Martha has recently joined the Radio 4 Today programme, the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme.
She joined Channel Four in 1987 as a reporter on A Week in Politics while her career in current affairs continued on the BBC’s On The Record, Panorama and Newsnight.
In 2000 she became Newsnight’s political editor. Martha has covered every election since 1987 and interviewed every British Prime Minister since then; she has also covered every US election since 1988 and interviewed many US politicians including Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, John McCain, Nancy Pelosi and Bob Dole.
Martha covered the Troubles in Northern Ireland for many years and was given a BAFTA nomination as a result. She broke the news of secret talks between Martin McGuinness and the British government. She interviewed (off camera) paramilitary prisoners in the Maze prison and later made a documentary about the history of the jail. She also made a documentary about the Good Friday Agreement which included interviews with the key players.
She started presenting The World at One in 2007 conducting many news making interviews and oversaw a significant increase in the audience.
Previous to that, she presented Woman’s Hour for nearly a decade, during which time her interview subjects were decidedly eclcectic, including Amy Winehouse, Hilary Mantel, Courtney Love, Arundhati Roy and Jane Fonda!
Her television work includes documentaries on Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll and the Bronte sisters, Great Irish Journeys, several series about the honey bee and one about the Painted Lady butterfly.
She divides her time between London and Suffolk where she was an avid bee keeper for many years, but sadly had to give up the hobby after developing an allergy to bees, but keeps her naturalist interests going through her love of butterflies.