At the end of the day… Tina Dahelely

tina daheley 38, newsreader on 5am starts, peaky blinders and the joys of two baths a day

I’m a night owl. I would much rather be out late or stay up reading. I’m not one of those people who naturally gets up early – it’s just not me. I know it completely contradicts the fact that I’m now doing my fourth consecutive breakfast show. I do so many different jobs, so I don’t have a typical day.

My commute to work is within walking distance. I’ve timed that it’s three minutes, door to door. After the Brit Awards,

I only got 45 minutes sleep, so let’s just say I overslept. I can say this now because in all my 10 years, I’ve never missed a show, but if I hadn’t lived right next to work, I might not have made it.

You never get used to getting up at 5am – you just get used to feeling permanently jet-lagged. I feel very lucky, and have quite a nice life, so I always tell myself that when I’m knackered and moaning.

Being a proper foodie, I love trying new places and all types of Indian food – especially anything spicy. I have a personal chef called Deliveroo, and I get Lebanese or Thai. I try to avoid alcohol during the week, but when I go out to dinner, I love nothing more than a nice glass of red wine. I really like going to a restaurant, but to eat in with somebody and have the opportunity to catch up without any distractions is great as well.

Working on television means I have to wear a lot of make-up, so I try to make sure my skin is as clean as possible. I cleanse properly every night, and I’ll exfoliate and do a mask a couple of times a week. I always put serums on before I go to bed. Reading, books and baths are my key.

I bloody love a bath. I have a ritual. Sometimes I even have a morning bath and an evening bath. In the interests of not dropping my phone in the water, I try to switch it off, then read and relax.

Before going to sleep, I try not to watch TV in the bedroom. One of the last things I do at night is probably check in with my mum, who I call every day, and my grandma. But in the mornings, I make a point of not looking at my phone until I get to work. I don’t scroll through the news sites – I meditate instead. I’m Sikh, and one of my earliest memories is my grandma teaching me to meditate.

I get into bed around 10pm and read for half an hour. In an ideal world, I close my eyes at 10.30pm, but I could probably deal with a minimum of five hours sleep.

I find I can really switch off if I leave the country. I love to travel, and try to do so whenever I have time off, because

I often work weekends. This year

I’ve already been to

Turkey, Frankfurt and Cannes. I’m happy to always get away, and

I’m a big fan of spas. I love a good

TV drama.

Tommy Shelby from Peaky

Blinders is my favourite – he’s beautiful. I’m enjoying all the big ones now, like Line Of Duty, Big Little Lies and Game Of Thrones. And I’m hooked on the latest series of Stranger Things – I must be on episode five now, and my favourite character is Eleven.

Tina reads the news on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, regularly anchors BBC Breakfast, BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten, and co-hosts podcast Beyond Today