Magenta Devine (born Kim Taylor; 4 November 1957 – 6 March 2019) was a British television presenter, journalist and music promoter best known for presenting the travel programme ''

Rough Guide Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...

'' and youth programme ''Reportage'' on

BBC2 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 an ...

in the 1990s. She later presented ''

Young, Gifted and Broke ''Young, Gifted and Broke'' was a 1989 British sitcom series created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, airing on ITV. The show stars Elena Ferrari, Cheryl Miller, Mark Monero, Jason Rush and Kate Emma Davies as five teenagers who are work ...

'' for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

Career

Devine originally worked for Tony Brainsby, a publicist for

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or some ...

and

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...

. While still living with boyfriend (ex-

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...

bassist) Tony James, she became the music promoter for James's new band

Sigue Sigue Sputnik Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band have had three UK top-40 hit singles, including "Love Missile F1-11" and " 21st Century Boy". The band's music, image and insp ...

. She began her television career in 1986 as a presenter of

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...

's pop music show ''Juice''. Following her breakup with James, producer

Janet Street-Porter Janet Vera Street-Porter (''née'' Bull; born 27 December 1946) is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and media personality. She began her career as a fashion writer and columnist at the ''Daily Mail'' and was later appointed fashion e ...

booked Devine to be a presenter on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's youth programme ''

Network 7 ''Network 7'' was a short-lived but influential youth music and current affairs programme screened on Channel 4 over two series in 1987 and 1988. The series was created by Jane Hewland and Janet Street-Porter, who was also editor of the first se ...

''. She then moved after Street-Porter to

to present ''

DEF II DEF II was a programming strand on BBC2, which aired at 6 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 May 1988 to 23 May 1994, to serve the teenage market. It was produced by Janet Street-Porter, and followed on from her influential youth TV show ''Netw ...

'', of which ''Rough Guide'' was a feature before it became a separate programme. Devine appeared on ''

Richard & Judy ''Richard & Judy'' (also known as ''Richard & Judy's New Position'') is a British television chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The show originally aired on Channel 4 from 26 November 2001 to 22 Augus ...

'' in 2004, and on ''

Extreme Celebrity Detox ''Extreme Celebrity Detox'' was a reality television programme on Channel 4, the British public-service television broadcaster, in 2005. Fifteen British celebrities were sent to try a range of detox programmes, which aimed to enhance inner pe ...

'' in 2005. Her

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...

work included advertisements for Peugeot, Motorola, Toyota, and Sea France. In 2006, Devine fronted an

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...

(OFT) campaign that urged consumers in the travel market to book with a member of

Association of British Travel Agents Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

(ABTA). In 2001, she narrated a

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

programme, ''The New Romantics – A Fine Romance'', on the

New Romantic The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...

movement. Apart from being a television presenter, she also was

UN Goodwill Ambassador Goodwill ambassador is a post-nominal honorific title, a professional occupation and/or authoritative designation that is assigned to a person who advocates for a specific cause or global issue on the basis of their notability such as a public ...

in 1998, and campaigned for women's rights.

Later life and death

Devine sought treatment in the 1990s for

heroin addiction Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a substance use disorder characterized by cravings for opioids, continued use despite physical and/or psychological deterioration, increased tolerance with use, and withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing opioids. Op ...

and depression. In 2003, she was declared bankrupt by London's High Court. Devine died on 6 March 2019, after a short illness for which she was undergoing treatment at a central London hospital. She was 61 years old.

Television programmes

's pop music show ''Juice'', presenter *

's youth programme ''

'' (1987) *BBC2's ''

''{{cite news, last=Daly, first=Rhian, title=TV presenter and former music publicist Magenta Devine has died, aged 61 *BBC2's ''Rough Guides to the World'' *BBC2's ''Reportage'' (1988—94){{cite web, title=Reportage, url=https://imdb.com/title/tt1229318, work=

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

, accessdate=21 October 2019{{better reference needed, date=October 2021 *''

'' ITV documentary series *'' This Morning'' with

(1996) interviewee *''

'' (2005) *

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

programme ''The New Romantics – A Fine Romance'' (2001) on the

movement as narrator *'' Big Mouth'' (2005), an aftershow of ''Big Brother'', as guest panellist

References

{{Reflist, 35em

External links

*{{IMDb name, 1755700
Magenta Devine – a life in pictures
at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Devine, Magenta 1957 births 2019 deaths British television personalities Channel 4 presenters English television presenters English travel writers British women travel writers English voice actresses Music promoters People from Hemel Hempstead Women music promoters