The ITV Leaders' Debate: Julie Etchingham prepares to take charge

It’s all a long way from the BBC’s children’s strand Newsround, on which Etchingham got her big break as a presenter in 1994.

“I still feel very passionately that Newsround’s an incredibly important programme for the BBC to make,” she says. “To have somebody navigate a very complex world for children, without patronising them, is vital.”

Etchingham has another reason to be passionate about Newsround – it was where she met her husband, the TV producer Nick Gardner. They now live in south-west London and have two sons, aged 12 and nine.

“I’ve got a little desk where I work, in our attic room, and sometimes I hear footsteps on the stairs,” says Etchingham. “My elder son will come in and say, ‘Do you want me to test you on your constituencies?’ Last weekend, there were a couple that I couldn’t quite crack, and he kept coming up to me and calling out the constituencies’ names. So they’re quite on board with it.

“When you’re feeling a bit lousy about not having spent as much time with them as you might like, the support is really lovely.”

Like many TV journalists, says Etchingham, she relies on support from an understanding husband when her job has a “pinch point” that takes her away from family life – such as departing at a moment’s notice to anchor ITV News from Japan in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, or heading to Rome to cover the election of a new pope in 2013.

Pope Francis’s election had special significance for Etchingham personally: she is a devout Catholic. And the TV debate she’s moderating takes place on Maundy Thursday – one of the last days of Lent, a period in the Christian calendar that is especially important to her.

“Whether you’re religious or not, I suspect most people like to think they can find a time when they can maybe just take a step outside of their normal concerns, and think, ‘Is this how I want to be?’ And as a Catholic, Lent is precisely for that,” says Etchingham.

And she confesses, with a sheepish laugh, that this year she has given up crisps and nuts for Lent. When Easter comes, Etchingham will still have weeks of preparation in prospect before May’s election night.

But, with Lent and her leaders’ debate behind her, she might just take a precious evening off – with a nice cold glass of white wine, and a packet of prawn cocktail crisps.

The ITV Leader's Debate is on ITV on Thursday 2nd April at 8:00pm