Carol Kirkwood on her new novel – and social media: 'No disrespect to Gary Lineker, but I’ll stick to weather’

She’s talking – ostensibly – about who would play the character of Nicolas, if her new novel, Meet Me at Sunset, were made into a film, but she’s clearly spent some time thinking about the handsome Hollywooder in non-literary contexts too. “I always go to George Clooney [when I’m trying to visualise a face] for Nicolas. But then, I go to George Clooney for an awful lot…”

Kirkwood didn’t have to try too hard either to imagine a look for the other central character in the book, Camille. “She’s a successful designer who goes back to Majorca, a place she loves, though this time she’s running away from a shattered love affair, and the story’s full of betrayal, blackmail, lies, deceit, romance and lots of escapism,” she explains. “But the whole idea came from a holiday in Majorca a couple of years ago and there was a lady who came into the restaurant a few times and always ate alone…

“People watching is one of my favourite things to do, and she was fascinating: very chic, slim, in a beautiful suit, with her hair in a French chignon. She always had a salad, a glass of white wine and she sat very upright – and looked out to the sea every night. I thought, ‘What’s her story?’ – and she was in my mind the whole time I was writing this book.”

Meet Me at Sunset, published on 17 July, is Kirkwood’s fifth novel and she’s previously reached number two in The Sunday Times bestsellers list, so does the BBC stalwart now list ‘writer’ as her occupation on forms? “No, I would still put TV presenter.”

So she doesn’t align herself with peers who use the #notaweathergirl hashtag to fight what they see as demeaning sexism in the profession? “I never think like that. I am what I am, and I don’t really care what anybody thinks of me. And in that sense, whether I’m a ‘weather girl’ or a ‘weather presenter’ or a ‘broadcast meteorologist’ doesn’t really bother me.

“I’m just doing my job to the best of my ability and hopefully improving myself on a daily basis, whether people think I’m capable or not. Titles don’t really matter. And because of the industry I work in, I get so much abuse on a regular basis – you get some real vitriol on X, and some people even email you directly to say dreadful things to you – but that’s water off a duck’s back to me now. Or maybe that should be heavy rain off a duck’s back?”

She’s certainly enjoying the contrast of novel writing and TV work. “Writing couldn’t be more different from my day job, and it’s such good fun. I actually get to decide what happens – which sadly isn’t the case with weather forecasts.”

It’s hard work too, concedes Kirkwood (she wrote six different endings for her first novel before finding one that worked, she confides).

“I would love to say I get up at eight o’clock every morning, have a cup of coffee, then sit down and write till midday. But at the moment I can only do that on Friday, Saturday and Sunday [her days off from BBC Breakfast]. Maybe one day, though.”

So the 63-year-old is thinking of retiring from TV? “Don’t say that, you’ll get me sacked! And I love my job; I can’t imagine not doing it. There will be a day, obviously, when that happens, but for now I still love the weather. Each day is different, you know? We’re an island, and the weather changes all the time, so it’s always interesting.”

She’s not bluffing, either: her own X feed is 100 per cent concerned with meteorology. “No disrespect to Gary Lineker or anybody else, but I’m sticking to the weather. There isn’t a lot of downtime on my work shift [to be tweeting about politics], and then when I get home I’d rather be reading, or having a glass of wine with friends, or going for a walk.”

Ideally, she says, she’d be going for a walk with her husband Steve. In fact, it was on just such an outing that he announced himself as husband material: “It was a lovely sunny Sunday, mid-morning, and we’re out for a walk. I said, ‘Why don’t we take a picnic?’ So we find a nice place to sit, along the riverside, put out a blanket – and then he starts fumbling in his pocket. He produces a ring, but for a moment I thought it was going to be a quiche!” (No wonder she’s not that interested in George Clooney.)

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