Obituary: Pattie Coldwell.

(From The Independent)

Byline: Anthony Hayward

THE TRADEMARK of the television presenter and broadcaster Pattie Coldwell, best remembered for series such as the daily phone-in Open Air, which she hosted with Eamonn Holmes, was her distinctive Lancashire accent, gravelly voice and outspoken manner.

The documentary-maker Michael Wood, her one-time partner, recalled first seeing her on the regional news programme Granada Reports in Manchester:

I saw this unbelievable scene where what I took to be a middle-aged Lancashire housewife was interviewing Tom Petty, the American rock star.

She had a voice like a buzzsaw and sounded like she smoked 500 cigarettes a day. I remember heaving with laughter thinking how clever they were at Granada to haul this woman from the back streets of Salford and put her on the screen - although I felt they had gone too far this time.

In fact, Coldwell had been born in the Lancashire town of Clitheroe in 1952 and was in her mid-twenties by the time she was a reporter and presenter with Granada Television. (Wood was then working for the rival BBC in Manchester, first as a reporter, then as assistant producer on current affairs programmes. He and Coldwell enjoyed a 10-year relationship and he went on to find acclaim for his historical documentaries.)