Davina McCall

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Davina McCall (born October 16, 1967 in London) is an English actress and television presenter who works on British television. She is probably best known for working as a presenter on MTV and presenting the UK edition of Big Brother.

1 Background
2 Presenting
3 Personal life
4 Shows
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Background

Although she was originally born in London, at the age of three Davina went to live with her grandparents in their Surrey home after her parents' marriage dissolved. Her French mother Florence – whom Davina has described as something of a "wild child" – returned to Paris, and Davina would see her only on holidays. She continued to see her father Andrew, a graphic designer, at weekends before moving in with him and his new wife Gaby when she was 13.

McCall attended the Godolphin and Latymer Girls School, a famous Independent school in Hammersmith, London, whose alumnae include celebrity students Nigella Lawson, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Kate Beckinsale. During her teens Davina developed the eating disorder anorexia, which she has attributed to her fractured childhood and a desperate need for attention. At the age of 15, while studying for her nine O levels and later two A levels, Davina sang professionally with a band. However when she was 19 she decided to go solo. During this time she dated old family friend Eric Clapton, who also produced her demo music disc and helped her to try and crack the pop music world.<ref>Davina McCall Profile Biogs.com. URL accessed September 3, 2006</ref> <ref>Meet the Team - Davina McCall BBC Parenting. URL accessed September 3, 2006.</ref> Dissatisfied with her near misses in the record industry, she gave up singing and took a job at Models One on the men's desk as a booker. She also appeared in a Kylie Minogue pop video, Word Is Out, in a striped sweater and beret, in a nod to her French ancestry. Later, she ran a restaurant for two years and later worked as a singing waitress in Paris. However, after a failed attempt at a Moulin Rouge cabaret audition, she returned to London where she quickly became a fixture on the club scene, which eventually led to her becoming a nightclub hostess. It was at this time (during her early 20s) when Davina became addicted to drugs; heavily using cocaine, ecstasy and heroin.<ref>Davina McCall Profile Hello!. URL accessed September 3, 2006</ref>

[edit] Presenting

Davina's old friend Eric Clapton helped turn things around for her though and with his help she landed a job presenting her own show on the music channel MTV in 1992.

In 1995 she went on to host the ITV gameshow God's Gift and she later went onto present the game show, Streetmate (Channel 4) in 1998. After the show received modest success Davina was put forward as presenter of the UK version of the gameshow Big Brother in 2000, which she has so far presented for 7 series and 4 Celebrity versions. Away from Big Brother she has also presented The Brit Awards in 2000, as well as the BBC charity show Comic Relief on several occasions. She presented the ITV show Don't Try This At Home in 2001, Popstars: The Rivals (ITV1) in 2002, The Vault (ITV1), Oblivious (ITV1), the reality TV show Reborn in the USA in 2003, as well as an entertainment show on the subject of love and dating called Love on a Saturday Night (ITV1) in 2004. In 2004 she also presented the prestigious BAFTA television awards. Her presenting style is marked by a slightly tomboyish gregariousness and an overtly sunny disposition.

Davina has also tried her hand at acting appearing in Sam's Game in 2001, a Friends-style TV sitcom (also starring Irish comedian Ed Byrne), which was slammed by the critics and lasted only one series. She has also appeared in the Leigh Francis comedy sketch shows Bo Selecta and A Bear's Tail. McCall also provided the voice of an android version of herself in a lethal version of Big Brother in the Doctor Who episode Bad Wolf in 2005.

Although popular with many, McCall's presenting style is not without its critics and she was voted 95th worst Briton in Channel 4's poll of the 100 Worst Britons in 2003.

In 2005, Davina caused controversy when she interviewed ex Big Brother housemate Sam in a bikini and was seen loosening it as the show faded out

Shortly after presenting Big Brother series 6, Davina attracted some complaints for her hostile interviewing of housemate Makosi Musambasi on the final night, which was much publicised in the British press.<ref>"Big Brother 6: Ofcom to investigate over Makosi's treatment"Manchester Evening News, August 16, 2006. URL accessed September 3, 2006</ref> It was during this time that Davina started to present the BBC series, He's Having A Baby in 2005, which received poor ratings. In December 2005 it was announced that she would be hosting her own BBC One prime-time chat show called Davina in early 2006. Early reviews were not kind to the show, and viewing figures flirted around the 3 million mark (at one point, dropping as low as 2 million), compared to over 6 million watching The Bill on ITV1 at the same time. In April 2006, BBC One axed the show due to the ratings not reaching expectations. The controller of the channel praised her efforts in a tough slot.

It was revealed in March 2006 that ITV1 have signed up Davina to host the prestigious BAFTA television awards for the second time in May. In April 2006 Davina was confirmed as the main presenter on Sport Relief on BBC One in July of that year, alongside friend Chris Evans

[edit] Personal life

After dating Eric Clapton, McCall married Andrew Leggett in 1997, but quickly divorced

In 2000, she married Matthew Robertson, presenter of Pet Rescue and they have three children: Holly Willow (born September 2001), Tilly (born September 2003) and Chester (born 14 September, 2006<ref>Sun reports birth of Chester </ref>)