Rav Wilding (born 16 October 1977) is a British television presenter and former police officer who served with the

British Transport Police , nativename = , abbreviation = BTP , patch = , patchcaption = , logo = British Transport Police Logo.svg , logocaption = Logo of the British Transport Police , badge = , badgecaption = , f ...

and

Metropolitan Police Service The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. Prior to joining the police, Wilding served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and worked as a security guard at

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...

department store in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He is best known for his role as a presenter on the BBC TV show ''

Crimewatch ''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was o ...

''.

Early life and education

Born in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, Wilding is the second of five children born to a

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably I ...

father and an English mother who were both nurses. He attended

Fulston Manor School Fulston Manor School is a secondary School with academy status in Sittingbourne, Kent. The head teacher is Mrs Susie Burden . It teaches years 7–13 (11- to 18-year-olds). Description Fulston Manor School is a larger-than-average secondary sch ...

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

, Kent. After a family breakup, Wilding had to leave home at a young age due to social housing not being willing to accommodate him with his mother and younger siblings after he had turned 16. After completing an apprenticeship in dry lining, he then opted to join the military aged 17.

Military and police career

After secondary school, he took an apprenticeship in construction before joining the

at seventeen. After sustaining a serious leg break, Wilding was forced to leave the Army after only 4 years. Upon leaving the army in 1999, Wilding started working at

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

as part of the security team. After approximately nine months at Harrods, Wilding's application to join the

was accepted and he started training school. Wilding joined the Service on the 22 May 2000 and was posted to

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon p ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

. While based at Peckham in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, he was involved in the high-profile police investigation surrounding the

death of Damilola Taylor On 27 November 2000, ten-year-old Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor was killed in London, in what became one of the United Kingdom's most high-profile killings. Two brothers who were 12 and 13 at the time of the killing were convicted of mansla ...

. Wilding was part of a specialist unit specifically created in the aftermath of the murder where he worked on the tough

North Peckham Estate Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vil ...

where Taylor was killed. After two years as a policeman, he responded to an advert for people to participate in a jungle adventure, to live for three months in an Australian rain forest for a new television programme 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 ...

called '' Eden''. After numerous auditions and around 50,000 applicants Wilding was picked for the programme and flew out to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. After three months in the jungle, Wilding returned to Britain and went back to work in the police but this time in to the

CID CID may refer to: Film * ''C.I.D.'' (1955 film), an Indian Malayalam film * ''C.I.D.'' (1956 film), an Indian Hindi film * ''C. I. D.'' (1965 film), an Indian Telugu film * ''C.I.D.'' (1990 film), an Indian Hindi film Television * ''CID'' ( ...

. Working within CID, Wilding was posted to units focusing on robbery, burglary and major investigations as well as a long spell working on a Sapphire unit dealing with rape and sexual assault allegations. He was eventually selected for Detective training and became a

Detective Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal Police, law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Ot ...

for the last six years of his service. Wilding worked on many high-profile cases that appeared at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

. In January 2021 it was announced by Chief Superintendent Martin Fry that Wilding had joined

as a detective.

Television career

Wilding had to go through numerous interviews and auditions as well as formal television presenter training. Having also auditioned for ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

,'' he was offered a part on

BBC #REDIRECT 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. ...

...

Personal life

Chantelle Houghton Chantelle Vivien Houghton (born 21 August 1983) is an English television personality, glamour model, and columnist. In 2006, she competed in the fourth series of the Channel 4 reality series ''Celebrity Big Brother''. Houghton was sent in as ...

Morning Live ''Morning Live'' is a "topical live series" that airs at 9:15 am on weekdays on BBC One. Series overview History ''Morning Live'' first broadcast in October 2020 as a 40-part series to connect with viewers' real-life concerns and to offer tr ...

Simon Baron-Cohen Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen (born 15 August 1958) is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of ...

Filmography

Missing Live ''Missing'', titled ''Missing Live'' from 2008 to 2010, is a BBC One morning television series which was broadcast between 2005 and 2011. Sally Magnusson was the programme's original presenter. She was replaced by Louise Minchin and Rav Wildin ...

Helicopter Heroes ''Helicopter Heroes'' is a British daytime television series, following the lifesaving work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The first episode aired on 3 September 2007, and a total of seven series have been made. The programme ceased production i ...

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

Crimewatch Roadshow ''Crimewatch Live'' (previously known as ''Crimewatch Roadshow Live'' or simply ''Crimewatch Roadshow'' and originally as ''Crimewatch Daily'') is a British television programme produced by BBC Studios Documentary Unit Cymru Wales, that recon ...

Get Your Own Back ''Get Your Own Back'' was a British children's television game show created by Brian Marshall. Each episode staged a contest between teams of children – attempting to score as many points as possible – and their respective adults – attemp ...

71 Degrees North ''71 Degrees North'' is an English-language and Norwegian-produced reality television series on ITV which began broadcasting on 11 September 2010. Ten celebrities had to battle it out to see who would make it to the 71st parallel north, with cha ...

Hero Squad ''Hero Squad'' was a children's television programme that aired on the CBBC Channel from 2012 - 2013. It followed six children around the UK that were trained up by the various emergency services around the UK, who then took part in a staged res ...

Splash!

Richard Osman's House of Games ''Richard Osman's House of Games'' is a British quiz show produced by Banijay (owners of Endemol Shine UK), a branch of Remarkable Television for the BBC. The show is hosted by Richard Osman. It is played on a weekly basis, with four "celebri ...

Early life and education

Military and police career

Television career

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links