Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

best known for hosting Saturday morning

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

programme ''

Soccer AM ''Soccer AM'' was a British football-based comedy talk show, produced by Sky Sports. It aired from 20 August 1994 to 27 May 2023 on Sky Showcase, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football. From 2010, the programme was put on a short b ...

'' with

Helen Chamberlain Helen Marie Chamberlain (born 2 April 1967) is an English television presenter, best known for presenting ''Soccer AM'' on Sky Sports for 22 years. She previously worked as a holiday camp entertainer. Biography Chamberlain was born in Street, S ...

for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings. He presents ''

Sunday Brunch ''Sunday Brunch'' is a British television programme presented by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer. It is broadcast live on Channel 4 on Sunday mornings and features cookery and interviews with celebrity guests. Format The programme began on 25 Ma ...

'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

Career

Early career

Lovejoy began his television career as a covering VJ for

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. He then joined

Planet 24 Planet 24 is a television production company, which produced ''The Big Breakfast'' and '' The Word'' for Channel 4. It had an animation division called Impossible TV, founded in 1997. History Bob Geldof and Tony Boland (television producer) fo ...

, working as a researcher for ''

The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1992 to 2002, and as a revival from 2021 to 2022. The show had various presenters, starting with Chris Evans (presenter), ...

'' before going on to produce the show. Richard Marson's book celebrating fifty years of ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...

'' also comments that Lovejoy auditioned as a presenter in the 1990s.

''Soccer AM''

Lovejoy began hosting and producing football show ''

'' on Sky Television in 1996, with

. He remained on the show for eleven years. Following the success of ''Soccer AM'', Lovejoy became a radio DJ, joining

Xfm Radio X is a British national commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. The station launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station named Q102, before being renamed Xfm in 1992. The station b ...

before moving to

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio is a branding of radio stations broadcast in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. As of April 2024, there were over 40 stations globally. The stations ...

, where he briefly presented a Sunday-afternoon show. He also hosted ''Tim Lovejoy and the Allstars'', a show similar to ''

TFI Friday ''TFI Friday'' (Thank Four it's Friday) is an entertainment show that was broadcast on Channel 4 television in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker, and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first five ...

'', on

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

, where he chatted with celebrities, between performances from a variety of bands. In 2006, Lovejoy was appointed as the co-host of the car show ''

Fifth Gear ''Fifth Gear'' is a British motoring television magazine series which has been broadcast since 2002. Originally shown on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011 (and branded as ''5th Gear'' until 2005), it began as a continuation of the original version ...

'' on

Five 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

for two series. Lovejoy announced on 5 June 2007 that he would be leaving ''Soccer AM'' after eleven years.

Post-''Soccer AM''

Following his departure from ''Soccer AM'', Lovejoy joined

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

as the Wednesday night host of its football phone-in show ''

6-0-6 ''606'' (pronounced six-oh-six) is a weekend early evening football phone-in programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live throughout the British football season. It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom. T ...

'' though he was dropped in 2009. He also presented the UK edition of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

magazine show '' David Beckham's Soccer USA'' In 2008, Lovejoy launched an internet TV channel called Channel Bee. As of 20 November 2009, the website has been taken down. In February 2010, Lovejoy guest presented an episode of ''

'' 12 years after auditioning for the show. A clip of Lovejoy's original audition was shown during the programme. Lovejoy participated in the 2011 series of ''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a British competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2005 as ''MasterChef Goes Large' ...

''.

''Something for the Weekend''

From 2006 until 2012, Lovejoy co-presented the Sunday morning TV programme '' Something for the Weekend'' on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

, opposite chef

Simon Rimmer Simon Peter Rimmer (born 5 May 1963) is an English celebrity chef, best known for his on-screen partnership with Tim Lovejoy. Early life Simon Peter Rimmer was born in Wallasey. Career Rimmer originally studied fashion and textile design, and ...

and various female co-hosts including

Louise Redknapp Louise Elizabeth Redknapp (née Nurding; born 4 November 1974), professionally known as Louise, is an English singer, dancer and media personality. She was a member of Eternal, an R&B girl group which debuted in 1993 with their quadruple-pla ...

(previous co-hosts include Amanda Hamilton and

Caroline Flack Caroline Louise Flack (9 November 1979 – 15 February 2020) was an English television presenter and actress. Flack grew up in Norfolk and took an interest in dancing and theatre while at school. She began her professional career as an actress, ...

). The show centred on cookery, with celebrity guests assisting in the preparation of easy recipes, and viewers encouraged to make the same dishes at home. It also had regular segments on cocktails, gadgets, and 'guess the year' based on old pop and news clips. It was reported in January 2012 that the show, which in 2011 ran as a 46 × 90-minute series, had fallen foul of the BBC's Delivering Quality First cuts because of its unfortunate scheduling on BBC 2 during the day, despite consistently high ratings. The show ended in March, and an online campaign was launched to save the programme.

''Sunday Brunch'' and ''Daily Brunch''

On 25 March 2012, Lovejoy and Rimmer began hosting a new show for

, ''

''. The series started one week after the final episode of ''Something for the Weekend''. In 2014, Lovejoy and Rimmer presented a short-lived spin-off series called ''

Daily Brunch ''Sunday Brunch'' is a British television programme presented by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer. It is broadcast live on Channel 4 on Sunday mornings and features cookery and interviews with celebrity guests. Format The programme began on 25 Ma ...

'', airing Monday to Fridays from 10am. The show lasted for just eight weeks.

BT Sport

In August 2013, Lovejoy began hosting the Saturday morning ''BT Sports Panel'' (''BTSP'') show of predictions, previews and reviews – a format similar to his former ''Soccer AM'' days.

Books

The two other books are linked to his TV series; ''Lazy Brunch'', 'co-authored' with chef

(Quadrille Publishing, London, 2008) and ''Something for the Weekend: 60 fabulous recipes for a Lazy Brunch'', also co-authored with Rimmer (Quadrille Publishing, London, 2009). His name is also associated with two DVDs on football: ''Lovejoy and Redknapp's Best of Football'' (2007) and ''Tim Lovejoy's Football Managers Uncut – A Guide to the Game's Greatest Gaffers'' (2008). His book ''Lovejoy on Football'' was not critically well received.

Taylor Parkes Taylor Parkes (born 30 April 1972) is a British journalist. He is best known for his music journalism which appeared in ''Melody Maker'' from 1993 to 1998. Parkes was a champion of Saint Etienne, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers and the Romo scen ...

in monthly football magazine ''

When Saturday Comes ''When Saturday Comes'' (''WSC'') is a monthly magazine about football, first published in London, England in 1986. "It aims to provide a voice for intelligent football supporters, offering both a serious and humorous view of the sport, covering ...

'' described it as "tedious in the extreme ... Hopelessly banal and nauseatingly self-assured, smirkingly unfunny ... There’s something sinister here, too: beamingly positive, thrilled by wealth, too pleased with himself to ask awkward questions."

Podcast

In 2017 Lovejoy launched ''Dear Lovejoy'', originally an agony uncle podcast, but later evolving into a series of interviews.

Personal life

Lovejoy married Jade in 2002 and has twin girls from the marriage, born in 2002. Lovejoy was in a relationship with English netball player

Tamsin Greenway Tamsin Greenway (born 6 October 1982) is a former England netball international. She was a member of the England teams that won bronze medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and at the 2011 and 2015 Netball World Cups. Between 2006 and 2018 she ...

. She gave birth to the couple's first child together, a daughter, on 22 May 2013. In May 2016, Lovejoy announced that this relationship had ended. In 2009, Lovejoy was named by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' as the 49th most eligible bachelor in Britain.

References

External links

*
When Saturday Comes book review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovejoy, Tim 1968 births Living people BT Sport presenters and reporters English association football commentators English television presenters People educated at St. Clement Danes School People from Northwood, London People from Watford Television personalities from the London Borough of Hillingdon Virgin Radio (UK)