Reeta Chakrabarti was born in Ealing, London in 1964 to Bidhan and Ruma Chakrabarti of Indian Bengali heritage. She grew up in Birmingham but also spent part of her teenage years in India. She later studied English and French at Exeter College, University of Oxford.

She began her BBC career as a producer for radio programmes including Today, The World at One, and PM. She later worked on Newsbeat at BBC Radio 1 and then became a reporter for the BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast programme, covering major stories such as elections and national tragedies.

In 1997 she became the BBC’s Community Affairs Correspondent, reporting on the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and other major UK stories. She later served as political and education correspondent before becoming a main news presenter in 2014.

Chakrabarti lives in North London with her husband, Paul Hamilton and three children and keeps much of her personal life private while continuing her long career with BBC News.