Melissa Doyle hopes media backs off cricketer Steve Smith

Sunday Night pursues some of the nation’s highest profile news stories, but Melissa Doyle admits Steve Smith’s press conference last week left a marked impression on her.

Smith’s tearful address to media last Thursday was the latest in the cheating scandal that has enveloped the country.

“Everybody has such strong views and as a nation I think we all felt a little bit broken-hearted,” says Doyle. “But after watching the press conference, and seeing a young man siting with his dad, who was broken….. I just hope we back off.

“Sometimes we get whipped up into this frenzy. Right or wrong it doesn’t matter. There’s still a young man at the centre of this.

“I walked away from it thinking ‘Gosh I hope someone is looking out for him.’”

Should an interview with Smith become part of a future Sunday Night episode, then no doubt it will be one that resonates with her beyond the assignment formalities.

“I take something out of all of them for different reasons,” she says of recent interview highlights.

“A couple of them have been meeting people who I have stayed in touch with. Brenda Lin, last year was an extraordinary woman who lost her family.

“She is one of the strongest young women I have ever met. So we have stayed in touch and I will look out for her, forever.

“We did a special on Princess Di and I interviewed James Hewitt who was her lover, and her best friend Rosa Monckton.

“I was fascinated to meet Bernard Tomic and have him explain what on earth he is thinking, and why he does what he does.

“My favourite stories are meeting somebody who has done something or is making news and just finding out about them and what makes them tick.

“I love the whole research part of it.”

Doyle has been with Seven for 23 years, joining as a political reporter in Canberra. She rose to national prominence co-hosting Sunrise from 2002-2013 before assuming hosting duties on Sunday Night from 2015. The show allows her to apply her skills to stories in entertainment, politics, health and more. Variety is the spice of a journo’s life.

“It’s like if you go to a dinner party. You might talk about Trump, the footy, some Hollywood actress, Meghan Markle and then some deep political stuff. That’s the nature of what everybody does. It’s the natural progression of conversation, so I hope that our show reflects that,” she says.

On Friday after returning to Australia from assignment in London, Doyle stepped into Live hosting on the Good Friday Appeal. It was just enough to remind her she misses the thrill of Live television.

“It was great. An adrenalin rush. I love it. I mean that’s what I’ve done forever, but I haven’t done it for a couple of years, so it was really good fun to do it,” she said.

“Sitting there with Andrew O’Keefe it’s always a wild ride!”