Philippa Clare Ryan Forrester (born September 1968) is a British television and radio presenter, producer and author. Throughout her career, Forrester has presented shows such as

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

, ''

Tomorrow's World ''Tomorrow's World'' is a former British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorro ...

'',

Crufts Crufts is an international dog show held annually in the United Kingdom, first held in 1891. Organised and hosted by The Kennel Club, it is the largest show of its kind in the world. Crufts is centred on a championship conformation show for do ...

, ''

The Heaven and Earth Show ''The Heaven and Earth Show'' is a BBC television programme that aired on Sunday mornings from 10am to 11am on BBC One. The show ran for nine years between 1998 and 2007, looking at spiritual and moral issues. Over the years it had numerous pres ...

'' and '' Robot Wars''. In 2015, Forrester moved with her family to

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

, US to support her husband's work with '' National Geographic'' magazine.

Education

Forrester was educated at Westgate School, a co-educational comprehensive school in Winchester, Hampshire, and at

Peter Symonds College Peter Symonds College is a sixth form college in Winchester, Hampshire, in the south of England. Founded as a boys' grammar school, it is one of the few specialist sixth form colleges which is also a boarding school. It serves Falkland Island ...

in the same city. She holds a degree in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

, where she appeared on the internal Students Guild television station.

Broadcasting career

Forrester first worked as a children's presenter for BFBS television in 1986, and was often seen reading out birthday cards onscreen. She became a presenter on

Children's BBC BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC (short for Chi ...

from the late 1980s, becoming a more regular fixture alongside

Toby Anstis Toby Anstis (born 14 December 1970) is an English radio and television presenter. He is a presenter on Heart (radio network), Heart and spin-off station Heart Dance. Early life Originally from Northampton, Anstis was educated at Desborough Co ...

from July 1990 until 1994. She then hosted many programmes including ''

'', ''Barking Mad'', ''

'' and '' Robot Wars'' series 1–3 and 5 and 6, before being replaced by

Jayne Middlemiss Jayne Middlemiss (born 3 February 1971) is an English television and radio presenter. She began presenting music television shows such as '' The O-Zone'' and ''Top of the Pops'' in the mid-1990s, before presenting a variety of other television an ...

in series 7. She also co-presented the BBC's coverage of the solar eclipse of August 1999. At the end of the same year, she was also part of the corporation's team covering the turn of the new

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

, and was duped into appearing on the spoof documentary ''

Brass Eye ''Brass Eye'' is a British satirical television series parodying current affairs news programming. A series of six episodes aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001. The series was created and presented by Chris Morris, written ...

''s 2001

paedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty ...

special, in which she wore a large pair of gloves, and explained how a paedophile could use them to touch children through a screen, such as a television screen. She was a co-presenter with Brett Westwood on '' World on the Move'', a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

series that started in 2008 on migration in the animal kingdom. In September 2013, she co-presented the BBC show ''Harvest'', which followed the progress of Britain's vegetable, cereal and fruit harvests.

TV production

Forrester's first collaboration with her husband was ''My Halcyon River''. Following its success, in 2003 they set up a production company, Halcyon Media, which specialises in wildlife productions. In 2007, they co-produced ''An Otter in the Family'', a short documentary series about the adoption of an otter cub called Grace and their attempts to raise her as a wild animal in order to be released into the wild. Forrester and her husband also produced the four-part ''Halcyon River Diaries'', the first episode of which was broadcast in May 2010 on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. The series follows the wildlife found near their home. An additional episode was shown at Christmas 2010.

Personal life

Forrester married wildlife cameraman and producer

Charlie Hamilton James Charlie Hamilton James (born July 1973) is an English photographer, television cameraman and presenter, specialising in wildlife subjects. He started his career at 16, working on David Attenborough's ''The Trials of Life''. His work has since b ...

in July 2004. She is an environmentalist. She took a part-time degree in Ecology and Conservation at Birkbeck, University of London while presenting ''Tomorrow's World.'' She has been vice president of St Tiggywinkles wildlife hospital and Patron of the Seahorse Trust with Nick Baker, Vice President of the Avon Wildlife Trust with Simon King and is a brand ambassador for Anglian Windows. She supported the Recycle Now campaign to encourage more people to take up home composting.

Bibliography

*''The River'', Orion, 2004 *''Halcyon River Diaries'' (with Charlie Hamilton James), Preface Publishing, 2010 *''Get Out: Halcyon River Activity Book'' (with her sons Gus Hamilton James, Fred Hamilton James, and Arthur Hamilton James), Preface Publishing, 2010 *''On the Trail of Wolves'', Bloomsbury, 2020

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forrester, Philippa 1968 births Living people Mass media people from Winchester Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London British television presenters English television producers British women television producers English non-fiction writers Robot Wars (TV series) presenters People educated at Peter Symonds College Writers from Winchester