EXCLUSIVE: Alex Jones has opened up about the moment she knew she could finally ‘be herself’ on The One Show during the challenging coronavirus pandemic
Alex Jones revealed that viewers would write into the show during the pandemic(Image: BBC)
Alex Jones has been a staple on The One Show for 16 years, but there was one moment when the broadcaster revealed her true self. Back in 2020, as the world was plunged into a global lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, Alex, 49, was often the only person that viewers of the BBC programme saw that day.
During the challenging time when people couldn’t leave their homes, the people we saw on television often became the familiar voices we would hear or the only people we saw.
Alex has now revealed that viewers of the show would often write to the BBC, and she instantly felt a deeper sense of community with those who tuned in. Reflecting on the changes to the show over her 16 years, Alex said it has “evolved quite organically”.
Speaking about creating the show during the lockdown period, Alex said: “That was a real big moment, a turning point, really, for the show, where I realised that I was Rob [Unsworth, former Editor of The One Show] realised in terms of how the show was made, I realised, from my perspective, that the audience were actually all on the same level.
“You know, they needed reassurance at the end of sometimes quite a dark news bulletin. And I felt that we became really good friends during the pandemic.”
She went on to reveal that looking back on the challenging times often made her “emotional”, explaining: “There were always people writing in and saying, you know, at the end of a long day, they hadn’t seen anybody of, sort of, we were the faces that they saw every day, you know.
“And I think the show changed really quite naturally during that time and became a show that was important to our viewers.” Alex continued: “And it’s grown, I think, from there. And from my perspective, I think that was useful for me because I understood who the viewer was. I knew I could be myself.
“I was allowed to be myself. I’d been accepted and hopefully, you know, I’ve gone from strength to strength from there. In terms of the future of the show, you know, it’s been on for 20 years, and what happens now? Well, I think it’s still a show that is needed.”
Throughout her time on the show, Alex has been at the forefront of some of the biggest topics of discussion, including a special tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth, which was broadcast just two days after Her Late Majesty died aged 96, marking the end of the second Elizabethan era.
The episode featured Alex and co-anchor Gethin Jones, with the pair reflecting on the Queen’s almost 71-year reign. Alex and Gethin were joined by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who was responsible for the now-famous sketch of the Queen and Paddington Bear as she celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, months before she died.
But Alex, who grew up in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, recently revealed that she was “too scared” to admit she wanted to be a television presenter as a child.
“When I was a little girl growing up in south Wales, I thought I’d like to be a presenter, but I was too scared to say anything because nobody in south Wales became broadcasters, especially not on national television,” she said last month.
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