Laura Woods (English presenter)

Laura Woods
Woods in 2022
Born (1987-07-02) 2 July 1987 (age 37)
Dagenham, London, England[1]
Alma materKingston University
Occupation(s)Television presenter, reporter, and journalist
Employer(s)ITV, Amazon Prime Video, TNT Sports

Laura Woods (born 2 July 1987) is an English presenter working for ITV, Amazon Prime Video, and TNT Sports.

Early life and education

Woods studied print journalism at Kingston University.[2]

Career

Television

After graduating from university, Woods got a job at Sky Sports as a runner in 2009, working her way up to editorial assistant, then into production as assistant producer, associate producer and producer.

She started presenting by doing behind-the-scenes interviews on the darts coverage for Sky Sports' YouTube channel.[3]

Woods then got a job on the Saturday morning kids' show Game Changers. From there she started reporting on the NFL and joined the Soccer AM online presenting team, which included a trip to Euro 2016 in France where she broadcast live on Facebook every day.[4][5]

By 2018, Woods became a regular pitch-side reporter on Super Sunday, occasionally reporting with Gary Neville.

In 2022, she left Sky Sports.[6]

Woods also worked for DAZN, as part of their coverage of boxing and the Women's Champions League.

In July 2023, she left the company.

On 17 August 2022, it was announced that Woods would be joining Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell on an hour-long NFL highlights show every Friday on ITV.[7]

On 7 September 2023, she was replaced by Craig Doyle[8]

On 18 July 2023, Woods joined TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) as the lead presenter for the UEFA Champions League and the boxing coverage.[9]

Woods was the lead presenter of ITV's coverage of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.[10]

Radio

In March 2020, Woods was announced as the main presenter for Talksport's breakfast show, presenting Monday to Wednesday, with Thursdays and Fridays presented by Alan Brazil.[11][12]

On 14 June 2023, Woods announced that she was leaving the breakfast show. Her final show was on 28 June 2023.[13][14]

Personal life

Woods dated former England rugby player Alex Corbisiero for eight years.[15]

She is a supporter of Arsenal.[16]

In February 2024, it was revealed that Woods was harassed and stalked for two years by a female football fan who threatened to kill her dog and sent her an STI kit in the post. The stalker was sentenced to 14 months in prison and placed on a restraining order.[17]

References

  1. ^ Woods, Laura (30 January 2020). "Laura Woods column: Inside the Premier League with Sky Sports presenter". Sporting Life. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  2. ^ Seys, Phil (6 March 2019). "Voiceover artist Laura Woods joins Babble!". Babble Voices. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  3. ^ Bristow, Thomas (9 January 2017). "Why 2017's PDC World Darts Championship was the best yet - and why you should tune in next year". The Mirror. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  4. ^ "NFL on the Wire brings you the latest news". Sky Sports. 15 December 2015.
  5. ^ Bristow, Thomas (13 October 2018). "Sky Sports' Laura Woods reveals her story and how the perception of women in football is slowly changing". The Mirror. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Laura Woods confirms she has left Sky Sports after more than a decade". Metro. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  7. ^ "ITV and NFL announce three-year partnership". ITV. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  8. ^ "Welcome to the team, Craig!". 7 September 2023. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  9. ^ "Laura Woods heads TNT Sports' new female-fronted presentation team". The Guardian. 17 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  10. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup Final 2023". itv.com/presscentre. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  11. ^ Cross, John (28 March 2020). "Laura Woods confirmed as talkSPORT's main breakfast show host to replace Alan Brazil". The Mirror. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  12. ^ "Breakfast just got bigger on talkSPORT: Laura Woods begins as main host, as Alan Brazil expands role across station". Talksport. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  13. ^ "Laura Woods to leave as host of talkSPORT's Sports Breakfast show". 14 June 2023.
  14. ^ Husband, Ben (14 June 2023). "Laura Woods lined up for new TV role after quitting talkSPORT breakfast show". mirror. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  15. ^ "Alex Corbisiero: his Rugby World Cup 2015 journey". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  16. ^ Shepard, Sarah (25 April 2020). "My Club – Laura Woods: sneaking into training and pretending to be David Seaman". The Athletic. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Laura Woods left 'in real fear' after football fan stalker sent her 'dark' messages for years and threatened to kill dog". LBC. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.