Edith Eleanor Smith (born January 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted ''

Colin and Edith ''Colin and Edith'' was a radio show broadcast on BBC Radio 1 until 12 August 2006, hosted by radio personalities Edith Bowman and Colin Murray. The show began in 2003 and was scheduled on the station's weekend morning shift. In April 2004, foll ...

'', 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 current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

until 2014 and has presented a variety of music-related television shows and music festivals.

Early life

Bowman was brought up in Anstruther,

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

, Scotland. She attended secondary school at Waid Academy in Anstruther and then continued her studies in Media and Communication at Queen Margaret University,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Media career

Television

Bowman's first on-screen job on television was as a

news reader News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. New ...

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 and actress. From 1998 to 2002, she hosted the ITV children's show '' SMTV Live,'' for which she won a BAFTA Children's Award, and its spin-off chart show '' ...

, 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 network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's breakfast show '' RI:SE'' when it launched on 29 April 2002. In 2004, she co-presented the BBC Scotland 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 music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'' 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 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'' 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, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonb ...

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and Leeds Festival, 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.

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 ''

'' 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 Mark and Lard was the stage name of Mark Radcliffe (Mark) and Marc Riley (Lard), who presented various weekday shows on BBC Radio 1 from 1991 to March 2004. Career Radcliffe, then a Radio 1 producer, began presenting specialist shows on the ne ...

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 Dick and Dom (originally Richard and Dominic) are a British comedy double act consisting of the presenters Richard "Dick" McCourt and Dominic "Dom" Wood. They are primarily known for presenting 'the broom cupboard' presentation links on Child ...

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 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 ...

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, 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 ...

, 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 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 Kermode is a surname of Manx origin. It may refer to: I Surname * Robert Kermode (1812–1870), Tasmanian politician * P. M. C. Kermode (Philip Moore Callow Kermode, 1855–1932), Manx antiquarian and historian * Alexander Kermode (1876–1934), ...

'' on BBC Radio 5 Live, on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content ...

She also provides holiday cover for

presenters including Jo Whiley,

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer (née Cox; born 13 December 1974) is an English broadcaster. She presented ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 from 3 April 2000 until 19 December 2003. Since January 2019 she now hosts the BBC Radio 2 drivetime show, Monday ...

, and Gary Davies on ''Sounds of the 80s''.

Podcast

Bowman has presented ''

Soundtracking ''Soundtracking'' is a podcast created by its host Edith Bowman, first airing August 5, 2016. The Podcast is a conversation between Edith and a guest on music and film and its unique relationship. Established guests such as directors, actors, mus ...

'', 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 BBC Scotland's coverage of the Live 8 event at

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest st ...

, and hosted the network's

programmes with Dougie Anderson who had also worked on ''RI:SE''. Also in 2005, she hosted the Q Awards 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 targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

coverage of

and the

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

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

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 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 thro ...

. On 7 July 2007, she co-presented the BBC coverage of Live Earth. 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 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', also for Channel 4. In 2011, she presented coverage of the

music festival for

. She also had a stint with

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and 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 ...

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 Breakthrough Breast Cancer was a United Kingdom charity whose mission was to "save lives through improving early diagnosis, developing new treatments and preventing all types of breast cancer". In 2015, Breakthrough Breast Cancer merged with anothe ...

, alongside fellow celebrities: comedian Alan Carr, actress Anna Friel, singer Natalie Imbruglia and model Twiggy. From 2015 until 2017 Bowman hosted the annual

Young Scot Awards The Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards or Young Scot Awards is an annual award ceremony hosted by Young Scot and Sunday Mail to honour young people in Scotland for considerable achievements and positive contributions to charity or their community. T ...

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 now named STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isles, Western Isles, Highlands (except Fort William a ...

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

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

" which was itself a cover of the Shocking Blue 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 Jayne County, Sting, Eric ...

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

Al Murray Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian, actor, musician and writer from Hammersmith. In 2003, he was listed in ''The Observer'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2007 he was voted the 16th gre ...

, Kim Medcalf,

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' (1 ...

, Jon Culshaw, Konnie Huq, Dawn Steele, and other celebrities.

Personal life

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

References

External links

* *
''Music Therapy with Edith Bowman''
(BBC Radio 2) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Edith 1974 births Alumni of Queen Margaret University Living people Women DJs 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 women musicians Scottish women radio presenters Scottish podcasters Top of the Pops presenters