.

Fiona Bruce first started working for the BBC as a researcher on Panorama in 1989 (Collect Picture)

Bruce became the first female presenter to be part of the BBC  general election results programme.

She has written and presented many of her own documentaries, including a documentary about Cherie Blair and another on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Victoria: A Royal Love Story

Bruce married Nigel Sharrocks in July 1994 and they couple have two children, son Sam and daughter Mia Rose.

How will she prepare for debate?

Fiona described how plans for the weekly political panel show unfold (Getty Images Europe)

Fiona gave an interview revealing how she will prepare for the Question Time special - and how she plans on relaxing after two hours of hosting.

She was filmed taking a tour of the studio and gave an insight into the weekly preparation for the political show unfold.

The presenter said: "Each leader, one after the other, are going to have just about half an hour each  - exactly the same time each on here and address the audience.

"The audience is an absolutely critical part of Question Time and selecting that audience is a big and very important job every week.

"What we need to do every week without fail is make the audience politically representative of the picture across the nation.

"we need to try and reflect a variety of ages, social background, ethnicity and gender so it all has to come together.

Fiona hosting Question Time (BBC)

"I see quite a lot online of people feeling that either people are planted in the audience - that literally never happens - or that the audience is unbalanced - that is never the case."

On her prep to host the show, Fiona took cameras into a briefing room.

She added: "This is the team that helps me get briefs together and find out information about who's on the panel and also just to make sure we are up to date on the days events.

"What I'm doing much more in the days leading up to it is scrutinizing, in detail, the record of each leader and what they've said about policies now and what they've said in the past."

When asked what she plans on doing to relax after the two-hour hosting stint Bruce said she will "go straight to the bar".

She added: "I'll go straight to the bar and have a huge glass of white wine - i might even have several."

Who is representing each of the parties?

Johnson and Corbyn during the first leaders debate on ITV (AFP via Getty Images)

Boris Johnson will be representing the Conservatives, Jeremy Corbyn for Labour, Nicola Sturgeon for the Scottish National Party and Jo Swinson for the Liberal Democrats.

When are the other TV debates?

Thursday 28 November, TBC: Sky News airs three-way debate between Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson.

Friday 29 November, TBC: BBC One airs seven-way election debate hosted by Nick Robinson from Cardiff. Labour, the Tories, Lib Dems, SNP, Greens, Plaid and Brexit Party are set to take part.

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