Edith Bowman

From Radio One DJ to TV presenter and interviewer, club DJ and music specialist to newspaper columnist, Edith Bowman certainly has more strings to her bow than most.

Edith was brought up in Scotland and worked at her parent’s hotel in Anstruther, before going to Kirkcaldy College where she attained an HND in Communication Studies. After studying for a degree at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret College, Edith worked in local radio as both a producer and presenter for the following two years.

Having been firmly bitten by the presenting bug, Edith sent off a showreel to a new music channel launching in Europe, namely MTV. The channel was looking for presenters with regional accents and they immediately signed Edith up, to work on MTV’s Daily Edition as a newshound. Having moved to London, Edith quickly proved herself as an adept live presenter. The channel then paired her up with another young unknown called Cat Deeley and the two went on to co-present MTV’s Hitlist UK.

Edith and Cat built up a strong presenting partnership and Capital FM soon approached the duo to present a new music show. And so in 2001, Cat and Edith’s Hit Music Sunday was born.

Edith’s career has gone from strength to strength, incorporating TV presenting, documentaries, film shows and, of course, music programming. Working across all the terrestrial channels, Edith has ensured that she hasn’t been pigeon-holed into any one style or format. From presenting Top Of The Pops (BBC1) to hosting Rough Guide To The World (BBC2), from interviewing for the New Kings Of Rock ‘n’ Roll (Channel 4) to fronting Filmspotting (FilmFour) and even winning Fame Academy (BBC) in 2005, Edith has always tried to work on as diverse a number of projects as possible – the only proviso being that she has a genuine interest in the subject matter.

In addition to studio based presenting, Edith has also covered numerous live events for broadcasters, from Party In The Park (ITV) and the Notting Hill Carnival (BBC2) to Glastonbury (BBC3). Edith and has also hosted a number of awards ceremonies including the Q Awards and Sky One’s Big Bash Comedy Awards.

In 2002, Edith began co-presenting C4’s new breakfast show, RI:SE. This new role also saw her first work with a certain Colin Murray, and the pair’s obvious on-screen chemistry quickly led to Radio One signing them up to co-present the weekday show, Edith and Colin. The success of the show lead Edith being offered her own weekday afternoon show in 2006 and she now currently hosts Weekend Breakfast for the station.

In addition to her radio show, Edith’s television work continues to go from strength to strength.  In 2007 she made a documentary for BBC’s Saving Planet Earth series, as well as co-hosting the channel’s Live Earth coverage.  For the past three years she has presented all live festival coverage for the BBC which includes Glastonbury, T in the Park and the Electric Proms.  On top of this she has been a regular host for the C4 4 Music Specials as well as film specials for ITV and T4, and in 2008 fronted E Channels’ coverage of the  Quantum of Solace Royal Gala premiere which was broadcast internationally.  She also was the host of the Scottish Baftas in November 2008. 

Edith’s most recent television work includes presenting The World’s Greatest Popstars for C4 and the Bafta’s own programming for their Film Awards as well as her own music series on C4, The Evo Rooms. In addition, Edith is also gearing up for the BBC’s 2010 Festivals coverage.

In Edith’s personal life, June 2008 saw the arrival of her first child, Rudy, with partner Tom Smith of The Editors.