Rachel’s sheer chic as Fiona reveals shaky first Question Time

COUNTDOWN’S Rachel Riley, wearing a revealing blue lace midi dress, ensured all eyes were on her at yesterday’s Television and Radio Industries Club awards.

However it was Fiona Bruce, 54, who stole the show after winning Zest’s Best News Presenter gong. David Dimbleby’s successor as Question Time host revealed she suffered an attack of the jitters during her first outing on the show in January.

‘I’ve never had nerves in my life but admit I noticed when I picked up my glass of water my hand couldn’t stop shaking,’ leather-jacketed Fiona told me at the Grosvenor House hotel ceremony. ‘ I couldn’t believe it. This has never happened to me before. ‘After the show it was a relief to have a glass of tepid white wine and get over it. Then I had a pepperoni pizza. This job actually meant so much I didn’t realise.’ Meanwhile, actress Emilia Fox, in an £850 Suzannah dress and pink court shoes, had to settle for a consolation prize. Her BBC series Silent Witness was shortlisted for best crime p r o g ramme but lost out to Bodyguard, starring Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden.