Helen McDermott (born 24 March 1954) is a British radio and television presenter, best known for her work at

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

. McDermott began her broadcasting career in the 1970s as a continuity announcer and newsreader for

Westward Television Westward Television was the first ITV (TV network), ITV franchise-holder for the South West England, South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a ...

in Plymouth. While at Westward, she made an attempt at a singing career under the pseudonym of 'Helen Barnes'. In 1979, the year of the ITV strike, McDermott joined

as an announcer and newsreader, where she quickly became one of the station's most popular faces. In 1980, while working as part of the announcing staff, McDermott devised the idea of utilising a puppet during the regular children's birthdays' slots, based upon her previous work at Westward alongside station mascot Gus Honeybun. The puppet ''BC'' (or ''Birthday Club'') went on to become a fixture on Anglia for 22 years. BC was retired in July 2002, with a spokesman for Anglia paying tribute when the news was announced in June of that year: 'BC has had a marvellous run on Anglia for 22 years, and we appreciate that many viewers will be sorry to see him go. But nothing is forever in television.' McDermott left Anglia's presentation department when in-vision continuity was phased out at the station in the late 1980s. She later became one of the chief anchors for the East sub-regional edition of '' Anglia News'' between 1990 and 2001, and continued to work on a range of other regional programmes. She was also a presenter at 99.9 Radio Norwich, but left in 2010 following budget cuts by station owners Tindle Radio. In January 2011, McDermott joined

BBC Radio Norfolk BBC Radio Norfolk is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Norfolk. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Forum in Norwich. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of ...

in Norwich as presenter of the 11am to 1pm slot from Monday to Thursday. In January 2012 her programme was dropped from the Radio Norfolk schedule. McDermott has run OhYesItIz Productions with Desmond Barrit since 2004, producing the annual

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

at the Pavilion Theatre in

Gorleston Gorleston-on-Sea (), known colloquially as Gorleston, is a town in the Borough of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England, to the south of Great Yarmouth. Situated at the mouth of the River Yare it was a port town at the time of the Domesday Bo ...

. In 2012 she appeared in ''

Mother Goose The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. This, howeve ...

'' alongside her former

Anglia television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

colleague

Paul Lavers Paul Lavers (born 1950) is a British film, television and stage actor. He has been a presenter for Anglia television and for several shopping channels. Early life and career Paul Lavers was born in Bristol in 1950, the son of Josephine (née Ri ...

. In 2014 McDermott began appearing as a reporter on Norwich television station

Mustard TV Mustard TV was a local television station based in Norwich, Norfolk. It broadcast to over 400,000 people, covering Norwich and much of Norfolk reaching Cromer in the north of the county, Dereham to the west and parts of south Norfolk and north ...

. Within weeks she was asked to co-present the channel's flagship nightly entertainment programme, ''The Mustard Show''.

References

Living people Radio and television announcers British television presenters 1954 births {{UK-tv-bio-stub