- Personal Appearances
- Presenters & Awards Hosts
Topics:
- TV/Radio Presenter
Phillip Schofield
Though brought up and educated in Newquay, Cornwall, PHILLIP SCHOFIELD began his career on Hospital Radio Plymouth at the age of 15, making the weekly train trip to present his Sunday morning show on the station. He had been writing letters to the BBC since the age of 10 and finally in 1979 the Corporation caved in, offering him the job of Outside Broadcast bookings clerk in BBC Broadcasting House, London. (At the age of 17 he was the youngest person in the building). Two years later, and hungry to get in front of a microphone he followed his parents on an adventure to New Zealand, where he began hosting TVNZ's weekly pop magazine show 'Shazam!' And his own show on Auckland's No1 station, Radio Hauraki. After four successful years and numerous other television and radio milestones, Phillip decided it was time to return to the UK.
In 1985 he became the BBC's first ever network, in-vision continuity announcer for Children's BBC. The 'Broom Cupboard' was invented and Gordon the Gopher was created. He then moved on to Saturday mornings, presenting six years of the award winning 'Going Live'. At the same time, Phillip also fulfilled a lifetimes ambition to become a Radio 1 DJ, presenting two weekly shows, the Breakfast Show and 3 summers of the iconic Radio 1 Roadshow (eventually getting the jewel in the crown and hosting the show from Fistral Beach in his native Newquay, to a crowd of 25,000, another serious ambition). Whilst continuing to create and present television programmes for both the BBC and ITV and collecting a number of coveted awards, in 1993 Phillip astonished everyone by stepping into the role of Joseph at the London Palladium. After exceptional reviews and the discovery that he loved the stage, he quickly made the part his own . What should have been six weeks turned into two years at the world famous theatre and a further two years touring. This was quickly followed by another West End success and World Premiere as the Dr in the acclaimed 'Dr Dolittle'. After three years 'Talking to the Animals' and a spell as Jack the Ripper in the stage production of 'The Lodger' Phillip decided it was time to return his attention to television.
In recent years Phillip has hosted four series of 'Winning Lines' for the BBC and continues to co-host the flagship 'Test the Nation' for the channel. He has seen considerable and continued success with his partnership with Fern Britton on ITV1's 'This Morning', winning the prestigious National Television Award and a number of other 'public vote' awards. Phillip has recently played an active part in the ITV 50 celebrations, hosting two substantial network programmes. His involvement with ITV is further enhanced by the 'Best Ever' series which is now in its third year and an increasing amount of voice over work for major specials including 'Coronation Street' and 'Emmerdale'. In 2005 Phillip was voted 'All time Favourite Children's Presenter' by readers of the Radio Times. In 2006, Phillip Schofield, together with Holly Willoughby, co-presented ITV's new celebrity reality competition 'Dancing on Ice'. This eight part, prime time Saturday night series saw the return of the great ice dancers Torvill & Dean who coached a celebrity team, including Kelly Holmes, David Seaman, Andi Peters, Tamara Beckworth, Bonnie Langford, Andrea McLean, John Barrowman, Sean Wilson, Gaynor Faye and Stefan Booth.
