Irvine attended the Hermitage Academy before studying for an MA in History of Art at the University of St Andrew's.
She was a talented sportswoman and gained representative honours in golf, netball and athletics for Scottish Universities.
Irvine's broadcasting career began in 1986 as a production assistant with Radio Clyde. She moved into sport a year later when she joined Scottish Television as a reporter.
Having been prominent in ITV's coverage of the 1988 Olympics and 1990 World Cup, Irvine joined BBC Scotland in 1990 as presenter of Sportscene.
She has gone on to report on a variety of major events and took over from David Vine as the regular presenter of BBC Two's Ski Sunday.
Irvine has also presented Sunday Grandstand and regularly reports for Football Focus.
At the 1999 RTS Awards, she was named Best Regional TV Presenter/Reporter.