Edith Bowman

Edith Eleanor Smith (born 15 January 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ and TV presenter. She hosted the Weekday Afternoon Show and the Weekend breakfast on BBC Radio 1 until 2012, and has presented a variety of music-related television shows and music festivals.

Edith Bowman
Presenting at the BT Digital Music Awards in 2006
Born (1974-01-15) 15 January 1974
Anstruther, Fife, Scotland
OccupationDJ, Radio presenter, Television presenter
EmployerBBC Radio 1
Channel 4
Spouse(s)Tom Smith (2013–present)
ChildrenRudy (born 2008)
Spike (born 2013)

Media career

Television

Bowman's first on-screen job on TV was as a news reader on MTV UK. She went on to host many shows for the station, including co-presenting chart show Hitlist UK with Cat Deeley, with whom she also presented travel show Roadtripping for BBC Choice in 2002. She also worked as a presenter on Channel 4'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. After occasional appearances in 2003, Bowman co-presented Top of the Pops until the end of the series, replacing Fearne Cotton while she was away. In total she appeared on the show ten times including the final weekly episode. She returned to Top of the Pops for the 2006 Christmas Special. In 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic, she remotely interviewed the film maker Sofia Coppola for the BBC4 series Life Cinematic.

She has also presented various music programmes for Channel 4 such as Channel 4 Presents..., Evo Music Rooms, and TBA. Bowman also appeared on children's art program SMart in 2007 and has appeared in coverage of festivals such as Glastonbury, T In The Park and Reading and Leeds Festival, 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.[1] In 2011, she narrated Channel 5's documentary series McFly on the Wall.[2]

Radio

Bowman presented Hit Music Sunday with Cat Deeley on Capital FM in 2001–2002. On 29 March 2003, she teamed up with Colin Murray, who had also worked on RI:SE, to co-host Colin and Edith on BBC Radio 1. 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 BBC Radio 1 afternoon 13:00 to 16:00 slot, with Murray taking over a late-night specialist music programme. In September 2008, she returned to the airwaves following maternity leave, initially taking over from Dick and Dom 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.[3] In February 2012, it was announced that Bowman was being replaced by Gemma Cairney on Weekend Breakfast, and would move to Tuesday evenings, in order to take over The Review Show, from DJ Nihal. Bowman left Radio 1 on 1 April, 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 24 April 2012.

In November 2012, she started co-hosting a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 6 Music, alongside Adam Buxton. In June 2014, Radio 1 announced that The Review Show would be cancelled on 1 September 2014, ending Bowman's career at the station.[4]

In February 2016, she was announced as the only solo, female, breakfast show host on commercial radio, with the launch of Virgin Radio UK on 30 March.[5] She left the programme on 29 September 2017. Bowman is an occasional stand-in presenter of Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on BBC Radio 5 Live.

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.[6]

Career milestones

In 2005, Bowman presented BBC Scotland's coverage of the Live 8 event at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, and hosted the network's T in the Park programmes with Dougie Anderson who had also worked on RI:SE.[7] Also in 2005, she hosted the Q Awards with Colin Murray live on BBC Radio 1. She also presented the BBC Three coverage of Glastonbury, T in the Park and the Reading Festival with Colin Murray. She also hosted the TV coverage of the first Electric Proms with Zane Lowe. On 7 July 2007, she co-presented the BBC coverage of Live Earth.

After leaving Radio 1, Bowman presented several one-off film specials for Channel 4. She also presented Evo Music Rooms a late night music programme for Channel 4 and The Vue Film Show, also for Channel 4. In 2011, she presented coverage of the T in the Park music festival for BBC Three. She also had a stint with BBC America 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,[8] alongside fellow celebrities: comedian Alan Carr, actress Anna Friel, singer Natalie Imbruglia and model Twiggy.[9]

From 2015 until 2017 Bowman hosted the annual Young Scot Awards.[10][11]

Singing

Bowman's television debut was on the Grampian Television talent show The Big Break.[12] At the age of 14, she covered Bananarama's "Venus" which was itself a cover of the Shocking Blue 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" with Jools Holland's band.[13] Earlier in the competition she sang a version of Blondie's "Hanging on the Telephone". The show also featured Al Murray, Kim Medcalf, Adrian Edmondson, Jon Culshaw, Konnie Huq, Dawn Steele, and other celebrities.

Personal life

Bowman was brought up in Anstruther in Fife, Scotland. She attended secondary school at Waid Academy in Anstruther and then continued her studies at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh. She lives in London with Editors frontman Tom Smith. They have two sons; Rudy (born 2008) and Spike (born 2013). The couple married in December 2013.[14]

Colin Murray claimed former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is Bowman's godfather,[15] but Bowman denied this in an interview with Scott Mills, stating Ferguson is close family friend, and the original claim by Murray was joke.[16]

In 2006, Bowman apologised for using racially insensitive language, after reading out listener correspondence describing Japanese people as 'Nasty Nips'.[17]

References
  1. BBC confirms presenting team to celebrate the Royal Wedding BBC Press Office, 29 April 2011
  2. "McFly on the Wall episodes". Channel 5. Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  3. Kadri, Anisa (16 July 2009). "Cotton to replace Whiley on Radio 1". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
  4. "Radio 1 and 1Xtra changes specialist, weekend schedules". BBC Newsbeat. BBC News. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  5. "Virgin Radio announces lineup including Edith Bowman". Theguardian.com.
  6. Kane, H (9 August 2016). "Soundtracking with Edith Bowman". Phoenix Magazine. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  7. "Edith and Dougie duet to present BBC Scotland's T In The Park 2005 coverage" (Press release). BBC Press Office. 28 June 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  8. "Target Breast Cancer - Let's Find A Cure". Targetbreastcancer.org.uk.
  9. Celebrities show true colours in charity fashion campaign Archived 4 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine FAMEmagazine.co.uk, 1 May 2008
  10. "'It's so emotional' Young Scot host Edith Bowman reveals how hankies are a vital part of her outfit ahead of inspirational awards night". Daily Record. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  11. "Young Scots 2015: Edith Bowman says our fabulous finalists are creative, compassionate, talented and driven - and she's thrilled to be hosting this year's awards". Daily Record. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  12. "A vintage Edith Bowman clip reveals her teenage Bananarama moment". STV. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  13. DJ Edith Bowman wins Fame Academy BBC News, 12 March 2005
  14. Lyons, Beverley (26 December 2013). "Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman marries Editors frontman Tom Smith in secret festive ceremony". dailyrecord.co.uk. Daily Record. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  15. Radio Five Live interview with Colin Murray (date 18th May 2020)
  16. Radio Five Live Interview with Scott Mills (date 9th January 2021)
  17. "Radio DJ apologises over 'nasty nip' remark | London Evening Standard". Standard.co.uk. 8 November 2006. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
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