Martel

After training to be a lawyer at Edinburgh University Martel applied for The Sun's first graduate traineeship. She beat 3,000 hopefuls for a two year apprenticeship which started at London’s City University at its prestigious postgraduate print school.

She trained in news, features, sport, travel and motoring at the papers offices in Manchester, Glasgow and London, followed by a stint at the Daily Telegraph in Sydney, Australia. Then came a staff job as a showbiz reporter which saw her break world exclusive stories and interview hundreds of stars including Tom Cruise, Kylie Minogue, Sir Sean Connery and Nicole Kidman.

Martel is now a freelance radio and television presenter and writes a weekly opinion column for the Scottish Sun. She also wrote a column about life as a single girl broadsheet Scotland on Sunday.

On the telly, Martel co-presented Scotland's primetime motoring programme Drivetime on stv, indulging in her passion for cars. She has guest presented on the station's The Hour show on which she was their consumer expert. She put her journalism training to good use for BBC3 pilot Don't Get Screwed, going undercover as a taxi driver, restaurant manager and shop assistant for the consumer affairs show.

On the airwaves, Martel presented a Saturday one-woman morning show on Talk 107, then co-hosted BBC Radio Scotland's Music Bed with Jim Gellatly, inteviewing bands like Oasis and Kasabian. She is a judge for BBC's T In The Park Introducing stage alongside Radio 1 DJs. Martel stands in for Jon Gaunt on SunTalk, The Sun's three-hour weekday show on the day's news.  
She has been commisioned to co-produce a one-off show for Radio 2 later this year.

Martel, a proud redhead and Dundee FC fan, is a regular showbiz and entertainment commentator on Sky News, GMTV, This Morning, Five, BBC3 and BBC Radio Scotland.

Her debut novel Scandalous, a romantic comedy about the world of showbiz she knows so well, is released by Michael Joseph at Penguin on April 15, 2010. She is currently writing her second novel.