Claudia Winkleman

(65 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5)

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Between 2002 – 04, Claudia Winkleman began her first daily TV role when she hosted the BBC Three Entertainment update show Liquid News, taking over from Christopher Price on the now defunct BBC Choice. She shared the presenting duties with Colin Paterson, and later Paddy O’Connell. The show featured celebrity interviews. In 2003, Fame Academy appointed Claudia Winkleman to present a daily update show on BBC Three, in conjunction with its second series. She repeated the show in 2005 for the much shorter celebrity version Comic Relief Does Fame Academy. Also in 2005, Claudia Winkleman co-hosted The House of Tiny Tearaways, a BBC Three reality TV show. She also began hosting Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, a supplementary programme to Strictly Come Dancing, taking over from Justin Lee-Collins.

More recently, Claudia Winkleman has presented a number of prime time programmes. In 2007, she took over from Cat Deeley as the main host for the third series of Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, co-hosting with Patrick Kielty. She also presented the Eurovision Song Contest. She co-hosted coverage of the inaugural Eurovision Dance Contest 2007 alongside Graham Norton for BBC One in September of that year. She co-presented the UK selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 called Eurovision: Your Decision, this time accompanied by Eurovision stalwart Terry Wogan. In March 2008, Claudia Winkleman rekindled her partnership with Kielty when the pair hosted the final leg of Sport Relief 2008.

In 2007, Claudia Winkleman was the face of Sky Movie Premiere’s coverage of the 79th Academy Awards, repeating it for the 80th Academy Awards in 2008. The show was broadcast live in conjunction with the ceremony itself, running right through the night into the early hours of the morning. Claudia Winkleman has made many guest appearances on panel and talk shows, including: Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Would I Lie to You?, Have I Got News for You, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and Lily Allen and Friends. In February 2008, she appeared on the British version of the comedy improvisational show Thank God You’re Here, hosted by Paul Merton.

In March 2009, Claudia Winkleman was announced as the host of the new series of Hell’s Kitchen on ITV1. She fronted the nightly show live from the restaurant in East London in its fourth series in the spring. On 14 November 2009, she appeared on the main show of Strictly Come Dancing to present backstage, due to main presenter Bruce Forsyth being on sick leave. She co-hosted the show with Tess Daly and guest presenter Ronnie Corbett.

On 29 March 2010, she was named as one of the new co-presenters of the Film programme, replacing Jonathan Ross. The Guardian stated, through her recent hosting of Sky Television’s coverage of The Oscars, Claudia Winkleman had “proved both a passionate and engaging advocate of cinema”, while her husband Kris Thykier is a film producer with credits on several mainstream releases.

It is through her work on Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two that Claudia Winkleman has gained the most public recognition. The programme, which started in 2004, was devised as a companion show to run conjoined with the second series of Strictly Come Dancing, and continues to run to date. It follows a similar format to the one Claudia Winkleman made popular on Fame Academy, and sees the presenter deliberating and dissecting the ins and outs of the main competition, accompanied by an array of dance experts, assorted guests and the competitors themselves. The show is aired every weekday throughout the course of the series at 6:30pm on BBC Two. The show’s four judges also appear regularly on the programme.

In 2012, it was announced that Zoë Ball would be the regular presenter of Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, with Claudia Winkleman’s involvement in Series 10 of the show being limited to co-hosting the Sunday night results show with Tess Daly. Claudia Winkleman continues to host the Sunday night results show for Strictly Come Dancing.

On 8 May 2014, it was announced that Claudia Winkleman would replace Bruce Forsyth as co-presenter, with Tess Daly, of the main Strictly Come Dancing show for the 12th series.