Edith Eleanor Bowman (born 1974 15 January) is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted '' Colin and Edith'', 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 current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

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 ceremony.

Early life

Bowman was born in 1974 in Anstruther, Fife, 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, Up ...

in Anstruther and then continued her studies in Media and Communication at

Queen Margaret University Queen Margaret University is a university, founded in 1875 and located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret. History The university was founded in 1875, as ''The Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Media career

Television

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

news reader News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. New ...

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 & ...

. 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 and actress. From 1998 to 2002, she hosted the ITV children's show '' SMTV Live,'' for which she won a BAFTA Children's Award, and its spin-off chart show '' ...

, 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 British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, as well as the BBC's second non-analogue-terres ...

in 2002. She also worked as a presenter on

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

's breakfast show '' RI:SE'' when it launched on 29 April 2002. In 2004, she co-presented the BBC Scotland series ''Teen Commandments'' with

Cameron Stout Cameron Stout (born 8 March 1971 in Stromness, Orkney) is 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 television and radio presenter Julyan Sinclair. ...

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

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'' until the end of the series, replacing

Fearne Cotton Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', a ...

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 actress. The youngest child and only daughter of filmmakers Eleanor Coppola, Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, she made her film debut as an infant in her father's acclaimed ...

for the

BBC4 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

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 cancel ...

''. 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 or SMART may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014 * Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com * ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper * '' SMart'', a children's television se ...

'' 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, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...

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 B ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

and

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

, 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. The groom was second in the line of succession to the British throne. The couple had been in a relationship sinc ...

. 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. This show is not to be conf ...

'', alongside fellow Radio 2 broadcaster Mark Radcliffe.

Radio

Bowman presented ''Hit Music Sunday'' with

Capital London Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...

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

Colin Murray Colin Murray (born Luke Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. In 2010, he became host of BBC Television's '' Match of the Day 2'' on BBC Two, while still anchoring shows on BBC Radio 5 Live, including '' 5 ...

, who had also worked on ''RI:SE'', to co-host '' Colin and Edith'' 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 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 Childr ...

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 cultura ...

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 Sri Lankan radio and TV presenter who broadcasts on BBC Radio 5 Live. Early life Nihal Arthanayake was born on 1 June 1971, to Theravada Buddhist, Sri Lankan parents. Nihal began his involvement in t ...

. 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, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

, alongside

Adam Buxton Adam Offord Buxton (born 7 June 1969) is an English actor, comedian, podcaster and writer. 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'' (19 ...

. 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 Wireless Group which is itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is the second incarnation of Virgin Radio in the UK: t ...

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 is a surname of Manx origin. It may refer to: I Surname * Robert Kermode (1812–1870), Tasmanian politician * P. M. C. Kermode (Philip Moore Callow Kermode, 1855–1932), Manx antiquarian and historian * Alexander Kermode (1876–1934) ...

'' on BBC Radio 5 Live, on BBC Radio 2 She also provides holiday cover for BBC Radio 2 presenters including

Jo Whiley Johanne Whiley-Morton (born 4 July 1965), better known by her professional name Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running weekday later weekend '' Jo Whiley Show'' on BBC Radio 1. She curre ...

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer (née Cox; born 13 December 1974) is an English broadcaster. She presented ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 from 3 April 2000 until 19 December 2003. Since January 2019 she now hosts the BBC Radio 2 drivetime show, Monday ...

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

on ''Sounds of the 90s''.

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 BBC Scotland'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 in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 200 ...

event at Murrayfield Stadium in

, 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 appearances ...

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 broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

coverage of

and the

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

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

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 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 thro ...

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

Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, ''Live Earth'' was built upon the be ...

. 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 jointly owned by BBC Studios and 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 seri ...

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, 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 burgeon ...

, actress

Anna Friel Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. Born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, she has been acting professionally since age 13. Friel achieved fame with her portrayal of Beth Jordache on the British soap opera '' Brookside'' ...

, singer

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian singer and actress. In the early 1990s, she played Beth Brennan in the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours''. Three years after leaving the programme, she began a singing caree ...

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 ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London. ...

. From 2015 until 2017 Bowman hosted the annual Young Scot Awards.

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 now named STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isles, Western Isles, Highlands (except Fort William a ...

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

Bananarama Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. T ...

's "

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

" which was itself a cover of the

Shocking Blue Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in 1967 in The Hague. It was part of the music movement in the Netherlands that was generally known by the name Nederbeat. The band had a number of hits throughout the counterculture movement during ...

original, but finished joint last in her heat. On 11 March 2005 she won the TV talent show '' Comic Relief Does Fame Academy'', 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'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 h ...

". The show also featured

Al Murray Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian, actor, musician and writer from Hammersmith. In 2003, he was listed in ''The Observer'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2007 he was voted the 16th gre ...

Kim Medcalf Kim Louise Medcalf (born 8 December 1973) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for taking over the role of Sam Mitchell in the long-running BBC soap opera, ''EastEnders'', between 2002 and 2005 and from 2022 onwards. Career '' ...

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' (1 ...

, Jon Culshaw,

Konnie Huq Kanak Asha "Konnie" Huq (; born 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'', prese ...

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'' a ...

, and other celebrities.

Personal life

Bowman married

Editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, 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, or ...

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

References

External links

* * {{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 women musicians Scottish women radio presenters Scottish podcasters