Introduction
Kay Crewdson is a British broadcaster and journalist whose career brings together regional weather, breakfast radio, documentary-making and support for people affected by pregnancy loss. Many viewers know her from BBC North West Tonight, but her professional story also includes a theatre degree, television production and charity leadership.
A significant recent change is easy to miss in older biographies: her regular weather-presenting work on North West Tonight ended as 2025 closed. Her own farewell described the people and places she had encountered through the programme’s 25 in 25 series. Later professional updates point towards independent media work rather than a continuation of that same weather slot.
Her connection with CRADLE is equally central. Documentary reporting developed alongside lived experience and practical support for other families. Understanding both strands gives a fuller account of her career than treating her simply as a former weather presenter or defining her entirely through personal loss.
Contents
Quick Bio
| Name | Kay Crewdson |
|---|---|
| Profession | Broadcaster, journalist, event host and weather presenter |
| Education | Queen Margaret University; graduated in 2005 |
| BBC work | Regional weather, BBC Radio York and North West Tonight |
| North West Tonight weather role | 2019–2025, according to her professional biography |
| Documentary | The Emptiness Within |
| Charity | CRADLE trustee and media work |
| Recent project | MouseTales Media, announced in a public professional update |
| Partner | Jim Harding, identified in her own fundraising account |
| Exact birthday and personal net worth | Not established in this profile |
Who Is Kay Crewdson?
Crewdson has worked across television and radio, both in front of an audience and behind the scenes. Weather presenting is the most immediately recognizable part of her work, while her other credits include producing, researching, interviewing and hosting.
That range is visible in institutional records. Her university described the early route into the BBC, trade reporting documented her radio documentary, and the charity register records a formal trustee role. Together, these establish a career with several distinct responsibilities.
Her public work has also remained strongly regional. Northern England appears throughout her professional history, from BBC radio to the communities featured on North West Tonight. More recent media plans continue that focus on local people and their stories.
Education at Queen Margaret University
Queen Margaret University’s alumni magazine records Crewdson graduating in 2005 with a first-class BA honours degree in Arts and Theatre Studies.
Her early experience included television production and voluntary radio work before the move into journalism.
Entering BBC Journalism
The alumni account records BBC journalism training and work in Belfast, followed by programmes including Newsround, School Report and BBC Learning.
This route helps explain why her credits extend beyond forecasts. The weather role developed within a wider broadcasting career, rather than representing her first experience of researching or producing programmes.
Weather Presenting and Regional Broadcasting
Crewdson’s professional speaking biography dates her weather-presenting work from 2010 and describes coverage across northern England. It places her North West Tonight period between 2019 and 2025.
Presenting regional weather means communicating information that affects a particular audience’s day: travel, local events and changing conditions. Her later community features extended that geographical connection into longer conversations with the people who lived in the places appearing on the map.
It is important to keep the sequence clear. Work for the BBC took different forms at different times. A period away from one programme earlier in her career does not mean she never returned, and the later end of a regular weather role does not erase her earlier BBC credits.
BBC Radio York and Finders Keepers
The Queen Margaret alumni account identifies Finders Keepers, a treasure-hunt-style programme she launched for BBC Radio York in 2014. It also records her move into the station’s breakfast programme.
Prolific North’s contemporary 2018 coverage describes her as a former Radio York breakfast presenter. That provides a separate reference point for the radio chapter without assuming that a breakfast schedule printed years ago still applies.
Radio remained important even as television weather became her most familiar work. It later provided the format for a documentary about miscarriage, and audio would again become a part of her charity activity through a podcast.
The Emptiness Within
In May 2018, Prolific North reported that Crewdson would present The Emptiness Within on BBC Radio York and BBC Radio Sheffield. The programme explored miscarriage through personal accounts and expert contributions, with a planned broadcast on June 5.
Crewdson and her partner Jim Harding discussed their own experience, while other contributors described the emotional and social effects of losing a pregnancy. The report also identified Professor Arri Coomarasamy among the expert voices involved.
Personal Experience and Journalism
Her stated purpose was to make a difficult subject easier to discuss and to help people who had not experienced miscarriage understand it more clearly. The documentary therefore used personal experience as an entry point while widening the discussion to other families.
RadioToday’s October 2018 report on the BBC local-radio podcast Multi Story said an extract from The Emptiness Within would be included. That supplies evidence of the work reaching another audio format after its original local-radio context.
What the Awards Record Shows
The New York Festivals entry credits Crewdson as presenter and researcher, and Steve Bailey as producer, writer and editor. It identifies BBC York and BBC Sheffield and records a Finalist Certificate in the documentary social-issues category.
Some speaker biographies describe a different trophy level. This profile uses the specific award entry available from the organizer rather than combining those claims into an unverified award history. The substantive point is that her contribution included research as well as presentation.
Her Role at CRADLE
CRADLE supports people affected by pregnancy loss. The Charity Commission’s register lists Crewdson as a trustee, with an appointment date of January 1, 2020. Her professional biography also identifies media responsibilities within the charity.
The organization describes support beginning around clinical care and continuing after a person returns home. Its services include practical resources, peer support and training for professionals. This provides the context for her involvement: it is connected with an organization offering ongoing services, rather than only an occasional awareness campaign.
Comfort Bags and Community Support
CRADLE’s official material describes volunteers preparing comfort bags for hospitals, with useful items and information about further support. It also identifies an online group called Connected and a community forum.
In September 2026, Manx Radio interviewed Crewdson about CRADLE extending its work to the Isle of Man. The report described a launch at Noble’s Hospital and identified her as a former BBC North West weather presenter and charity ambassador. This is a useful dated account of her post-weather public work.
The CRADLE Podcast and Practical Fundraising
The charity’s own forum records Crewdson launching its podcast in 2022. Its description includes conversations with people who have experienced loss, healthcare professionals and employers.
A separate CRADLE forum post says she began an online support group during Covid, initially called CRADLE Chat, which developed into Connected. The wording matters: this is the charity’s account of her contribution, rather than a claim that she alone created all its services.
The 2025 Hospital Walk
Her public JustGiving page documented a planned 24-mile walk on April 12, 2025, linking hospitals she supported through the comfort-bag initiative: Bolton, Salford, Wythenshawe and Stepping Hill. She explained the personal significance of the fundraiser in her own words.
That page supplies a practical example of her involvement beyond media appearances. It does not establish the eventual total raised at every later date, so this account focuses on the documented event and its purpose.
Leaving North West Tonight and Starting a New Chapter
In her public farewell, Crewdson said the end of 2025 also marked the end of her weather work on North West Tonight. She connected that departure with 25 in 25, describing the series as a chance to meet people and discover local stories across the region.
Her message expressed appreciation for viewers and the North West. It did not state that a specific illness had forced the change. Claims about a medical reason for leaving would therefore require separate reliable evidence.
MouseTales Media
A later professional post described returning to filming after seven months away from broadcasting and announced MouseTales Media with a collaborator named Keith. Her account emphasized filming and editing, regional stories and work built around people.
This is best understood as her own announcement of a new project. It does not, by itself, establish a new permanent broadcaster contract, company revenue or a complete client list. It does show that the end of the weather role was not presented as an end to storytelling.
Public Speaking, Family and Personal Details
Crewdson remains listed for event hosting and speaking. Her advertised subjects include communication, compassionate leadership and pregnancy loss. Those topics connect with identifiable areas of her work, although speaker marketing should not be mistaken for an independent assessment of every claim it makes.
Jim Harding is identified as her partner in contemporary reporting and in her own fundraising account. The latter uses the term fiancé. This profile does not turn that wording into an unverified statement about a later wedding.
An exact birthday, current private address and personal wealth are unnecessary to explain the career documented here. No independently verified net worth is established by the sources reviewed.
Conclusion
Kay Crewdson’s professional record connects arts education, BBC training, regional broadcasting and documentary work with a substantial charity role. Her departure from North West Tonight in 2025 belongs within that longer story. Subsequent media and CRADLE activity show how the skills and concerns developed during her broadcasting career continue in other forms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Kay Crewdson left BBC North West Tonight?
She said her regular weather role ended as 2025 closed.
What does Kay Crewdson do now?
Her public record includes CRADLE work, speaking and an announced independent project, MouseTales Media.
What did she study?
Queen Margaret University records an Arts and Theatre Studies honours degree completed in 2005.
What is The Emptiness Within?
It is a radio documentary about miscarriage for which she is credited as presenter and researcher.
Who is Kay Crewdson’s partner?
Her public fundraising account identifies Jim Harding.
Is her departure linked to illness?
Her farewell does not establish a medical reason. It should not be described as illness-related without further evidence.
Read More
For more biographies covering British broadcasting, read our profiles of Sarah Campbell and Nick Eardley.
Sources
- Queen Margaret University alumni profile
- Chartwell professional biography
- Prolific North 2018 documentary report
- RadioToday Multi Story announcement
- New York Festivals official credit record
- Charity Commission trustee register
- CRADLE official services
- CRADLE podcast record
- CRADLE support-group history
- Kay Crewdson fundraising page
- Manx Radio September 2026 interview report
- Kay Crewdson farewell statement
- Kay Crewdson new media project announcement
