Nikhila Bedi (; '' née'' Moolgaoker; 9 September 1966) is a British television and radio presenter, born to an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n father of Maharashtrian origin and an English mother. Married to

Kabir Bedi Kabir Bedi ( pa, ਕਬੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਬੇਦੀ; born 16 January 1946) is an Indian actor. His career has spanned three continents covering India, the United States and especially Italy among other European countries in three media: f ...

from 1992 to 2005, she retained her married name after a divorce in 2005. She describes herself as Indo-Anglian. She writes and presents ''The Arts Hour'' and ''The Arts Hour on Tour'' for the BBC World Service, and co-hosts

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's '' Saturday Live''.

Career

Both a stage and television actress, she began her career in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. Spotted by the UK's

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, Bedi hosted ''Bombay Chat'', an on-location celebrity talk show.

Star TV Star TV may refer to: * E! (Canadian TV channel) (formerly Star!), a Canadian entertainment news channel * Las Estrellas (Spanish for The Stars), the Mexican television network * Estrella TV (Spanish for Star TV), the American Spanish-language net ...

gave her a primetime slot for ''Nikki Tonight'' which quickly proved to be Asia's most widely viewed and controversial talk show, although it was subsequently cancelled by Star TV after a guest, gay rights activist

Ashok Row Kavi Ashok Row Kavi is an Indian journalist and LGBT rights activist. Life He was born in Mumbai on 1 June 1947. He graduated with honours in Chemistry from the University of Bombay. Later, he dropped out of engineering college. Due to his early ...

, made a derogatory remark about

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

. Bedi then moved to live and work for a time in Los Angeles, before returning to the UK in 2000 to be the face of Universal's film channel The Studio for over two years. She also presented two live film shows for

NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

, ''Worldwide Screen'' and ''Bollywood Today''. In 2003, Bedi began working in radio, appearing on

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadca ...

and BBC Radio 4. In 2004, she became the presenter of a new weekend morning programme called ''Hot Breakfast'' on the

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

before taking over as presenter of the weekday afternoon show, ''Drive'' in 2005. In May 2006, as part of wide-ranging schedule changes, she was given her own show called ''Nikki Bedi'' on the

. The daily show featured music, films, books, art and all things cultural and included interviews with prominent figures from those worlds. She has covered for a number of key presenters on BBC Radio 2,

BBC London 94.9 BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the Lond ...

and BBC Radio 4 and in October 2008 fulfilled a long-held ambition by appearing in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 drama, ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural sett ...

''. Bedi continued with her television work alongside radio, appearing as a presenter on BBC2's ''

Desi DNA ''Desi DNA'' was a British television show on the BBC covering ''Desi'' (North Indian) art, culture and entertainment that launched in 2003. In 2004 ''Desi DNA'' received the Best Lifestyle Programme award from the Royal Television Society. Th ...

'' for three years and on the popular

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

series ''

To Buy or Not to Buy ''To Buy or Not to Buy'' is a British reality television series made between 2003 and 2010 for BBC One in the UK. The final series was the eleventh and contained 90 episodes, in one of two formats—either 30 or 45 minutes in length. It aired on ...

'' during 2010 and 2011. Bedi was a

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, the ...

judge in the New Novel category announced in Jan 2010 and has also been on the judging panel for the European Independent Film Festival Awards and the One World Media Awards. In February 2010, she presented a 3-part documentary series on BBC Radio 2 called ''Bollywood Britain''. The series explores the history of Hindi film music and its lasting ties with generations of British Asians. Bedi continues to be a voiceover artist, having voiced or narrated a wide variety of shows from the BBC Four documentary series '' Indian School'' to the '' Millies'' on ITV.

BBC Radio London, BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4 (2010–present)

Joining BBC Radio London in 2010, Bedi presented an evening weekend show until taking over as presenter of the Monday to Thursday overnight show in 2011. She has also been a regular stand-in presenter for key BBC Radio London shows and presenters including, the ''

Lesley Joseph Lesley Diana Joseph (born 14 October 1945) is an English actress and broadcaster, best known for playing Dorien Green in the television sitcom '' Birds of a Feather'' from 1989 to 1998 and again from 2014 to 2020. Other television credits incl ...

Show'', the ''

Vanessa Feltz Vanessa Jane Feltz is an English television personality, broadcaster, and journalist. She has appeared on various television shows, including ''Vanessa'' (1994–1998), ''The Big Breakfast'' (1996–1998), ''The Vanessa Show'' (1999), ''Celebr ...

Show'', '' Eddie Nestor's Rum Shop'', ''

The Late Show with JoAnne Good JoAnne Dorothy Good (born 15 January 1955) is a British radio presenter, television presenter, broadcast journalist and actress. Career Actress As an actress, she is best known for her role as Carol Sands in the ITV soap '' Crossroads'' from ...

'' and

Gaby Roslin Gaby Roslin (born 12 July 1964) is an English television and radio presenter who rose to fame co-presenting ''The Big Breakfast'' on Channel 4 between 1992 and 1996. Roslin also presented the '' Children in Need'' charity telethons on the BBC ...

on ''The Breakfast Show''. Early in 2013, Bedi moved to the BBC Radio London evening weekend show (Friday to Sunday), making way for her new weekday show ''The Arts Hour'' on the BBC World Service. Curated, written and presented by Bedi, ''The Arts Hour'' is a weekly collection of the most interesting arts related stories from across 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. ...

...

Career

BBC Radio London, BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4 (2010–present)

References

External links