Sir Trevor McDonald is set to make a surprise return to television – appearing on Bill Bailey’s travel show some 16 years after retiring.
The newsreader, 84, who was ITV’s top broadcaster for nearly 30 years until stepping down in 2007, will appear on rival Channel 4’s digital station More4 at the end of the month.
He will join Bailey, 59, for a ramble in the Essex countryside as they discover the area’s best pub walks, The Sun reports.
The pair will gaze at views that inspired Britain’s most famous landscape artist – John Constable – in beauty spots Dedham Vale, the Essex and Suffolk border and the Stour Estuary.
Sir Trevor, who was knighted for his services to broadcasting in 1999, will discuss his life growing up in Trinidad before emigrating as a young reporter in the 1960s.
Sir Trevor McDonald first rose to prominence as the presenter of ITN’s News at Ten from 1992 to 1999 before going on to host ITV’s current affairs show Tonight with Trevor McDonald until 2007
Sir Trevor, pictured last year attending Wimbledon, will appearing on Bill Bailey’s travel show on Tuesday, February 26 on More4
The father-of-three’s much-vaunted return to the screen on Tuesday, February 26 on More4.
Sir Trevor has made a select few forays back into television in recent years. In 2021, he appeared in E4’s revival of the iconic games show Gamesmaster. He took over as the all-knowing, floating face of the GamesMaster, some 20 years after the original show’s demise.
Speaking at the time, the broadcaster said: ‘I am delighted to be taking on this iconic role for a new generation of viewers.’
Despite the revival’s success with fans and critics, a planned second series announced the following year failed to come into fruition.
In 2020, he and his second wife Jo, 68, went their separate ways after 34 years of marriage.
Sir Trevor reportedly moved to Barnes after leaving the family home in Richmond they bought together in 2001 for £2.3 million.
Sir Trevor McDonald pictured in Barnes, south London, in 2020
The broadcaster pictured running some errands in Barnes, near his bachelor pad
He was seen wearing a mask and appeared to have injured his right eye, which was swollen and bloodshot behind his trademark glasses.
The legendary newsreader was married to Jo for more than three decades.
Sir Trevor poses at hoe with his typewriter near the start of his career, which started in Trinidad
They tied the knot in 1986 after an office romance and a year after he divorced first wife Beryl, who later remarked: ‘He found himself a younger, better looking girl.’
He and Jo, who have a 33-year-old son named Jack, separated in 2004 but reconciled happily until the relationship fizzled out again in 2020.
The news presenter also shares two children, Joanne and Tim, with his first wife Beryl who he divorced in 1985.
Sir Trevor first rose to prominence as the presenter of ITN’s News at Ten from 1992 to 1999 before going on to to host ITV’s flagship current affairs programme Tonight with Trevor McDonald in 1999.
He is known for his interviews with prominent figures including Tony Blair, Nelson Mandela and former US President Bill Clinton and was named Newscaster of the Year in 1993, 1997 and 1999.
His decades as one of Britain’s most trusted journalists saw him rewarded with a knighthood in 1999 for his services to journalism, but he later branded the honour ‘worthless’.
Since his retirement from nightly news in 2008, he has fronted documentaries on topics ranging from the mafia to death row.
Trevor McDonald with wife Josephine and sons Tim and Jack after receiving his Knighthood
He also came under fire from animal rights campaigners for visiting a camel wrestling event in Turkey for an ITV travel show.
In 2020, Sir Trevor said nothing in his career had compared to the ‘immense, international’ nature of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to presenter Julie Etchingham on the ITV News podcast Coronavirus: What You Need To Know, he said: ‘I don’t remember a story which has so internationally involved us all.
‘We are connected much more than we ever thought. We’re anxious to hear what’s going on all over the world.’
He added: ‘It is very, very strange to go through a week knowing that you have so few things which are absolutely planned. It’s a bit difficult having all the time on your hands.
‘In my personal case, the lack of social contact and having to stay in a lot is at times fairly depressing, really. You just have to try and find ways of dealing with it.
‘I must confess I’m not too sure I’ve done terribly well for finding those ways!’