Christine Bleakley
About
Christine is a highly experienced television presenter from Northern Ireland. She is most well-known to the British public as a former co-presenter of BBC One’s The One Show.
Bleakley began her career in media at Belfast Citybeat as a news reader and presenter, working alongside Stephen Nolan.
Christine started her television career as a runner and then trained to become a floor manager whilst studying for her A-Levels at Bloomfield Collegiate School in Ballyhackamore, Belfast.
Bleakley then moved into television with BBC Northern Ireland hosting a wide variety of shows. One of her programmmes was called Sky High which saw her flying around Northern Ireland in a helicopter in 2004. A weekly entertainment show called First Stop followed, and she also hosted Would You Pass The 11+ and BBC NI coverage of Children in Need. She continued to work at BBC NI whilst studying for a politics degree at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Outside Northern Ireland, she co-hosted the BBC Two talent show Let Me Entertain You and in July 2007 she became the co-host of The One Show on BBC One.
In 2010 Bleakley left The One Show to join ITV1 as the co-host of Daybreak following Adrian Chiles’ departure from the BBC to ITV. Also in 2010, Bleakley made her stand-up comedy debut when she took part in Channel 4’s Comedy Gala, a benefit show in aid of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London.
On 3 March 2011 and 9 February 2012 she was a panelist for Celebrity Juice on ITV2. She also appeared in an episode of Mad Mad World in Spring 2012 alongisde Peter Andre and Vinnie Jones.
On 18 November 2011 it was announced that Bleakley is to co-host Dancing On Ice alongside Phillip Schofield.
Bleakley currently hosts quiz show Control and a number of Music specials, including Simply Red: For the Last Time and Duran Duran: One Night Only. She also hosted the Christmas charity show Text Santa alongside Phillip Schofield on ITV1.
Recognition & Charity Work
Following a trip to Uganda in 2009, to see how Comic Relief money was being spent, in March 2010 Bleakley successfully water-skied across the English Channel in a time of one hour and 40 minutes for Sport Relief.
Bleakley is a patron of the CineMagic children’s film festival and is Northern Ireland ambassador for The Prince’s Trust.
In November 2010 Bleakley was awarded the title ‘Top TV Host’ at the 2010 Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women of the Year Awards.
Her face is still a familiar addition to the television scene and her talents for presenting are in demand at company seminars nationwide.