Helen Willetts: Biography, Age, Husband, Family and BBC Weather Career
For almost thirty years, when the weather has really mattered to Britain, there is a fair chance Helen Willetts has been the one explaining it. A trained Met Office meteorologist with a first-class physics degree, she has presented BBC Weather since 1997, calmly guiding viewers through heatwaves, storms and snow across BBC News, BBC World News and BBC Radio. Yet the Chester-born, Colwyn Bay-raised forecaster first made her name in a very different arena — playing badminton for Wales. This is the story of one of the BBC’s longest-serving and most trusted weather presenters.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Helen Sarah Willetts |
| Born | 10 February 1972 |
| Age | 54 (turns 55 in February 2027) |
| Birthplace | Chester, Cheshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Ysgol Eirias (Eirias High School), Colwyn Bay; University of Nottingham — first-class honours in Physics (1993) |
| Occupation | Meteorologist and television weather presenter |
| Known for | BBC Weather forecasts on BBC News, BBC World News and BBC Radio; TRIC Award for Best TV Weather Presenter (2006) |
| Employer | BBC Weather (since 1997) |
| Spouse | Philip Boulby (married March 2004) |
| Children | Two (born 2006 and December 2008) |
Early Life and Education
Helen Willetts was born on 10 February 1972 in Chester, Cheshire. Her family first lived in Buckley, in Flintshire, before settling in Upper Colwyn Bay, on the North Wales coast — the seaside town that became her home ground and to which she has returned throughout her life. It was a sporty household: both of her parents played badminton competitively, and Helen and her sister Emma took up the game too.
Badminton was far more than a passing hobby. She played for local clubs including Llandudno Junction and the Vardre and Stella Maris clubs in Deganwy, and her talent showed early: by 1985 she had been picked for the Wales under-14 team, rising to the under-16s two years later and playing at county level as well. She went on to represent Wales internationally — a serious sporting career that ran alongside her schoolwork for years, and one she kept up at university.
She was educated at Pendorlan Primary School and then at Ysgol Eirias — Eirias High School — in Colwyn Bay. Her first career dream had nothing to do with weather charts: as a schoolgirl she wanted to be an air hostess. In the end, science won. She read Physics at the University of Nottingham and graduated in 1993 with first-class honours — the perfect grounding for a life spent reading the skies, even if she could not have known it at the time.
Career
Trained by the Met Office
After graduating, Willetts joined the Met Office in February 1994 and completed its five-month forecaster training course at the Met Office College, based at the former RAF Shinfield Park. That training matters, because it sets her apart from presenters who simply read a script: she is a qualified forecaster who learned to build a forecast from the raw data herself.
In July 1994 she moved to the Weather Centre in Cardiff, and from April 1995 she was forecasting on BBC television and radio in Wales. Still only in her early twenties, she quickly became a familiar face and voice in Welsh homes — the local girl, educated just up the coast, explaining the weather she had grown up watching roll in from the Irish Sea.
The move to London and national screens
In October 1997 she transferred to the BBC Weather Centre in London, to work on the newly launched BBC News 24. The audience grew from there, and it never really stopped growing. Today her forecasts run across BBC News, BBC World News, the Red Button service and BBC Radio 2, Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live, and she is an occasional weather forecaster on the BBC News at Ten on BBC One.
Her style is the product of that scientific training: unhurried, precise and free of jargon, turning cold fronts and pressure systems into the one thing viewers really want to know — what the weather will do to their day. Nearly three decades after arriving in London, she remains one of the BBC’s longest-serving weather presenters, and one of its most reassuring.
Awards, honours — and the day there were two of her
In March 2006 she won the Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) Award for Best TV Weather Presenter. The academic world was not far behind: on 12 July 2007 the University of Nottingham awarded its former student an honorary Doctor of Science degree, and in 2016 the University of Chester, in her birth city, honoured her in the same way — two honorary doctorates for the girl who once dreamed of a life in the air.
Her most replayed moment, though, was a technical accident. During a BBC News forecast in 2014, a gallery glitch superimposed a second, ghostly Willetts silently presenting beside the real one. She carried on with a nervous laugh while the anchor joked that he would happily take two, three or four of her — and the clip has delighted blooper compilations ever since. It remains the closest thing to a twin she has ever had on screen.
She is part of a generation of forecasters who have become fixtures of British television, and you can read more of their stories here on FameFigures: Laura Tobin, the Good Morning Britain meteorologist; fellow BBC presenter Louise Lear; Keeley Donovan, the BBC forecaster from Grimsby; and ITV’s Alex Beresford.
Personal Life
In March 2004, Willetts came home to Colwyn Bay to marry Philip Boulby. The record is worth setting straight, because several biography websites get it wrong: her husband is Philip Boulby, not Philip Avery — Avery is a different BBC weather presenter altogether. Boulby keeps well away from the cameras, and the couple have guarded their family life carefully throughout her time on screen.
The couple have two children: their first was born in 2006 and their second in December 2008. Willetts presented on screen through her pregnancies — her growing bump became a familiar sight to BBC viewers — and took maternity leave after her second child arrived, before returning to the studio. The children’s names have never been made public, and the family intends to keep it that way.
Her roots in Colwyn Bay have never loosened. She married there, her parents remained there, and the Bay of Colwyn Town Council proudly lists her among the town’s famous local people — a short entry that, incidentally, gets her basic facts right more reliably than many a celebrity website. For a presenter whose forecasts cover the whole of the United Kingdom, she remains at heart a North Wales success story: educated at the local high school, trained by the Met Office, and sent out to tell the nation its weather.
Away from work, the sporting streak survives: she enjoys walking, cycling and travelling, and badminton has never entirely left her life. She keeps a low profile online and rarely talks publicly about her family — which may be exactly why the basic facts of her life are so often garbled by the websites that write about her, and why getting them right matters.
FAQs
How old is Helen Willetts?
Helen Willetts was born on 10 February 1972, which makes her 54 years old. She celebrates her 55th birthday on 10 February 2027.
Who is Helen Willetts’ husband?
Her husband is Philip Boulby. They married in March 2004 in her home town of Colwyn Bay. He is sometimes confused online with Philip Avery, who is a separate BBC weather presenter and is not her husband.
Does Helen Willetts have children?
Yes — she and Philip Boulby have two children. Their first child was born in 2006 and their second in December 2008. The family keeps the children’s names and lives private.
Does Helen Willetts have twins?
No. Her two children were born more than two years apart, in 2006 and December 2008, so they are not twins. The idea may linger because of a famous 2014 on-air glitch that briefly showed two of her on screen at the same time.
Where is Helen Willetts from?
She was born in Chester, England, and grew up in Colwyn Bay in North Wales, where she went to school at Ysgol Eirias. Her Welsh roots run deep — she played badminton for Wales at international level.
Is Helen Willetts a trained meteorologist?
Yes. She graduated in physics from the University of Nottingham in 1993 and then trained as a forecaster with the Met Office, completing its five-month training course before joining the BBC. She is a qualified meteorologist, not only a presenter.
What is Helen Willetts’ net worth?
It is not publicly disclosed. The BBC does not publish her individual salary, and the figures quoted on some biography websites are unverified estimates with no source behind them, so they should be treated with real caution.
