Edith Eleanor Bowman (born 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted ''

Colin and Edith ''Colin and Edith'' was a radio show broadcast on BBC Radio 1 until 12 August 2006, hosted by radio personalities Edith Bowman and Colin Murray. The show began in 2003 and was scheduled on the station's weekend morning shift. In April 2004, fol ...

'', weekday afternoons, weekend breakfast, and ''The Radio 1 Review'' on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

until 2014 and has presented a variety of music-related television shows and music festivals. Since 2020, Bowman has hosted the annual

Scottish Music Awards The Scottish Music Awards (Scottish Gaelic: ''Duaisean Ciùil na h-Alba'') are an annual award ceremony held in Scotland to commemorate outstanding musical contribution by musicians over the past year to Scottish music and success on the Scottish ...

ceremony.

Early life

Bowman was born in 1974 in

Anstruther Anstruther ( ; ) is a coastal town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester, which are divided by a st ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland. She attended secondary school at

Waid Academy The Waid Academy is a public secondary school in Anstruther, Fife. The school's catchment area extends to as far as Elie and Colinsburgh to the west and Crail to the east (the East Neuk boundaries) but accepts pupils from towns such as Leven, ...

and then continued her studies in Media and Communication at

Queen Margaret University Queen Margaret University is a public university located wholly within the county of East Lothian on the outskirts of Musselburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret (1045–1093). The university can trace its ...

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 ...

Media career

Television

Bowman's first on-screen job on television was as a news reader on

MTV UK MTV is a British pay television channel focusing on reality TV and music programming operated by Paramount Networks UK & Australia. The channel launched as part of MTV Networks Europe localisation strategy in 1997. MTV UK (previously MTV UK & I ...

. She went on to host many shows for the station, including co-presenting chart show ''Hitlist UK'' with

Cat Deeley Catherine Elizabeth Deeley (born 23 October 1976) is an English television presenter. She is currently the main co-presenter for ITV's '' This Morning'', alongside Ben Shephard. Deeley began her career as a co-presenter of the ITV children' ...

, with whom she also presented travel show ''Roadtripping'' for

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first United Kingdom, British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in Digital television, digital format, as well as t ...

in 2002. She also worked as a presenter 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 breakfast show '' RI:SE'' when it launched on 29 April 2002. In 2004, she co-presented the

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

series ''Teen Commandments'' with

Cameron Stout Cameron Stout (born 8 March 1971) is a Scottish journalist and presenter for BBC Radio Orkney and the winner of '' Big Brother 2003''. He received 1.9 million votes, 500,000 more than runner-up Ray Shah. Cameron is the elder brother of televi ...

. After occasional appearances in 2003, Bowman co-presented ''

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 ...

'' until the end of the series, replacing

Fearne Cotton Fearne Cotton (born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author. She began her career in the late 1990s as a children’s television presenter for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. She went on to present various television shows, including ''To ...

while she was away. In total she appeared on the show ten times including the final weekly episode. She returned to ''

'' for the 2006 ''Christmas Special''. In 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic, she remotely interviewed the film maker

Sofia Coppola Sofia Carmina Coppola ( , ; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and former actress. She has List of awards and nominations received by Sofia Coppola, won an Academy Awards, Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Golden Lion, and a Can ...

for the

BBC4 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

series ''

Life Cinematic ''Life Cinematic'' is a BBC television series of in-depth interviews with notable filmmakers, with clips from movies that have influenced them. With ''The Film Review'' and associated programs, ''Life Cinematic'' fills the gap left by the cancell ...

''. She has also presented various music programmes for

such as ''Channel 4 Presents...'', ''

Evo Music Rooms Evo Music Rooms was a music competition and showcase in the United Kingdom that featured established and up-and-coming artists. The competition was sponsored by Fiat, and aired in 2010 on Channel 4. The show was hosted by Edith Bowman. History ...

'', and ''TBA''. Bowman also appeared on children's art program ''

SMart ''SMart'' was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingha ...

'' in 2007 and has appeared in coverage of festivals such as

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and

Leeds Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...

, for both BBC Radio and TV. On 29 April 2011, she was a reporter for BBC TV on their coverage of the

wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place on Friday, 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England. William was second in the line of succession to the British throne at the time, later becoming heir apparent. The ...

. In 2011, she narrated Channel 5's documentary series ''McFly on the Wall''. In December 2021, Bowman appeared in an episode of ''

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip ''Antiques Road Trip'' (also known as ''Celebrity Antiques Road Trip'') is a BBC television series produced by STV Studios. It was first shown on BBC Two from 2010 to 2012, and has been shown on BBC One since 2013. Format Regular In the progr ...

'', alongside fellow Radio 2 broadcaster Mark Radcliffe. In August 2024, Bowman was a quarter-finalist on the nineteenth series of ''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a British competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2005 as ''MasterChef Goes Large' ...

''.

Radio

Bowman presented ''Hit Music Sunday'' with

Capital London Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commerci ...

from 2001–2002. On 29 March 2003, she teamed up with

Colin Murray Colin Murray (born Colin Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. He has hosted the Channel 4 game show '' Countdown'' since 2022. Born and raised in Dundonald, east of Belfast, Murray first trained and wor ...

, who had also worked on ''RI:SE'', to co-host ''

'' on

. In April 2004 this show moved from a weekend morning slot to weekday afternoons, broadcasting between 13:00 and 16:00, after the departure of

Mark and Lard Mark and Lard is the stage name of Mark Radcliffe (Mark) and Marc Riley (Lard), who presented various weekday shows on BBC Radio 1 from 1991 to March 2004. Career Radcliffe, then a Radio 1 producer, began presenting specialist shows on the ne ...

from the station. In August 2006, Bowman became the sole occupier of the

afternoon 13:00 to 16:00 slot, with Murray taking over a late-night specialist music programme. In September 2008, she returned to the station after maternity leave, initially taking over from

Dick and Dom Dick and Dom (originally Richard and Dominic) are a British comedy double act consisting of the presenters Richard "Dick" McCourt and Dominic "Dom" Wood. They are primarily known for presenting 'the broom cupboard' presentation links on Chi ...

on the ''Sunday Morning Lie In'' from 10:00 to 13:00. She returned to weekday afternoons on 3 November 2008. In July 2009 it was announced that Radio 1 was to change its daytime schedule, and this saw Bowman move to ''Weekend Breakfast''. She said that she felt she had taken her shows as far as she could, and the move meant she could create a new show for a new market. In February 2012, it was announced that Bowman was being replaced by

Gemma Cairney Gemma Cairney (born 19 March 1985) is an English television and radio presenter best known for her work on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music. She most recently presented ''The Leisure Society'' on BBC Radio 6 Music where she interviewed cultural ...

on Weekend Breakfast, and would move to Tuesday evenings, in order to take over ''The Review Show'', from

DJ Nihal Nihal Arthanayake (born 1 June 1971) is a British radio and TV presenter. Early life Nihal Arthanayake was born on 1 June 1971, to Theravada Buddhist Sri Lankan parents. Nihal began his involvement in the music industry as a promoter of rap ...

. Bowman left weekends on 1 April 2012, but continued on different projects through out-of-house productions which air on the station. Her first show of the new ''Review Show'' was on 26 March 2013. In November 2012, she started co-hosting a Saturday morning show on

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

, alongside

Adam Buxton Adam Offord Buxton (born 7 June 1969) is an English actor, comedian and podcaster. With the filmmaker Joe Cornish, he is part of the comedy duo Adam and Joe. They presented the Channel 4 television series '' The Adam and Joe Show'' (1996–200 ...

. In June 2014, Radio 1 announced that ''The Review Show'' would be cancelled on 1 September 2014, ending Bowman's career at the station. In February 2016, she was announced as the only solo, female, breakfast show host on commercial radio, with the launch of

Virgin Radio UK Virgin Radio UK is a national Hot Adult Contemporary radio station in the United Kingdom that launched on 30 March 2016, owned by News Broadcasting, which is itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is the second incarnation of Virgin Radio in the U ...

on 30 March. She left the programme on 29 September 2017. Bowman was an occasional stand-in presenter of ''

Kermode and Mayo's Film Review ''Kermode and Mayo's Film Review'' was a radio programme with Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday afternoons. The show was self-described as the BBC's "flagship film programme" and featured film reviews from Ker ...

'' on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

, 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 ...

she also provides holiday cover for its presenters including

Jo Whiley Johanne Whiley-Morton (born 4 July 1965), better known professionally as Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running '' Jo Whiley Show'' on BBC Radio 1 and has since been presenting her weekd ...

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer ( born 13 December 1974), better known as Sara Cox, is an English broadcaster and author. A presenter on BBC Radio 2, she has been hosting the station's drivetime show since January 2019. She previously presented BBC Radio 1's ...

Gary Davies Gary Davies (born 13 December 1957) is a British broadcaster. From 1982 to 1993 he was a BBC Radio 1 disc jockey and a regular presenter of ''Top of the Pops''. As of 2025, Davies can be heard on BBC Radio 2 presenting Saturday night show ' ...

on ''Sounds of the 80s'', and

on ''Sounds of the 90s''. Bowman is the host of ''Cinematic Soundtracks'' on

BBC Radio 3 Unwind BBC Radio 3 Unwind is a British online-only radio stream, owned and operated by the BBC and run as a spin-off from BBC Radio 3. Launched in 2024, the station plays a wide range of wellbeing and meditation focussed classical music both familiar ...

since the station's launch in November 2024.

Podcast

Bowman has presented '' Soundtracking'', a weekly half hour podcast in which she interviews film-makers about musical influences and their choice of music in films.

Career milestones

In 2005, Bowman presented

's coverage of the

Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 2005 ...

event at

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The stadium is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) who has its headquarters based at the stadium, and is the national stadium of the Scotla ...

, and hosted the network's

programmes with

Dougie Anderson Douglas James Anderson (born 27 May 1976 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish radio and television presenter writer and voice-over artist who trained at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. Radio Anderson is notable for his regular guest appearance ...

who had also worked on ''RI:SE''. Also in 2005, she hosted 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 ...

with

live on

. She also presented the

BBC Three BBC Three 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 first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

coverage of

and the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...

with Colin Murray. She also hosted the TV coverage of the first

Electric Proms The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms (formerly the BBC Electric Proms) was an October pop music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006–2010. On 31 January 2011, the BBC announced that the event would be discontinued with immediate ...

with

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

. On 7 July 2007, she co-presented the BBC coverage of

Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase Environmentalism, environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Live Earth 2007 The 1st series ...

. After leaving Radio 1, Bowman presented several one-off film specials for

. She also presented

a late night music programme for Channel 4 and '' The Vue Film Show'', also for Channel 4. In 2011, she presented coverage of the

music festival for

. She also had a stint with

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is owned by AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary series). Unlike the BBC's ...

as an entertainment presenter in 2014.

Charity interests

In May 2008, Bowman supported the ''Fashion Targets Breast Cancer'' campaign in support of

Breakthrough Breast Cancer Breakthrough Breast Cancer was a United Kingdom charity whose mission was to "save lives through improving early diagnosis, developing new treatments and preventing all types of breast cancer". In 2015, Breakthrough Breast Cancer merged with anothe ...

, alongside fellow celebrities: comedian

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 ...

, actress

Anna Friel Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. She first achieved fame as Beth Jordache in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' (1993–1995), later coming to international prominence with her role as Charlotte "Chuck" Charle ...

, singer

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian and British singer and actress. Born and raised in New South Wales, Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s playing Beth Brennan in the soap opera ''Neighbours''. A ...

and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949), widely known by the nickname Twiggy, is an English model, actress, and singer. She was a Culture of the United Kingdom, British cultural icon and a prominent teenage model during th ...

. From 2015 until 2017 Bowman hosted the annual

Young Scot Awards The Young Scot Awards is an annual award ceremony hosted by Young Scot to honour young people in Scotland for considerable achievements and positive contributions to charity or their community. Sunday Mail and Young Scot partnered to deliver th ...

Singing

Bowman's television debut was on the

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isle ...

talent show ''The Big Break''. At the age of 14, she covered

Bananarama Bananarama is an English pop group formed in London in 1980. The group, originally a trio, consisted of friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when ...

's "

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

" which was itself a cover of the

Shocking Blue Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. They were part of the Nederbeat movement in the Netherlands. The band had a string of hit songs during the Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture movement of the 1960s and e ...

original, but finished joint last in her heat. On 11 March 2005 she won the TV talent show ''

Comic Relief Does Fame Academy ''Comic Relief Does Fame Academy'' is a spin-off of the original ''Fame Academy'' show where celebrities students sing as students of the Academy. The programme was launched in 2003 to help raise money for the charities supported by Comic Relief ...

'', a charity music contest in which she sang "

Champagne Supernova "Champagne Supernova" is a song by English rock band Oasis, written by Noel Gallagher. It is the closing track on the band's second studio album, ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'' (1995), and was released as the sixth and final single from ...

" with

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...

's band. Earlier in the competition she sang a version of Blondie's "

Hanging on the Telephone "Hanging on the Telephone" is a song written by Jack Lee. The song was released in 1976 by his short-lived US West Coast power pop band the Nerves; in 1978, it was recorded and released as a single by American new wave band Blondie. Blondie ...

". The show also featured

Al Murray Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian. After graduating from the University of Oxford, Murray's comedy career began by working with Harry Hill for BBC Radio 4. He regularly performed at the Edinburgh Festival Frin ...

Kim Medcalf Kim Louise Medcalf (born 8 December 1973) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for portraying the role of Sam Mitchell in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' (2002–2005, 2022–2024). Career ''EastEnders'' In late 2001, Kim Med ...

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. Part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s, he and his comedy partner Rik Mayall starred in the television sitc ...

Jon Culshaw Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968) is an English actor, comedian and Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist. He is best known for his work on the radio comedy ''Dead Ringers (comedy), Dead Ringers'' since 2000. Culshaw has voiced ...

Konnie Huq Konnie Huq (born Kanak Asha Huq ; on 17 July 1975) is a British television and radio presenter, screenwriter and children's author. She became the longest-serving female presenter of the British children's television programme '' Blue Peter'', ...

Dawn Steele Dawn Steele (born 11 December 1975) is a Scottish actress best known for her portrayals of the characters Alexandra "Lexie" MacDonald from the BBC drama '' Monarch of the Glen'', Alice Trevanion in the ITV drama series '' Wild at Heart'' and D ...

, and other celebrities.

Personal life

Bowman married

Editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

frontman Tom Smith in 2013, and the couple have two sons, born in 2008 and 2013.

References

External links

* *
''Cinematic Soundtracks''
(BBC Radio 3 Unwind) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Edith 1974 births Alumni of Queen Margaret University Living people BBC Radio 1 presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters BBC Radio 5 Live presenters BBC Radio 6 Music presenters Virgin Radio (UK) Scottish television presenters Scottish women television presenters British women radio presenters Singing talent show winners People from Anstruther People educated at Waid Academy 21st-century British women musicians Scottish women radio presenters Scottish podcasters