Devin Joseph Jordan Griffin (born 23 December 1984) is a British

radio presenter A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

, DJ and actor, who is most commonly known for his former weekend afternoon shows on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. Since 2 January 2021, he has presented a weekend show on

Heart The heart is a muscular organ found in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon diox ...

Early and personal life

Griffin was born on 23 December 1984 in

Hackney, London Hackney is a district in East London, England, forming around two-thirds of the area of the modern London Borough of Hackney, to which it gives its name. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross and includes part of the Que ...

, United Kingdom, to an Irish mother and a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

n father. He and his twin sister are the youngest of four siblings. He was educated at

The Ravenscroft School The Totteridge Academy is a mixed secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' seconda ...

and attended the after-school drama club at the Anna Scher Theatre School, where he met friend and future co-host

Reggie Yates Reginald (Reggie) Yates (born 31 May 1983) is a British writer and director with a career spanning three decades on screen as an actor, television presenter and radio DJ. Yates played Leo Jones in '' Doctor Who'' and has worked at the BBC in ra ...

Career

Early career

Griffin began his radio career in 2000, aged 16 on

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

station Freek FM, specialising in garage and jungle. Here he was known as DJ Devstar and presented with Yates (who used the moniker MC Nobizzi). In 2002, whilst studying for his A Levels at

, Griffin landed a job co-presenting the children's interactive TV show ''

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses d ...

'' (credited as DJ Devstar) alongside Yates,

Fearne Cotton Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', ...

and Nev the Bear. Six months into filming, he was approached by

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

to present a Saturday afternoon show with Yates. In 2003, Griffin left ''Smile'' to concentrate on his radio career.

Acting

In 2006, Griffin created and starred in children's sitcom ''

The Crust ''The Crust'' is a British television series about a pizza parlour which was originally shown by CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United K ...

''. He has starred as himself in '' Friday Download: The Movie'', as a result of campaigning at length on air to get himself a role in a

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...

DJ

Griffin was a member of the Rebellious music collective and played in venues at

Ayia Napa Ayia Napa ( el, Άγια Νάπα tr, Aya Napa, ), officially romanised Agia Napa, is a tourist resort at the far eastern end of the southern coast of Cyprus. Etymology The name Ayia Napa is derived from a Venetian-era monastery of the same ...

and Faliraki. He opened for

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

at the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ha ...

and

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 is an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1994 by rappers Charles Stewart ( Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup aka Zaakir), Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mark Potsic ( DJ Nu-Mark) and Lucas ...

at the

London Astoria The London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England. Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the building became a cinema and ballroom. It was converted for use as a theatre in the 1970s. After further developm ...

. He also played at the Radio 1 Teen Awards.

Radio

Griffin joined

at the launch in August 2002, where he and Yates presented ''The Lowdown with Reg and Dev'' on Saturday afternoons. In August 2004, the show moved to Saturday mornings, with Griffin additionally doing the show by himself on Sunday mornings. Yates left 1Xtra in December 2004, leaving Griffin to present both Saturday and Sunday morning shows by himself. Following further schedule changes in September 2005, Griffin moved to Saturday afternoons where he stayed until 2007, when he became presenter of the weekday early morning show. In July 2009, he moved to

to take on the weekend breakfast show. In September, he moved from the weekend slot to replace

Greg James Gregory James Alan Milward (born 17 December 1985) is an English radio and television presenter, comedian and author. He is the host of BBC Radio 1's breakfast show, co-presenter on the cricket podcast ''Tailenders'' alongside Felix White and ...

as host of the weekday early breakfast show, between 4am and 6:30am. In March 2014, he left the weekday slot and returned to the weekend breakfast show, taking over from

Gemma Cairney Gemma Cairney (born 19 March 1985) is an English television and radio presenter best known for her work on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music. She most recently presented '' The Leisure Society'' on BBC Radio 6 Music where she interviewed cultu ...

. He regularly presented ''

The Radio 1 Breakfast Show ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter. The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (seBBC Genome Project, then f ...

'' (sitting in for

Nick Grimshaw Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a t ...

), the Scott Mills show and the Greg James show as a relief presenter. In 2018, he and

Alice Levine Alice Esme Levine (born 8 July 1986) is an English radio and television presenter, narrator, and comedian. Early life and education Levine was born in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Her father is a retired lecturer at the University of Nottingham. ...

began hosting their own show, ''Dev & Alice,'' in the weekend breakfast slot. The duo were moved to the weekend afternoon show the same year. On 9 August 2020 the final show aired, following the announcement of Levine's departure from Radio 1. In November 2020,

announced major scheduling changes for the end of 2020 and 2021. Griffin, along with

Huw Stephens Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music. Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...

and

Phil Taggart Philip Taggart (born 10 June 1986) is a Northern Irish DJ and radio presenter on BBC Radio Ulster. Early life Philly Taggart was born in Derry but was raised in Drumragh, a townland on the outskirts of Omagh in County Tyrone. He attended ...

would not be rejoining the lineup in 2021. The latter two are not leaving the

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. ...

all together, and are instead returning to their former shows on BBC Radio Cymru,

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available on ...

and

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster ( ga, BBC Raidió Uladh) is a Northern Irish radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. It is ...

respectively. Instead, Dev departed the BBC, and joined

after 18 years with the corporation. His last show was 13:00 - 16:00 on 20th December 2020. He made his Heart debut on Saturday 2 January 2021, when he launched his brand new show 12:00-16:00. As of January 2022, Dev presents Heart’s Evening Show from 7-10pm Monday to Thursday, replacing Mark Wright, who has moved back to weekends.

Television

In 2016, Griffin and Alice Levine competed in a BBC Bargain Hunt Children in Need special. They took on Radio 4’s Nick Robinson and Aasmah Mir. Griffin reached the final of the 2017 series of ''

Celebrity Masterchef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2 ...

'', alongside

Ulrika Jonsson Eva Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967) is a Swedish-British television presenter and model. She became known as a TV-am weather presenter, moved on to present the ITV show '' Gladiators'', and as a team captain of the BBC Two show '' Shootin ...

and eventual winner, Angellica Bell. Griffin participated in the 17th series of ''Strictly Come Dancing'', partnered with professional dancer Dianne Buswell. They became the third ''Strictly'' couple to leave the show after losing a dance-off to Emma Weymouth and Aljaž Skorjanec. In April 2019, Griffin took part in the first series of '' Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins''. In October 2020, Dev participated in a celebrity edition of '' The Chase''.

Radio presenting

''Heart’s Evening Show'' 7-10pm, January 2022 - Present (Heart) *''Heart’s Feel Good Weekend'' 12-4pm, Saturday, 2 January 2021 - Present (Heart) *''Weekend Afternoon Show'' 1-4pm, Friday. Saturday and Sunday, 17 November 2018 - (9 August 2020 with

) - 20 December 2020 (BBC Radio 1) *''Weekend Breakfast Show'' 6-10am, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 29 March 2014 - 11 November 2018 (BBC Radio 1) *''Early Breakfast'' 4-6:30am, Monday-Friday, 21 September 2009 - 28 March 2014 (BBC Radio 1) *''Weekend Breakfast Show'' 7-10am, Saturday-Sunday, 4 July 2009 - 20 September 2009 (BBC Radio 1) *''Early Show'' 6-8am, Monday-Friday, 8 October 2007 - 1 July 2009 (BBC Radio 1Xtra) *''Weekend Afternoon Show'' midday-2pm, Saturdays, September 2005 - 6 October 2007 (BBC Radio 1Xtra) *''Weekend Morning Show'' 9am-midday, Saturday'Sunday, 8 August 2004 - September 2005 *''Lowdown with Reg & Dev'' midday-3pm, Saturdays, 17 August 2002 - 31 September 2004 (BBC Radio 1Xtra)

Television presenting

*''

'' (BBC2) *''Bring It On'' (BBC1)

Television acting

*''The Crust'' (Darrall Macqueen) *''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffa ...

'' *''I Bring You Frankincense'' *''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

'' *''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a da ...

'' *'' EastEnders'' *'' Almost Never (TV series)''

References

External links

* *
Dev Griffin on Heart Radio

o
The Radio 1 Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dev 1984 births English people of Irish descent English people of Jamaican descent BBC Radio 1 presenters BBC Radio 1Xtra presenters English male television actors Heart (radio network) People from Hackney Central People from Mill Hill Living people