Edith Eleanor Bowman (born 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted '' Colin and Edith'', weekday afternoons, weekend breakfast, and ''The Radio 1 Review'' 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 Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

until 2014 and has presented a variety of music-related television shows and music festivals. Since 2020, Bowman has hosted the annual Scottish Music Awards ceremony.

Early life

Bowman was born in 1974 in

Anstruther Anstruther ( ; ) is a coastal town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester, which are divided by a st ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland. She attended secondary school at Waid Academy in

and then continued her studies in Media and Communication at Queen Margaret University,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Media career

Television

Bowman's first on-screen job on television was as a news reader on MTV UK. She went on to host many shows for the station, including co-presenting chart show ''Hitlist UK'' with

Cat Deeley Catherine Elizabeth Deeley (born 23 October 1976) is an English television presenter. She is currently the main co-presenter for ITV's '' This Morning'', alongside Ben Shephard. Deeley began her career as a co-presenter of the ITV children' ...

, with whom she also presented travel show ''Roadtripping'' for

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first United Kingdom, British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in Digital television, digital format, as well as t ...

in 2002. She also worked as a presenter 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 ...

's breakfast show '' RI:SE'' when it launched on 29 April 2002. In 2004, she co-presented the

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

series ''Teen Commandments'' with Cameron Stout. After occasional appearances in 2003, Bowman co-presented ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' until the end of the series, replacing Fearne Cotton while she was away. In total she appeared on the show ten times including the final weekly episode. She returned to ''

'' for the 2006 ''Christmas Special''. In 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic, she remotely interviewed the film maker

Sofia Coppola Sofia Carmina Coppola ( , ; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and former actress. She has List of awards and nominations received by Sofia Coppola, won an Academy Awards, Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Golden Lion, and a Can ...

for the BBC4 series '' Life Cinematic''. She has also presented various music programmes for

such as ''Channel 4 Presents...'', '' Evo Music Rooms'', and ''TBA''. Bowman also appeared on children's art program ''

SMart ''SMart'' was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingha ...

'' in 2007 and has appeared in coverage of festivals such as

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

, T in the Park and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and

Leeds Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...

, for both BBC Radio and TV. On 29 April 2011, she was a reporter for BBC TV on their coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. In 2011, she narrated Channel 5's documentary series ''McFly on the Wall''. In December 2021, Bowman appeared in an episode of '' Celebrity Antiques Road Trip'', alongside fellow Radio 2 broadcaster Mark Radcliffe. In August 2024, Bowman was a quarter-finalist on the nineteenth series of '' Celebrity MasterChef''.

Radio

Bowman presented ''Hit Music Sunday'' with

on Capital London from 2001–2002. On 29 March 2003, she teamed up with Colin Murray, who had also worked on ''RI:SE'', to co-host '' Colin and Edith'' on

. In April 2004 this show moved from a weekend morning slot to weekday afternoons, broadcasting between 13:00 and 16:00, after the departure of Mark and Lard from the station. In August 2006, Bowman became the sole occupier of the

afternoon 13:00 to 16:00 slot, with Murray taking over a late-night specialist music programme. In September 2008, she returned to the station after maternity leave, initially taking over from Dick and Dom on the ''Sunday Morning Lie In'' from 10:00 to 13:00. She returned to weekday afternoons on 3 November 2008. In July 2009 it was announced that Radio 1 was to change its daytime schedule, and this saw Bowman move to ''Weekend Breakfast''. She said that she felt she had taken her shows as far as she could, and the move meant she could create a new show for a new market. In February 2012, it was announced that Bowman was being replaced by Gemma Cairney on Weekend Breakfast, and would move to Tuesday evenings, in order to take over ''The Review Show'', from DJ Nihal. Bowman left weekends on 1 April 2012, but continued on different projects through out-of-house productions which air on the station. Her first show of the new ''Review Show'' was on 26 March 2013. In November 2012, she started co-hosting a Saturday morning show on

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

, alongside Adam Buxton. In June 2014, Radio 1 announced that ''The Review Show'' would be cancelled on 1 September 2014, ending Bowman's career at the station. In February 2016, she was announced as the only solo, female, breakfast show host on commercial radio, with the launch of

Virgin Radio UK Virgin Radio UK is a national Hot Adult Contemporary radio station in the United Kingdom that launched on 30 March 2016, owned by News Broadcasting, which is itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is the second incarnation of Virgin Radio in the U ...

on 30 March. She left the programme on 29 September 2017. Bowman was an occasional stand-in presenter of '' Kermode and Mayo's Film Review'' on

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 ...

, on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

she also provides holiday cover for its presenters including Jo Whiley, Sara Cox,

Gary Davies Gary Davies (born 13 December 1957) is a British broadcaster. From 1982 to 1993 he was a BBC Radio 1 disc jockey and a regular presenter of ''Top of the Pops''. As of 2025, Davies can be heard on BBC Radio 2 presenting Saturday night show ' ...

on ''Sounds of the 80s'', and Fearne Cotton on ''Sounds of the 90s''. Bowman is the host of ''Cinematic Soundtracks'' on BBC Radio 3 Unwind since the station's launch in November 2024.

Podcast

Bowman has presented '' Soundtracking'', a weekly half hour podcast in which she interviews film-makers about musical influences and their choice of music in films.

Career milestones

In 2005, Bowman presented

's coverage of the

Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 2005 ...

event at

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The stadium is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) who has its headquarters based at the stadium, and is the national stadium of the Scotla ...

, and hosted the network's T in the Park programmes with Dougie Anderson who had also worked on ''RI:SE''. Also in 2005, she hosted the

Q Awards The Q Awards were the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine '' Q''. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards became one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards. Locations for the awards ceremony included Abbey Road Studios ...

with Colin Murray live on

. She also presented the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

coverage of

, T in the Park and the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...

with Colin Murray. She also hosted the TV coverage of the first Electric Proms with

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

. On 7 July 2007, she co-presented the BBC coverage of

Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase Environmentalism, environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Live Earth 2007 The 1st series ...

. After leaving Radio 1, Bowman presented several one-off film specials for

. She also presented Evo Music Rooms a late night music programme for Channel 4 and '' The Vue Film Show'', also for Channel 4. In 2011, she presented coverage of the T in the Park music festival for

. She also had a stint with

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is owned by AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary series). Unlike the BBC's ...

as an entertainment presenter in 2014.

Charity interests

In May 2008, Bowman supported the ''Fashion Targets Breast Cancer'' campaign in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, alongside fellow celebrities: comedian

Alan Carr Alan Graham Carr (born 14 June 1976) is an English comedian, broadcaster, and writer. His breakthrough was in 2001, winning the '' City Life'' Best Newcomer of the Year and the BBC New Comedy Awards. In the ensuing years, Carr's career burgeo ...

, actress Anna Friel, singer Natalie Imbruglia and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

Twiggy. From 2015 until 2017 Bowman hosted the annual Young Scot Awards.

Singing

Bowman's television debut was on the

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isle ...

talent show ''The Big Break''. At the age of 14, she covered

Bananarama Bananarama is an English pop group formed in London in 1980. The group, originally a trio, consisted of friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when ...

's "

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

" which was itself a cover of the

Shocking Blue Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. They were part of the Nederbeat movement in the Netherlands. The band had a string of hit songs during the Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture movement of the 1960s and e ...

original, but finished joint last in her heat. On 11 March 2005 she won the TV talent show '' Comic Relief Does Fame Academy'', a charity music contest in which she sang " Champagne Supernova" with

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...

's band. Earlier in the competition she sang a version of Blondie's " Hanging on the Telephone". The show also featured Al Murray, Kim Medcalf,

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. Part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s, he and his comedy partner Rik Mayall starred in the television sitc ...

Jon Culshaw Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968) is an English actor, comedian and Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist. He is best known for his work on the radio comedy ''Dead Ringers (comedy), Dead Ringers'' since 2000. Culshaw has voiced ...

Konnie Huq Konnie Huq (born Kanak Asha Huq ; on 17 July 1975) is a British television and radio presenter, screenwriter and children's author. She became the longest-serving female presenter of the British children's television programme '' Blue Peter'', ...

, Dawn Steele, and other celebrities.

Personal life

Bowman married

Editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

frontman Tom Smith in 2013, and the couple have two sons, born in 2008 and 2013.

References

External links

* *
''Cinematic Soundtracks''
(BBC Radio 3 Unwind) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Edith 1974 births Alumni of Queen Margaret University Living people BBC Radio 1 presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters BBC Radio 5 Live presenters BBC Radio 6 Music presenters Virgin Radio (UK) Scottish television presenters Scottish women television presenters British women radio presenters Singing talent show winners People from Anstruther People educated at Waid Academy 21st-century British women musicians Scottish women radio presenters Scottish podcasters