James Paul Theakston (born 21 December 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, narrator and actor. He has hosted television programmes for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, ITV,

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 ...

and Channel 5. He co-presented the Saturday morning

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

children's show ''

Live & Kicking ''Live & Kicking'' was a British children's television series that originally aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1993 to 15 September 2001. It was the replacement for '' Going Live!'', and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, ...

'' alongside Zoe Ball between 1996 and 1999, and occasionally hosted the music programme ''

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 ...

'' between 1998 and 2003. He currently co-hosts the national breakfast show with

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English media personality, actress and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent competition show '' Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the national ''H ...

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

Radio. Theakston narrated the BBC documentary series '' Traffic Cops'' from 2003 to 2015, and on Channel 5 from 2016 onwards. He has won a BAFTA award for ''Live & Kicking'' and numerous awards for his radio work, including a Sony Gold, 3 Silver awards and 4 Bronze awards, 2 Arqiva awards, 3 TRIC awards and 2 New York Radio Festival Awards.

Education

He joined the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and charity in London, created with the aim of developing young people's artistic skills via theatrical productions and other creative endeavours. Founded in 1956 as the world ...

at the age of 13, where he appeared in plays including ''

Murder in the Cathedral ''Murder in the Cathedral'' is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot, first performed in 1935 (published the same year). The play portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral during the reign of Henry II in 1170. El ...

'' and ''

Marat/Sade ''The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade'' (), usually shortened to ''Marat/Sade'' (), is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss. The work was firs ...

'' alongside contemporaries such as

Daniel Craig Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English actor. His accolades include two National Board of Review Awards, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Awards. ...

, but he was put off from pursuing a full-time acting career by the financial hardships that he encountered. After leaving

Lancing College Lancing College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils aged 13–18 in southern England, UK. The school is located in West S ...

with nine O-Levels and one GCSE in Maths, retaking it at BHASVIC, he attended

North London Polytechnic The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

(now

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London and London Guildhall University merged in 2002 to create the university. The Un ...

), from which he graduated with a first class degree in

business studies Business studies, often simply called business, is a field of study that deals with the principles of business, management, and economics. It combines elements of accountancy, finance, marketing, organizational studies, human resource manageme ...

. Whilst at university, he read traffic bulletins on BBC GLR because he wanted to get into sports reporting.

Life and career

Radio

Before embarking on a broadcasting career, he worked for

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

eers

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

, and planned to study

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

at the Courtauld Institute. However, after undertaking football and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

reports for GLR and Radio 5 Live, he was spotted by the BBC's head of sport and hired to present GLR's ''Saturday Sport Show'' at the age of 23. He then presented numerous shows for Radio 5 Live including ''Sportscall,'' ''The Jamie Theakston Cricket Show'' and ''Sport on Wednesday''. Theakston joined Radio 1 in April 1999 to present the ''Sunday Lunch'' show. He fronted the 'One Big Sunday' events during 2000. He moved to a Saturday morning slot in 2001.He also acted as holiday cover on the station. He left Radio 1 in 2002 to pursue an acting career, his last show being broadcast on 28 September. He joined London radio station Heart 106.2 in May 2005, replacing Jonathan Coleman on ''Heart Breakfast'' with Harriet Scott, which won Gold for Best Music Personality Show at the New York Festivals and the Silver Entertainment Award at the Sony Radio Academy Awards, both in 2007. Theakston (along with Scott) won the Radio Presenter of the Year award at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards in June 2009. Scott left Heart Breakfast in 2013; she was replaced by Spice Girl

Emma Bunton Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English singer, songwriter, media personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the Pop music, pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice, reflecting the ...

, who already had a show on the Heart network. Bunton left in 2018. On 3 June 2019, Heart Breakfast went national across the UK, following a decision by the UK radio regulator

OFCOM The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

to reduce local programming requirements. Theakston currently hosts the show alongside

. Between Bunton’s departure and Holden’s arrival, Heart DJ

Lucy Horobin Lucy Clare Horobin (born 17 October 1979) is a British radio presenter well-known for presenting Heart London Drivetime with Jason King. Career She attended Nottingham Trent University where she achieved a BA (Hons) in Broadcast Journalism. ...

was brought in as a temporary co host for Theakston.

Television

On television, after presenting '' The O Zone'' with Jayne Middlemiss, he has most notably hosted ''

'' (1998–2003), ''

'' (1996–1999) and ''The Priory''. The latter two shows he co-presented alongside Zoe Ball. Theakston featured beside Zoë Ball once again in Channel 5's ''Britain's Best Brain'' series, which aired in October 2009. He has also hosted a number of other shows, including the

reality TV show '' The Games'' alongside Kirsty Gallacher; game show, ''Beg Borrow or Steal'' (2004); prime-time Saturday night show ''The People's Quiz; Channel 4's The Search;'' and ITV Saturday night show ''With A Little Help From My Friends''. From July–August 2013, Theakston and

presented ITV's '' This Morning Summer'' on Friday mornings. Theakston's other presenting work includes fronting the

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

coverage for the

, the Oscars, the Grammys, ''A Question of Pop'', UK Music Hall of Fame and Guinness World Records. He narrated all episodes of '' Traffic Cops'' and its spin-off show '' Motorway Cops'', and since 2015 has narrated episodes of '' Caught on Camera''. He also played himself in the mock-interview series '' Rock Profile'' in which he interviewed "celebrities" impersonated by

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer and television host. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Britain (TV series), Little Britain'' (2003–2006) ...

and

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams (), is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little ...

, and in the episode "Video Killed the Radio Star" of the TV series '' FM'' in March 2009.

Acting

As an actor, Theakston has appeared in shows such as ''

Agatha Christie's Marple ''Agatha Christie's Marple'' (or simply ''Marple'') is a British ITV television programme loosely based on books and short stories by British crime novelist Agatha Christie. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first t ...

'' and '' Little Britain''. Theakston has acted with

in ''

Mad About Alice ''Mad About Alice'' is a British sitcom that ran during 2004 for six episodes. It centres on the lives of a divorced couple and their young son. Despite no longer living together, Doug (Jamie Theakston) and Alice (Amanda Holden) remain in close c ...

'' (2004) and worked with

Adam Faith Terence Nelhams Wright (23 June 1940 – 8 March 2003), known as Adam Faith, was an English singer, actor, and financial journalist. As a British rock and roll teen idol, he scored consecutive No. 1 hits on the UK singles chart with " What ...

on the series '' Murder in Mind'' in 2003, shortly before Faith's death. He has also starred in the West End in the plays ''

Art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

'' and '' Home and Beauty'' at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. In 2004, he appeared in

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

's ''Miss Marple: Body in the Library''.

Personal life

Theakston lived for about ten years in Wings Place, a Tudor mansion in Ditchling, East Sussex. Theakston married Sophie Siegle in Ditchling on 15 September 2007, and they live in west London. They have two children. He was previously romantically linked to socialite Lady Victoria Hervey, actress Joely Richardson, and models Erin O'Connor and

Sophie Dahl Sophie Dahl (born Sophie Holloway on 15 September 1977) is an English author and former fashion model. Her first novel, ''The Man with the Dancing Eyes'', was published in 2003 followed by ''Playing With the Grown-ups'' in 2007. In 2009, she w ...

. He is a keen fencer and competed for Sussex in 1985. As captain of Ditchling Cricket Club, Theakston was a member of the first cricket team from England to play the Afghan cricket team in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

. He is a member of Mensa, a Patron of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent Irreligion in the United Kingdom, non-religious people in the UK throug ...

and a supporter of Brighton & Hove Albion. In September 2024, Theakston announced that he had been diagnosed with stage I

laryngeal cancer Laryngeal cancer is a kind of cancer that can develop in any part of the larynx (voice box). It is typically a squamous-cell carcinoma, reflecting its origin from the epithelium of the larynx. The prognosis is affected by the location of the tumo ...

, but revealed that the prognosis was "very positive". He finished treatment in January 2025, and has since made a full recovery.

Charity

Theakston took a break in 2003 to travel to

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

to meet with former child soldiers. He is a

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

for Cancervive, a charity established to address the needs of anyone whose family or friends are cancer-sufferers. He played in his fifth successive Soccer Aid match at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

in June 2014. Having, in 2010, saved four penalties for England against the Rest of the World in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

, before missing a penalty himself in a defeat, he was later named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

for his performance in goal. On 4 October 2019, Theakston took a break from Heart Breakfast to set off on his Bike Britain Challenge, a cycling event for

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

's charity Make Some Noise. The event lasted eight days, with Theakston cycling 650 miles from

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 ...

and arriving in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on the 11th. Along the way, he stopped at

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, and met numerous life-threatened children and their families.

Brothel visit, cocaine usage, and failed injunction

In 2002, Theakston's visit to a Mayfair brothel was exposed by British newspaper ''

The Sunday People The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ' ...

''. Theakston attempted to prevent publication of his paying £40 for sex and his cocaine snorting with a legal

injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

. The judge, Mr Justice Ouseley, allowed publication of the story based on interviews and said, "If a well-known man has sexual relations with a prostitute in a brothel, the desire on his part to keep their actions and 'relationship' confidential and the desire on the part of the other to exploit their actions and relationship commercially are irreconcilable." He went on to say, "I consider that the scales would be likely to come down in favour of the freedom of expression of the newspaper and of the prostitutes unless it was clear that there was a strong case of inhibiting it."

Performance credits

Filmography

Television

Radio

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Theakston, Jamie 1970 births Living people Actors from Lewes District Actors from Mid Sussex District Alumni of the University of North London BBC Radio 1 presenters BBC television presenters English atheists English children's television presenters English humanists English radio DJs Heart (radio network) presenters Male actors from East Sussex Male actors from West Sussex Mensans National Youth Theatre members People educated at Hurstpierpoint College People educated at Lancing College People from Cuckfield People from Ditchling Television personalities from West Sussex