Jenny Powell (born 8 April 1968) is an English radio and television presenter. After appearing on '' No Limits'', she went on to present series such as '' Wheel of Fortune'', '' UP2U'', '' Gimme 5'', '' Live Talk'', '' Wordplay'' and '' Daybreak''.

Early life

Jenny Powell was born on 8 April 1968 in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

, England. Powell's parents are of Cape Coloured descent from South Africa. She attended Woodford County High School for Girls in

Woodford Green Woodford Green is an area of Woodford, London, Woodford in East London, England, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It adjoins Buckhurst Hill to the north, Woodford Bridge to the east, South Woodford to the south, and Chingford to the we ...

and the

Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, also known simply as Italia Conti, is a drama school based in Woking, Woking, England. It was founded by the English actress Italia Conti in 1911. Italia Conti offers courses in acting, musical theatre, ...

in London.

Career

Powell began her career in 1985 as the ad voiceover for the 6th and 7th volumes of the ''

Now That's What I Call Music! ''Now That's What I Call Music!'' (often shortened to ''NOW'') is a series of various artists compilation albums released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Sony Music and Universal Music ( Universal/Sony Music) which began in 1983. Spinof ...

'' series. In 1986, she went on to present the

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 ...

music series '' No Limits'' and then moved to Saturday morning television for children, first co-presenting '' UP2U'' for

BBC1 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 (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

during the summers of 1988 and 1989, then '' Gimme 5'', on ITV. She was also a presenter of ''

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 ...

'' in 1989. In 1995, she became the hostess on ITV's version of '' Wheel of Fortune''. In 1992 she was a contestant on ''

Cluedo ''Cluedo'' (), known as ''Clue'' in North America, is a murder mystery game for three to six players (depending on editions) that was devised in 1943 by British board game designer Anthony E. Pratt. The game was first manufactured by Waddingt ...

'', teaming up with gossip columnist Nigel Dempster, facing off against newsreader Lisa Aziz and actor

Kevin Lloyd Kevin Reardon Lloyd (28 March 1949 – 2 May 1998) was a British television actor, who came to prominence in the role of DC Alfred "Tosh" Lines in Thames Television's police drama series ''The Bill''. Early life Kevin Reardon Lloyd was bo ...

. In 1997, Powell appeared 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 '' Brass Eye'', a satirical spoof documentary series produced by Chris Morris. Powell has also presented '' Soap Fever'', ''Live Talk'', ''Getaway'' and ''Our House'' for UKTV Style. She then presented a stand-up series titled ''Stand Up Jenny'', and was a regular on ITV's '' Loose Women''. In 2005, she was one of the competitors in the ITV reality series '' Celebrity Wrestling'', competing under the name ''The Avenger''. Powell provided the voiceover for ITV fly on the wall documentary ''Love 2 Shop'', based at The Trafford Centre, in 2003. She was a presenter on

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 ...

's '' To Buy or Not to Buy'', and presented on ITV's '' Bingo Night Live'' in June 2008. From 23 March 2009, she presented a quiz show, '' Wordplay'' on Five in the old '' Going for Gold'' slots. In 2010, Powell was a contestant on Channel 4's '' Celebrity Come Dine with Me'' and BBC One's '' Celebrity Masterchef''. In 2012 and 2013, she appeared in two episodes of

ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...

's '' Lemon La Vida Loca''. In 2017, she joined ITV's '' Bigheads'' as a commentator. In January 2018, Powell participated in ''

And They're Off! ''And They're Off!'' (also known as ''And They're Off!... for Sport Relief'') is a British television programme hosted by Ore Oduba with commentary from Dave Lamb and demonstrations from Daryll Neita and is shown on BBC One, featuring contestants ...

'' in aid of

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a wikt:biennial, biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Dire ...

. She also participated with her daughter Pollyanna on the fifth series of '' Big Star's Little Star'' where they won £12,000 for charity. In January 2019, she took part in the quiz series '' Celebrity Catchphrase'', alongside Ade Edmondson and Jason Manford. In April 2019, she appeared on the

5Star 5Star (stylized as 5STAR) is a British free-to-air television channel owned by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global, which is grouped under Paramount Networks UK & Australia division. It originally laun ...

series ''Celebs on the Ranch'', set in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, a spin-off from '' Celebs on the Farm''. In 2021, Powell started presenting the weekend breakfast show on Greatest Hits Radio. On 26 November 2022, Powell co-hosted the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

North West Awards alongside Adam Thomas.

Personal life

In 2006, Powell married Toby Baxendell and they have two daughters, Pollyanna and Constance, together. However, in 2009, Powell announced she had separated from her husband. She now lives with her daughters in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

References

External links

*
Jenny Powell on Greatest Hits Radio

Jenny Powell's 80s Party Anthems on Greatest Hits Radio 80s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Jenny 1968 births Living people People from Ilford English women television presenters English people of South African descent People educated at Woodford County High School For Girls Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts Radio presenters from London Television personalities from the London Borough of Redbridge