Sam Nixon Sam Nixon is an English singer and television presenter. He came third on the ''Pop Idol'' television series in 2003 and is now one half of the duo Sam & Mark, with the other being Mark Rhodes. Early life He was originally a catering studen ...

and Mark Rhodes, known collectively as Sam & Mark, or simply Smark, are an English

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk ...

and television presenting duo. They previously competed on the second series of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'' in 2003, where they finished third and second, respectively, behind winner Michelle McManus. Since then, Sam & Mark have had a successful career in radio and television in the UK.

Music career

After ''Pop Idol'', they decided to form a duo and signed with

Simon Fuller Simon Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer renowned for nurturing and inspiring world class entertainment talent. He is the creator of the ''Idols'' TV format, including the UK ...

. They released as a single a cover of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

' song "

With a Little Help from My Friends "With a Little Help from My Friends" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and sung by drummer Ringo Starr (as Sgt. Pep ...

", released on Fuller's label 'S'. The song entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at No. 1. The follow-up single "

The Sun Has Come Your Way "The Sun Has Come Your Way" is a song written by Peter Agren and Tobias Karlsson and produced by David Eriksen. The song was recorded by '' Pop Idol'' contestants Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes, under their collective name Sam & Mark and was releas ...

" released by UMTV, only reached Number 19 in the charts. Consequently, the pair, while working for the CBBC, were informed they were no longer allowed to release music as Sam and Mark had signed a deal with Fearne Cotton for a period of 2 years to perform both live and pre-recorded show. This resulted in Simon Fuller signing the duo out of their label and contracts, as they were concentrating on Children's shows on the CBBC. This was revealed in episode 8 of ‘Out of the Broom Cupboard’ with Chris 'Yonko' Johnson. On The Out of The Broom Cupboard with Chris 'Yonko' Johnson, Sam and Mark had No Remorse at all stating that they Didn't want to continue being Famous Singers at all and just wanted to continue carrying with producing and making Children's Shows on CBBC, throughout the years.

Broadcasting career

Radio hosts

In January 2003 Sam and Mark started on the radio. First they hosted Saturdays 10am-1pm and Sundays 11am-3pm on Gem before moving to weekdays 9am-1pm on 6 June 2005 with the chance to interview the biggest stars on their show. They left Gem on 2 June 2006. On 11 March 2007 they started to host Smash Hits Sunday breakfast from 7-11am then on 31 December 2007 hosted a whole night of DJ Sets on BBC Radio 1 to see in the new year from 6pm-5am. Their last Sunday Smash Hits Breakfast show was on 26 December 2010. Sam And Mark were Due to Come back to Gem on 1 January 2011 to host Saturday Night Gem Anthems however 3 hours before they were due on air they could not host it. On 5 August 2011 Sam and Mark were told that they could not host any more Radio Shows. The duo present a radio show which can be heard on Free Radio across Coventry and Warwickshire. They present on Sunday mornings from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm.

Television hosts

Sam & Mark have had later a successful career as children's TV presenters, hosting various

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

programmes such as '' TMi'', ''

Top of the Pops Reloaded ''Top of the Pops Reloaded'' (''TOTP Reloaded''), is a weekly children's music show broadcast as part of the Saturday morning CBBC schedule on BBC Two. It was based on the show, ''Top of the Pops'', and was originally known as ''Top of the Pops S ...

'', '' Copycats'', '' Sam and Mark's Guide to Dodging Disaster'', '' Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up'', ''

Junior Bake Off ''Junior Bake Off'' is a British television baking competition in which young bakers aged 9 to 15 tackle a series of challenges involving baking cakes, biscuits, bread, and pastries, competing to be crowned ''Junior Bake Off'' Champion. The se ...

'', and '' Crackerjack!'' on CBBC. The two have managed to carve a successful television career for themselves, hosting various programmes on the

, most notably Saturday morning children's shows '' TMi'' and ''

''. They made their national television debut on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 pu ...

. Sam & Mark hosted

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

's weekday morning breakfast show, '' Level Up'' for four months from 3 April 2006 to 1 September 2006. On 16 September 2006, they hosted the first episode of ''TMi'', a new Saturday morning TV show for the BBC on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

and the

CBBC Channel CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 7– ...

, alongside presenter Caroline Flack. The third series of the show ended in December 2008 and the

have confirmed a fourth series of the Saturday morning series for

. In 2007, Sam & Mark presented a show on

called '' Do Something Different''. Beginning on 3 January 2009, Sam and Mark's ''Who Wants to be a Superhero?'' began to air where children had to compete to be a new superhero for

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which w ...

. They were also asked to perform on Children in Need 2007. In January 2010, they began a new show called Jump Nation which is similar to Skate Nation. They were also on a celebrity special of

Total Wipeout ''Total Wipeout'' is a British game show, hosted by Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram, which first aired on the BBC on 3 January 2009. In each episode, contestants competed in a series of challenges in an attempt to win £10,000. These challenge ...

. Neither won, losing out to

glamour model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though m ...

Danielle Lloyd Danielle Lloyd (formerly O'Hara; born 16 December 1983) is an English model and television personality. A former Miss England (2004) and Miss Great Britain (2006), Lloyd first rose to prominence when she was stripped of her Miss Great Britain ti ...

. In '' Sam and Mark's Guide to Dodging Disaster'' for CBBC they were in non-speaking roles with a voice over by

Hugh Dennis Peter Hugh Dennis (born 13 February 1962) is an English comedian, presenter, actor, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist who has appeared in the comedy double act Punt and Dennis with partner Steve Punt. He played Dr Piers Crispin in ...

. They have also presented the competition segment of

This Morning This Morning may refer to: * ''This Morning'' (TV programme), a British daytime television programme * ''This Morning'' (radio program), a Canadian radio show which aired from 1997 to 2002 * '' CBS This Morning'', an American morning show, succe ...

on ITV1. Also on This Morning on Wednesday 28 April 2010, Sam and Mark presented an "On The Box" segment where they reviewed the latest TV shows, DVDs and movies. They then appeared on a CBBC series called Copycats and are presenters on

Skate Nation Skate Nation is a British children's television programme presented by Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes broadcast by CBBC on BBC Two in 2009. It was an eleven-part series in which fourteen teams of roller skaters competed for a trip to the World Games i ...

. A show similar to the TMi series, but called Sam and Mark's TMi Friday began in September 2010 and finished in December and was then cancelled. For

Red Nose Day 2011 ''Red Nose Day 2011'' was a fundraising event organised by Comic Relief. There was a live telethon broadcast on BBC One and BBC Two from the evening of 18 March 2011 to early the following morning as well as a number of run-up events. The theme ...

the two presented a series called Comic Relief does Glee Club, which had five 45-minute episodes, four of which were live, on BBC One. In 2012, this continued with '' Sport Relief does Glee Club'', which had eight 30-minute episodes on CBBC and two live episodes on BBC One and CBBC. In 2013 a new series of '' Comic Relief does Glee Club'', hosted by Naomi Wilkinson, aired in There were then which Sam and Mark joined Naomi for the last five of the 45-minute heats. From 2011, the duo had their own series called '' Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up''. Similar to a prank show, the programme featured celebrity guests each week. In 2012 Sam and Mark competed against each other in

ITV's ITV is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the ol ...

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their pr ...

'' which also included the likes of Rosemary Conley, Charlene Tilton,

Jennifer Ellison Jennifer Lesley Ellison (born 30 May 1983) is an English actress, former glamour model, television personality, dancer and singer. Ellison is perhaps best known for playing Emily Shadwick in the television soap opera '' Brookside'' until 2003, a ...

and

Chico Chico () means ''small'', ''boy'' or ''child'' in the Spanish language. It is also the nickname for Francisco in the Portuguese language (). Chico may refer to: Places *Chico, California, a city *Chico, Montana, an unincorporated community *Chic ...

: Mark was 3rd to leave, Sam left in Week 9. In 2013, Sam and Mark co-hosted a Channel 5 special, The Great Christmas Toy Giveaway, alongside Myleene Klass. The two-hour show featured guests, toy reviews, music and VTs previewing the toys and games available for Christmas and included a competition to win over £10,000 worth of toys. In 2020, the BBC revival of ''Crackerjack'' was presented by the duo. They presented series 3 and 4 of

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

's ''

'' in 2015 and 2016.

''Sam and Mark: On the Road Show (2017)''

Sam and Mark began a tour of

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...

holiday camps from February 2017, performing a new game show similar to their TV shows such as Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind Up, TMI and Copycats. The tour ended on 3 September the same year.

Discography

Singles

Books

* ''The Adventures of Long Arm'' (2 August 2015) * ''The Adventures of Long Arm 2: Long Arm vs The Evil Supply Teacher'' (3 March 2016)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sam and Mark English pop music duos 19 Recordings artists Entertainer duos