Melanie Ann Sykes (born 1970) is an English former television and radio presenter. She is best known for co-hosting '' Today with Des and Mel'' with

Des O'Connor Desmond Bernard O'Connor (12 January 1932 – 14 November 2020) was an English comedian, singer and television presenter. He was a long-time TV chat-show host, beginning with '' The Des O'Connor Show'' in 1963, which ran for ten years as we ...

and '' Let's Do Lunch'' with

Gino D'Acampo Gennaro Sheffield D'Acampo (born Gennaro D'Acampo; 17 July 1976) is an Italian celebrity chef, television personality, and writer. Based in the United Kingdom, he is best known for his food-focused television shows and cookbooks. Since 2009, D' ...

. She also co-hosted ''

Going Out with Alan Carr ''Going Out with Alan Carr'' was the incarnation of the Saturday evening show on BBC Radio 2 between 25 April 2009 and 31 March 2012, produced by Open Mike Productions, which also produced Carr's TV series '' Chatty Man''. It was hosted by Briti ...

'' 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 ...

with

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 ...

from May 2010 until it ended in March 2012, and returned with him for ''Alan and Mel's Summer Escape'' from 2017 to 2020. Sykes co-presented ''Shop Well for Less'' alongside Joanna Page 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 ...

. She ended her career in the entertainment industry in 2021, following a comment from '' Celebrity MasterChef'' judge Gregg Wallace.

Early life

Sykes was born in 1970 at

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 48,604 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, Greater Manchester, ...

to an English father and an

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...

mother. She attended Mossley Hollins High School and studied

A-level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

Religious Studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

at Ashton Sixth Form College. Sykes was a member of the Ashtonian Brass Band, along with her father, mother and two sisters, playing the

baritone horn The baritone horn, sometimes called baritone, is 3 or 4 valved tenor-voiced brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a pist ...

Career

In the mid-1990s, Sykes first came to public attention as the face of the Boddingtons Bitter advertisements. Her first advert was shown in September 1996, and was filmed three months earlier in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

near Los Angeles. The ice cream van advert was first shown on 20 September 1997 during

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 ...

Football Italia ''Football Italia'' was a television programme in the United Kingdom, showing Italian football, that ran from 1992 to 2002 on Channel 4, and continued until 2007–08 Serie A, 2008 on other channels. It was known as ''Football Italiano'' in its ...

. The advert was filmed at Coyote Lake (San Bernardino County, California), with an

ice cream van An ice cream van (Commonwealth English) or ice cream truck (North American English) is a commercial vehicle that ice cream products are sold from, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often used for street vending and ...

from

Withington Withington is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies from Manchester city centre, south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Withington had a population at the 2011 ce ...

Television

Sykes' television presenting career started by hosting

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

's Real TV UK series in the mid-90s. After first reporting for ''

The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1992 to 2002, and as a revival from 2021 to 2022. The show had various presenters, starting with Chris Evans (presenter), ...

'', Sykes has continued her television career, including presenting stints on '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' and as presenter of ''

EastEnders Revealed ''EastEnders'' is a British soap opera that has aired on BBC One since 19 February 1985. Several spin-off shows have been made, some of which use the narrative of flashbacks to explore the history of the show's characters such as " CivvyStreet". ...

''. In 1999, Sykes presented ''Melanie Sykes' Southall Stories'', a documentary for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, 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 matte ...

on Asian culture in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. She has also hosted a variety of awards ceremonies, including

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...

, the

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best Cinema of the United Kingdom, British and Worl ...

and 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 ...

. She presented '' Today with Des and Mel'' with

in 2002. On 12 May 2006, ITV announced that the show would be one of a number to be axed in a "painful, but utterly necessary" move. Sykes' other work for ITV has included hosting shows '' The Vault'' (2003–2004), '' Celebrities Under Pressure'' (2003–2004) and '' The British Soap Awards'' (2003). Sykes appeared as a guest panellist on ''

Loose Women ''Loose Women'' (known as ''Live Talk'' from 2000 to 2001) is a British talk show that broadcasts on ITV weekdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The show focuses on a panel of four female presenters who interview celebrities, talk about aspects of ...

'' in October and November 2005 and later returned as a guest anchor in October 2008 and May 2009. From 2006 to 2009, Sykes occasionally filled in for

Paul O'Grady Paul James O'Grady (14 June 1955 – 28 March 2023) was an English comedian, broadcaster, drag queen, actor, and writer. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his drag persona Lily Savage, through which he gained ...

as presenter of ''

The Paul O'Grady Show ''The Paul O'Grady Show'' was a British comedy chat show presented by comedian Paul O'Grady, first shown on 11 October 2004. The programme was a teatime chat show consisting of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts, musical performances ...

'' when O'Grady was unable to appear. Sykes was the presenter of the

daytime Daytime or day as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences Daylight, natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the ...

series ''Gene Detectives'' for

. In 2008, Sykes was a judge on 'The Sofa Factor', an item for ''

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

'', where viewers sent in short clips and the winner got to present TV Pick of the Day and win a trip to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. In 2010, Sykes guest presented five episodes of '' The 5 O'Clock Show'' with Denise van Outen on

. In August 2011, Sykes returned to daytime television, co-hosting '' Let's Do Lunch with Gino & Mel'' and '' Let's Do Christmas with Gino & Mel'' with

on ITV. The show was cancelled in 2014. On 13 September 2011, Sykes co-hosted the three-part series ''Missing Millions'' with Paul Heiney on ITV. In February 2014,

BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...

announced that Sykes would become part of their

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

team. Due to other work commitments, she left the channel in May 2014. In 2014, Sykes took part in the fourteenth series of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' where she finished in third place, behind runner-up

Jake Quickenden Jacob Quickenden (born 3 September 1988) is an English singer, ex-footballer and reality television personality. He was a contestant on the ninth and eleventh series of '' The X Factor'' in 2012 and 2014, before being runner-up in series 14 o ...

and winner

Carl Fogarty Carl George Fogarty (born 1 July 1965), often known as Foggy, is an English former motorcycle racer and one of the most successful Superbike World Championship, World Superbike racers of all time. He also holds the third highest number of rac ...

. In 2015, Sykes co-presented ''Humble Pie'', a cookery series for

Watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...

, alongside

Marco Pierre White Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is an English chef, restaurateur and television personality. In 1995 he became the youngest chef to earn three Michelin stars. He has trained chefs including Mario Batali, Shannon Bennett, Gordon Ramsa ...

. On 4 April 2017, Sykes was confirmed as the new voice of ''

Blind Date A blind date is a romantic meeting between two people who have never met before. Both parties arrange a date with little to no information about each other, hoping for the possibility of making a lasting impression. Typically, a family member or ...

'', taking over the role most famously held by Graham Skidmore in the original series. The show is broadcast on Saturday nights on Channel 5. In 2017, Sykes appeared on a "celebrity" charity edition of TV quiz show, '' The Chase.'' She departed early and did not make the final round. In March 2018, Sykes won Star Baker in

's ''

The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television Cooking show, baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of ...

''. In 2021 Sykes alongside Joanna Page were the new presenters of

's consumer series Shop Well for Less. In August 2021 it was announced that Sykes would be a competitor on

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 ...

's '' Celebrity MasterChef''. She progressed to the semi-final where she won Star Chef on the fourth day. Sykes revealed that a comment, during this period, from ''Celebrity MasterChef'' judge, Gregg Wallace, led her to end her career in the entertainment industry.

Radio

Sykes presented ''The A List'', a national radio chart show based on total sales, produced by Unique the Production Company at the studios of London's Heart 106.2. She left the show towards the end of 2006 and was replaced by

Gail Porter Gail Porter (born 23 March 1971) is a Scottish television personality, former model and actress. She started her television career in children's TV, before branching out into modelling and presenting mainstream TV. In 1999, she posed nude for ' ...

. Sykes was heard on

with

Aled Jones Aled Jones, (born 29 December 1970) is a Welsh singer, radio and television presenter, and actor. As a teenage chorister, he gained widespread fame in 1985 with his recording of " Walking in the Air", which reached No 5 in the UK pop chart. He ...

sitting in for '' Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' on 22, 23 and 24 December 2008. In May 2010, she began co-hosting the

show ''

'' after Emma Forbes' resignation. Sykes continued on the show until its end in March 2012. She returned on Boxing Day 2015 with

for a one-off show on

. In January/February 2017 she and Carr again returned to Radio 2 to sit in for

for 4 weeks. Sykes and Carr presented their own Saturday morning show called ''Alan and Mel's Summer Escape'' on

for 10 weeks during the summer of 2017. She presented a show with Carr on

on Christmas Eve and another on New Year's Eve in 2017. Sykes and Carr returned for further specials for Easter, for the Royal Wedding, and for further runs of ''Alan and Mel's Summer Escape'' in 2018, 2019 and 2020. For a time, Sykes presented her own radio show on Capital FM.

Other work

Sykes has been the face of

Head & Shoulders Head & Shoulders (H&S) is an American brand of anti- dandruff and non-dandruff shampoo produced by parent company Procter & Gamble. The active anti-fungal ingredient in Head & Shoulders is piroctone olamine or zinc pyrithione, with some "cl ...

shampoo in Britain, appearing in print and television advertising and the high street chain

Matalan Matalan Retail Ltd is a British clothing and homewares retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside, founded by John Hargreaves in 1985. In August 1988, its operations director at the time, Duncan Sullivan, transformed Matalan into an out-of-town wa ...

. She has also appeared in advertisements for

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...

, Wynsors World of Shoes and Churchill Insurance. In 2006 the book ''Blooming Beautiful: My Plan for Looking Great, Being Healthy and Surviving Hormonal Havoc, Throughout Pregnancy and as a New Mum'', co-written by Sykes with Hilary Boyd, was published by Michael Joseph. Sykes posed naked for the December 2011 edition of men's magazine ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

''. Sykes had her own line of underwear and lingerie with high street chain and retailer

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain that operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, as well as franchised locations across Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and gr ...

. In June 2016 Sykes created FRANK Magazine, "the magazine for open-minded women of all ages across the world".

Personal life

She was the girlfriend of

Matt Goss Matthew Weston Goss (born 29 September 1968) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer of 1980s pop group Bros (British band), Bros, which also featured his twin brother Luke Goss, Luke as the drummer.Frances Kindon ...

from early 1991, for five years. Sykes married actor Daniel Caltagirone in January 2001. The couple have two sons, born in 2002 and 2004. In July 2008, it was reported that the couple had separated, with Sykes having "grown apart" from Caltagirone, who had moved out of their

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, London home. They divorced in June 2009. Sykes married Jack Cockings on 18 May 2013 at

Sherborne Castle Sherborne Castle (sometimes called Sherborne New Castle) is a 16th-century Tudor mansion southeast of Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. In November 2013, Sykes was arrested and cautioned by police over a

common assault Common assault is an offence in English law. It is committed by a person who causes another person to apprehend the immediate use of unlawful violence by the defendant. In England and Wales, the penalty and mode of trial for this offence is pro ...

against Cockings. Soon after the caution, after less than one year of marriage, Sykes began the process of filing for divorce. The caution was later revoked and deleted from police records, and Sykes has since campaigned for better treatment of women facing domestic violence, including from partners who make spurious allegations of assault so as to legally and financially harm their victims. She has said that the police handled her case badly and misled her into accepting a caution as the quickest way out of her situation. In November 2021 Sykes received an

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

diagnosis, which she said gave her a "deeper understanding of myself, my life, and the things I have endured". Her younger son is also autistic, having been diagnosed at three years old. In July 2023 Sykes revealed she had self-diagnosed with

Tourette syndrome Tourette syndrome (TS), or simply Tourette's, is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinkin ...

Filmography

;Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, Melanie 1970 births Living people Anglo-Indian people BBC radio presenters British people of English descent English game show hosts English women television presenters English women radio presenters English people of Indian descent People from Ashton-under-Lyne Television personalities from Lancashire Autistic entertainers English people with disabilities