Nikhila Bedi (; ''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Moolgaoker; 9 September 1966) is a British television and radio presenter, born to an

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n father of Maharashtrian origin and an English mother. She was married to food stylist Sunil Vijayakar before her second marriage to Kabir Bedi from 1992 to 2005; she retained her married name after their divorce. She describes herself as Indo-Anglian. She writes and presents ''The Arts Hour'' and ''The Arts Hour on Tour'' for the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, and co-hosts

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's '' Saturday Live''.

Background

Her paternal grandparents were the industrialist Sumant Moolgaokar, head of

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company, headquartered in Mumbai and part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, cars, trucks, vans, and busses, buses. T ...

and

Tata Steel Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, with its primary operations based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group. Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel ...

, and social worker Leela Sumant Moolgaokar, a pioneer of

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's Circulatory system, circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used ...

in India.

Career

Both a stage and television actress, Bedi began her career in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Spotted by the UK's

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 ...

, she hosted ''Bombay Chat'', an on-location celebrity talk show. Star TV gave her a primetime slot for ''Nikki Tonight'' which quickly proved to be Asia's most widely viewed and controversial talk show, although it was subsequently cancelled by Star TV after a guest, gay rights activist Ashok Row Kavi, made a derogatory remark about

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

. Bedi then moved to live and work for a time in Los Angeles, before returning to the UK in 2000 to be the face of Universal's film channel The Studio for over two years. She also presented two live film shows for

NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Na ...

, ''Worldwide Screen'' and ''Bollywood Today''. In 2003, Bedi began working in radio, appearing on

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadc ...

and BBC Radio 4. In 2004, she became the presenter of a new weekend morning programme called ''Hot Breakfast'' on the

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...

before taking over as presenter of the weekday afternoon show, ''Drive'' in 2005. In May 2006, as part of wide-ranging schedule changes, she was given her own show called ''Nikki Bedi'' on the

. The daily show featured music, films, books, art and all things cultural and included interviews with prominent figures from those worlds. She has covered for a number of key presenters 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 ...

, BBC London 94.9 and BBC Radio 4 and in October 2008 fulfilled a long-held ambition by appearing in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 drama, ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

''. Bedi continued with her television work alongside radio, appearing as a presenter on

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 ...

's '' Desi DNA'' for three years and on the popular

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 ...

series '' To Buy or Not to Buy'' during 2010 and 2011. Bedi was a

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...

judge in the New Novel category announced in Jan 2010 and has also been on the judging panel for the European Independent Film Festival Awards and the

One World Media Awards One World Media is a non-profit organisation, registered in the UK as a charitable trust. It is based in London. The organisation describes its aim as supporting strong vibrant and independent media that empower citizens, promote justice and contrib ...

. In February 2010, she presented a 3-part documentary series on

called ''Bollywood Britain''. The series explores the history of Hindi film music and its lasting ties with generations of British Asians. Bedi continues to be a voiceover artist, having voiced or narrated a wide variety of shows from the

BBC Four BBC Four 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 launched on 2 March 2002

documentary series '' Indian School'' to the '' Millies'' on ITV.

BBC Radio London, BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4 (2010–present)

Joining

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the BBC Local Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London. It broadcasts on FM broadcasting, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Langham Plac ...

in 2010, Bedi presented an evening weekend show until taking over as presenter of the Monday to Thursday overnight show in 2011. She has also been a regular stand-in presenter for key

shows and presenters including, the ''

Lesley Joseph Lesley Diana Joseph (born 14 October 1945) is an English actress and broadcaster, whose career on stage and screen spans over fifty years. She is best known for playing Dorien Green in the television sitcom ''Birds of a Feather (TV series), Bir ...

Show'', the ''

Vanessa Feltz Vanessa Jane Feltz (born 21 February 1962) is an English television presenter, broadcaster, and journalist. She has hosted numerous versions of her own chat shows and appeared on various television shows, including ''Vanessa'' (1994–1998, 202 ...

Show'', '' Eddie Nestor's Rum Shop'', '' The Late Show with JoAnne Good'' and

Gaby Roslin Gaby Roslin (born 12 July 1964) is an English television and radio presenter who rose to fame co-presenting ''The Big Breakfast'' on Channel 4 between 1992 and 1996. Roslin also presented the ''Children in Need'' charity telethons on the BBC be ...

on ''The Breakfast Show''. Nikki Bedi at The 4th Asian Awards

Early in 2013, Bedi moved to the

evening weekend show (Friday to Sunday), making way for her new weekday show ''The Arts Hour'' on the BBC World Service. Curated, written and presented by Bedi, ''The Arts Hour'' is a weekly collection of the most interesting arts related stories from across 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 ...

and elsewhere. In February 2016, Bedi moved to the weekday early breakfast on the renamed

. She left early breakfast in December 2016, and from January 2017 until April 2019, Bedi presented a Sunday mid morning show on

. In August 2019, Bedi made her debut on Smooth Radio on a Sunday afternoon show. Bedi has been associated with

for several years having become a regular interviewer on '' Loose Ends'', presenting the show when usual host

Clive Anderson Clive Stuart Anderson (born 10 December 1952) is an English television and radio presenter, comedian, writer and former barrister. Winner of a British Comedy Award in 1991, Anderson began experimenting with comedy and writing comedic scripts dur ...

was absent and she has also occasionally presented ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...

''. Bedi became co-host of '' Saturday Live'' in late 2020.

References

External links

*
''Saturday Live''
(BBC Radio 4)
''The Arts Hour''
(BBC World Service) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedi, Nikki 1966 births English television presenters English radio presenters Living people British people of Marathi descent Entertainers from Aylesbury English people of Indian descent British women radio presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters BBC Asian Network presenters BBC Radio 4 presenters