Veteran Scottish sports broadcaster to receive one of nation's biggest film and TV honours

Veteran Scottish sports broadcaster Hazel Irvine is to get one of the nation's biggest film and TV honours.

The presenter, who has covered the world's biggest sporting events since 1988, will be recognised for an outstanding contribution to broadcasting at the Bafta Scotland Awards in Glasgow next month.

She will follow in the footsteps of previous recipients Billy Connolly, Lorraine Kelly, Brian Cox, Shirley Henderson, Stanley Baxter, Peter Capaldi, Alan Cumming and Robbie Coltrane.

The 59-year-old, who was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours for this year, was one of the first female sports presenters in British broadcasting.

She started her career in Glasgow with Radio Clyde in 1986, moved to Scottish Television the following year and covered the Olympic Games for ITV in 1988.

Ms Irvine joined the BBC in 1990, when she covered the football World Cup in Italy and became the youngest ever presenter of the long-running Grandstand programme in 1993. She has worked on numerous Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, as well as covering golf, snooker, skiing and tennis.

Tilda Swinton, David Tennant, Richard Gadd, Ashley Stories, Elaine C Smith and Shirley Henderson are among the film and TV stars nominated for Scottish Baftas in Glasgow.

Ms Irvine said: “I feel overwhelmed and honoured to join the list of Scottish actors, presenters, writers, directors, producers and ‘Doctor Whos’ who have received this award. I have admired and looked up to these individuals for much of my life. Thank you to Bafta Scotland for such an amazing and unexpected honour.”

A spokesperson for Bafta Scotland said: “Hazel has been a leading figure in broadcasting and a trailblazer for women in sports journalism for over 30 years.

“To date, she has presented and reported from 18 Winter and Summer Olympics, fronted golf coverage for 25 years, snooker for 23 years, and also anchored coverage of athletics and skiing for over a decade.”

Bafta Scotland will also be honouring Glasgow-born casting director Des Hamilton after a film and TV career spanning more than 20 years.

Mr Hamilton’s career began after a chance meeting with director Lynne Ramsay, who ask him to find non-actors to star in her 2002 film Morvern Callar. Kathleen McDermott, who was working as a hairdresser in Glasgow city centre, went on to win Bafta Scotland’s best actress award for her role in the film.

Mr Hamilton worked on a number of other Scottish feature films, including Young Adam, Dear Frankie and Hallam Foe.

His TV work includes Top Boy, Ten Pound Poms, Rebus, Time Bandits, Trigger Point and Breathtaking.

Other film and TV stars he has unearthed includes Tom Sweet, who was ten when he made The Childhoood of a Leader, and Thomas Turgoose, who was 13 when he shot This Is England.

Mr Hamilton said: “I’m proud that the work myself and my team do is being recognised by Bafta and Bafta Scotland, and that the work I’ve done has made my mum very happy.”

Bafta Scotland presented a special outstanding contribution award to the film producer, writer and festival director Linda Myles in August.

A special event was held during the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which Ms Myles led in the 1970s. She was the first female director of a film festival anywhere in the world.