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Craig Phillips (born 16 October 1971) is an English television personality and builder. He is known for winning the
first series of ''
Big Brother'' in 2000. He is trained as a bricklayer, and has appeared in numerous television series related to building since winning ''Big Brother''.
Early life
The younger of two children and born in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, his family moved to
Newport, Shropshire
Newport is a constituent market town in Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. It lies north of Telford, west of Stafford, and is near the Shropshire-Staffordshire border. The 2001 census recorded 10,814 people living in the town's paris ...
in the late 1980s. At 18, Phillips secured a day release bricklayers apprenticeship whilst employed with
Wrekin Council's construction department. He also attended further night school classes in advanced brickwork and civil engineering. Having qualified with a
City & Guilds
The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies – to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has ...
, Phillips went on to set up his own building company. In the 1990s, he presented ''Renovation Street'' with
Linda Robson
Linda Patricia Mary Dunford ( Robson; born 13 March 1958) is an English actress and television presenter. She is best known for playing Tracey Stubbs in the sitcom '' Birds of a Feather'' (1989–1998, 2014–2020) and her appearances as a weekl ...
for Carlton ITV before being brought in as the
DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
expert for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
on an exclusive contract in 2001.
Career after ''Big Brother''
After leaving ''
Big Brother'' as the first winner, Phillips announced he was giving his £70,000 prize fund to his friend Joanne Harris, who had
Down syndrome
Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...
, to pay for her heart and lung transplant. He had begun raising money with friends for Harris sometime before entering ''Big Brother'', raising only small amounts of money towards the £250,000 needed for her operation, but within 6 days of winning, he achieved the target required for her life saving operation thanks to public support and donations from celebrities. Harris died in April 2008. He has featured in comedy series ''
Bo' Selecta!
''Bo' Selecta!'' is a British television sketch show written and performed by Leigh Francis. It was broadcast on Channel 4 from 2002 until 2009 and lampooned popular culture, becoming known for its often surreal, abstract toilet humour. Seas ...
'' and appeared in the reality series ''
Back To Reality'', raising £40,000 for Macmillan Cancer Trust.
At Christmas 2000, Phillips released the charity single, "At This Time of Year" through
Warner Music
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...
. The single went to Number 14 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
,
achieving silver disc status, and raising over £40,000 for the
Down's Syndrome Association. It stayed in the top 40 for three weeks. Since then, he appeared in videos for two other Xmas singles – "Bo Selectas! Proper Crimbo" which reached No. 4 in 2003 and
Ricky Tomlinson
Eric "Ricky" Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in '' Brookside'', DCI Charlie Wise in ''Cracker'' and Jim Royle in '' The Royle Family'', and playing the titular cha ...
's "Xmas My A*se" which reached 25 in 2006. In 2001, Phillips appeared on ''
Lily Savage's Blankety Blank
''Blankety Blank'' is a British comedy game show which started in 1979 and is still running today, albeit with some sizeable gaps.
The original series ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC1, hosted first by Terry Wogan from 1979 un ...
'';
in 2003, Phillips appeared on the fifth series of ''Fort Boyard''.
Phillips has presented numerous televisions programmes, including ''Housecall'', ''Housecall in the Country'', ''Builders Sweat and Tears'', ''Our House'', ''Trading Up'', ''Big Strong Boys'', ''Boyz in the Wood'', ''Big Strong Boys in the Sun'', ''Renovation Street'', ''Trading Up in the Sun'', ''House Trap'' and ''Craig’s Trade Tips''. He also has a production company called Avent Productions. For Avent, he has presented ''Conversion''; a 10-part series for
Discovery Realtime
Discovery Real Time was a British television channel owned by Discovery Networks UK focused on educational and learning content.
History
It was originally launched on 9 March 1992 as The Learning Channel, United Kingdom's version of the TLC (TV ...
, and the sixth series of ''Hung, Drawn & Broke'', a 6-part series filmed for
British Forces Broadcasting Service. The company also produces corporate productions many of these for building companies. In 2007, Phillips joined the team of ''
60 Minute Makeover
''60 Minute Makeover'' was a British daytime home interior design television programme broadcast on ITV, and later by Quest Red. In 2013, the show's name changed to reflect the change in presenter to Peter Andre.
Format
The challenge was to red ...
'' for
ITV. He appeared in 80 episodes in 2008.
In February 2009, Phillips appeared in ''
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' (referred to simply as ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' or ''SNT'') is a British television variety show, created and presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec), an ...
'' in "Escape from Takeaway Prison" for six weeks. In summer 2009, he released his debut autobiography. In July 2009, Phillips returned to the ''Big Brother'' house to help celebrate the show's tenth anniversary. In 2010, Phillips appeared on ''Big Brother'' again, and competed in a shed building task. He also appeared in ''Dermot's Last Supper'', a special to celebrate the ending of ''Big Brother''. In April 2011, he hosted a show called ''Celebrity DIY with Craig Phillips'' for
Home. In June 2011, he also hosted ''If It's Broke, Fit It'' for Home.
In June 2020, he made a guest appearance on ''Big Brothers's Best Shows'' on
E4, where he talked about watching his series back.
Since 2013, Phillips has worked as a presenter for the SilverLine Tools YouTube channel, demonstrating how to put together and build some of their products. He is also often featured in their website and social media.
Personal life
In 2018, Phillips married Laura Sherriff at
Peckforton Castle
Peckforton Castle is a Victorian country house built in the style of a medieval castle. It stands in woodland at the north end of Peckforton Hills northwest of the village of Peckforton, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Herit ...
, Cheshire, after the couple had dated for two years. Rather than asking for gifts from guests, he and Sherriff asked that the attendants donate to hospice charities instead. The couple have two children: Nelly (born March 2019), and Lennon (born December 2020). The couple featured in Channel 5's (S1 Ep1) "Millionaire Age Gap Love" in 2020.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Craig
1971 births
Living people
Big Brother (British TV series) winners
People from Newport, Shropshire
Broadcast mass media people from Liverpool
British bricklayers