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Chris Buckler and Sarah Brett will take over as presenters of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster's breakfast news programme Good Morning Ulster.

It was announced in November that broadcasters Noel Thompson and Karen Patterson were stepping away from presenting the show.

Most recently Chris has been ´óÏó´«Ã½ News' Washington Correspondent, while Sarah hosted her own show on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 5 Live.

They will join the station in April.

Head of ´óÏó´«Ã½ News NI, Adam Smyth, said they would make a "formidable pairing".

Sarah Brett joined ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Foyle in the 2004 as a reporter. Five years later in April 2009, she began hosting her own programme on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Foyle - The Sarah Brett Show.

She went on to present ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Foyle's award-winning breakfast programme with Enda McClafferty.

Since 2014, Sarah has been working at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 5 Live, having presented a wide range of programmes including Afternoon Edition, ´óÏó´«Ã½ 5 Live Drive and the Sarah Brett show.

She wrote and presented Podcast - Beast of Man with Kevin Pietersen on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds.

Chris Buckler joined the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in 1999 as a news trainee and went on to present and report for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Newsline.

In 2008 he joined ´óÏó´«Ã½ network news as North of England Correspondent and later UK Affairs Correspondent.

He returned to Belfast as Ireland Correspondent in 2013 before heading to Washington two years ago to report on the Trump administration and stories across north America.

He grew up in Helen's Bay and studied at Queen's University and later Ulster University.

As a law student at Queen's he reported for Belfast Community Radio before going on to produce Stephen Nolan's evening programme when the station became Belfast Citybeat.

Chris also worked for the Belfast Telegraph before joining the ´óÏó´«Ã½.

Sarah said it had been an "extraordinary five years" at 5 Live.

She said she was "delighted about coming home for so many reasons, but to come back into a programme that's the soundtrack to so many people's mornings is a real honour."

"Chris and I and the superb team at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster are totally committed to bringing you the best of that every day. And brighten your morning with a few smiles if we can," she added.

Chris said he was looking forward to his new role.

"Having covered two very busy years of Donald Trump's presidency it was a difficult decision to leave the US ahead of this year's election," he said

"But the opportunity to come home and be a part of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Northern Ireland's flagship news programme was too much to turn down," he added.

"We intend to make the programme a must-listen in the mornings and with ministers back in Stormont it is a great time to be relaunching the show.

"There may be some changes but you can rest assured that we'll continue to investigate the big stories and ensure people are held to account."