Laura Miller is new face of Reporting Scotland

Laura Miller will fill the shoes of Jackie Bird

BBC Scotland's flagship news programme has revealed a new face on its presenting team.

Laura Miller, the broadcaster's consumer affairs correspondent, will fill the vacancy at Reporting Scotland left by news anchor Jackie Bird.

The veteran presenter read her final bulletin in April before announcing she was leaving the programme she had worked on for 30 years.

Ms Miller will share weekday presenting duties with Sally Magnusson.

The new-look line-up will begin in October.

Ms Miller will continue to present The Nine on Fridays and previously worked with STV News as a reporter and news anchor.

A former pupil of Kilsyth Academy, Laura studied broadcast journalism at University College Falmouth in Cornwall after she graduated in Scots Law and French at Glasgow University and Universite d'Auvergne.

Jackie Bird presented her final Reporting Scotland programme in April

She joined STV News in 2007 after graduating from Falmouth where she secured BJTC Young Journalist of the Year and where she also produced an award-winning documentary on post-tsunami reconstruction in Thailand.

Laura credits her initial interest in broadcast journalism from the time she was on holiday in the area when the devastating tsunami hit Thailand on Boxing Day 2004.

The small Thai island she was staying on at the time escaped the tsunami but the unfolding story - and how it played out across the world on TV - led her to apply to Falmouth to study broadcast journalism.

She then spent 11 years at STV as a reporter, producer and latterly presenter before joining BBC Scotland last year.

Among the stories she has covered in her career are the Scottish independence referendum, the Commonwealth Games, the Clutha helicopter disaster and the London Olympics.

She also had a cameo role in last year's blockbuster Avengers film, Infinity War, where she played a news correspondent reporting on an alien attack in New York!

Laura will continue to present The Nine on Fridays with John Beattie

Laura said: "It is an enormous privilege to be taking on this role. It's a hugely talented and dedicated team and I am delighted to be joining them at what is, from a news perspective, one of the most fascinating and significant times in recent history.

"I grew up watching Jackie Bird on Reporting Scotland and I know I have very big shoes to fill. I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity and I can't wait to get started."

Reporting Scotland editor, Jackie Houston said: "I'm delighted that Laura will be joining the Reporting Scotland presenting team. In her time on The Nine and at STV, she has demonstrated an authoritative and warm presentation style, great editorial judgement and creativity, and tenacious interviewing skills. She is one of Scotland's very best news anchors."