Most of the time, Steph McGovern is everywhere – the presenter hosted Steph's Packed Lunch, the business segment of BBC Breakfast, and even appeared on Netflix's hit reality competition series Celebrity Bear Hunt. However, the 43-year-old has been relatively absent in the past year, and has finally explained where she has been.
Taking to Instagram on Thursday, 8 January, Steph shared a carousel of holiday photos from an array of sunny and poolside conversations, with a series of captions revealing what she's been up to during her absence from the limelight.
The journalist and TV host wrote: "I've been a bit quiet lately because in every spare moment I've had, amongst all the festive fun, and a family holiday (where I bought this excellent float), I've been writing and constantly thinking about MY SECOND NOVEL!!!"
In the caption of the post, she wrote: "Where my head's been at…". As of yet, no further information, provisional titles or release dates, has been revealed about her second novel, but fans will surely be excited by the news!
Steph McGovern's writing career
The presenter's first novel, Deadline, is a crime thriller that was released at the beginning of July 2025 by Pan Macmillan. It follows a TV reporter whose live interview with one of the most powerful people in the country is hijacked by a mysterious person who has kidnapped her family.
In fact, some aspects of the novel draw on her real-life presenting experience. Steph exclusively told HELLO!: "A lot of what happened in my life that I used to write this character and plot because, you know, there's a lot of it that's true, and it's little things, everything from being bitten by a pig live on air," referring to the infamous moment a pig bit her foot during a segment on BBC Breakfast.
Deadline was met with praise from readers and critics alike, now holding a solid 3.9 out of 5 score on reader aggregation site Goodreads. Unsurprisingly, the journalist has the knack for a good story, and it's exciting to see her dive headfirst into fiction!
Steph McGovern's transitional time at home
However, this career shift isn't the only major change going on in Steph's life at the moment. Not only is she committing more to her writing, but she's also making her return to TV and raising a six-year-old daughter, who is also going through a major change at the moment, with her partner.
In the same exclusive interview with us, she said: "I don't know if I've nailed the parenting thing… We're in the middle of that transition from reception to year one in school and it's thrown up challenges that I didn't know were going to be a thing. It's been a new phase of our communication."