Melanie Sykes

Born in Mossley, Manchester, Melanie Sykes had firmly established herself as a successful model by the time she was 19, doing numerous catwalk shows, magazine fashion shoots and television commercials as well as a major poster campaign for Haagen Daaz.

Her first major break in television was as the face of the Boddingtons beer commercials during the mid-1990s. This led to a number of presenting roles, first on Sky One followed by the BBC's Holiday Programme. She hosted the Hit List UK show for MTV and also covered the Phoenix Festival.

In 1997, Melanie signed a two-year deal with Channel 4's The Big Breakfast. This move established her as one of the most exciting new faces on television. Then, in December 1998, she hosted the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party live on BBC1, for which she received rave reviews.

1999 saw Melanie Sykes hosting the new series of Dream Ticket for LWT, continuing her work with the Big Breakfast and filming a documentary for BBC News and Current Affairs called Melanie Sykes' Southall Stories.

From autumn 1999 Melanie also started working in radio, with a presenting slot on TFI on Galaxy with Tim Vincent. From May 2000, she went on to present her own show for the Galaxy network every Saturday, which brought radio listeners exclusive interviews with celebrity guests and bands. 2001 saw Melanie begin reporting for ITV's daily entertainment show Celebrity.

In 2002 she filmed a brand new daily live show, Today with Des and Mel (ITV1), co-hosting with Des O'Connor. The show won the RTS Best Daytime Programme award and ran for a hugely successful three years.

In 2003, Melanie went solo with two Saturday night ITV shows: a brand new family show called Celebrities Under Pressure and a game show, The Vault. She also co-hosted the Soap Awards with Des O'Connor for ITV1 as well as the National Television Awards Party of the Year.

She then moved to Saturday evenings on BBC Radio 2 as co-host of Going Out With Alan Carr. Melanie also hosted The Paul O' Grady Show on Channel 4 on a number of occasions when Paul was unable to appear.

She also presented a BBC1 series, Gene Detectives and hosted Channel 4's daily live series, Grand Designs Today as well as filming strands for the BBC's flagship show, The One Show, hosting Loose Women on numerous occasions as well as The National Lottery Saturday Night Draw on BBC1.

In 2015, Melanie co-presented Humble Pie, a new cookery series for Watch, alongside Marco Pierre White, and in spring 2017 she was confirmed as the new voice of ITV’s prime-time game show Blind Date, taking over the role most famously held by Graham Skidmore in the original series. In 2021, alongside Joanna Page, they were announced as the new presenters of BBC One's consumer series Shop Well for Less.

In November 2021, Melanie received an autism diagnosis, which she said gave her a "deeper understanding of myself, my life, and the things I have endured". Her younger son is also autistic, having been diagnosed at three years old.

Passionate about the education of neurodiversity, Melanie promotes the support of people with autism both in the workplace and society as a whole.

Commercially, Sykes has been the face of Head & Shoulders shampoo in Britain, appearing in print and television advertising and the high street chain Matalan. She has also appeared in advertisements for Morrisons, Wynsors World of Shoes, and Churchill Insurance. She also had her own line of underwear and lingerie with high street retail chain Debenhams.

Melanie Sykes has presented a variety of high profile awards ceremonies, including Miss World, the BAFTA Awards, and the Q Awards.