Colin Murray

Murray was born in 1977 in the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, a suburb of East Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Dundonald's Ballybeen estate.[4] He said on the 5 September 2022 edition of Countdown that for two days his name was Luke Wright, until "a family member pointed out that was a direction"; he later took his stepfather's surname.[5] He was educated at the Regent House Grammar School in Newtownards, and later at Dundonald High School, leaving after GCSEs.[4] Hyperactive since childhood, Murray was asked to leave the grammar school owing to what was perceived by teachers as a tendency to disruption – always asking awkward questions or telling jokes – traits he later identified as ideal for his future career in presenting, and which he felt should really have been nurtured by teachers.[6]

After leaving school, Murray went on to study journalism full-time.[4] He started work as a news journalist, working both in Northern Ireland as a trainee for The News Letter, before in 1994 moving to Toronto, Canada, for a year, working on a fellowship for the Toronto Sun.[7][8][9] After returning from Toronto he moved into music journalism, writing for newspapers about rock and pop bands, including establishing a long-standing column in the Irish Sunday People, before moving into the music magazine business with a new title called Blank.[4][7] After Murray set it up and acted as co-publisher, Blank became the highest circulating music magazine in Ulster.[10] After Blank was merged with another title, Murray left the magazine.[4]

Next, Murray joined BBC Radio 1 on 2 September 1999 to co-present the weekly live music programme Session in Northern Ireland on BBC Radio 1, alongside BBC Radio Ulster presenter Donna Legge, broadcast only in Northern Ireland.[4] He had initially thought the audition was for a show on BBC Radio Ulster.[10] That was followed by six months in 1999 presenting the main national The Session programme from Tuesdays to Thursdays.[11] Spells deputising for hosts of other major Radio 1 shows also followed.[10]

By 2002, Murray's work in radio and television earned him an audition as one of six co-presenters of Channel 4's new national breakfast television show, RI:SE. Having initially auditioned as the entertainment presenter, Murray was instead chosen as a news presenter.[4] While at RI:SE he continued to co-host the evening session in Northern Ireland with Donna Legge one day a week, commuting between the province and the Channel 4 studios near Heathrow.[4] His time with RI:SE was brief and unhappy, with Murray later stating it "scared me off TV for a long time".[7]

By 2003 Murray had teamed up with Edith Bowman (his former co-hostess from RI:SE) to work together on Radio 1, presenting their own Colin and Edith show. It began in September 2003 in the weekend late-morning slot, but from March 2004 it was moved to the weekday afternoon slot.[12] The partnership increased the listener figures to a decade high of 5.5 million.[7]

In 2006 Murray became the new presenter of BBC Radio 5 Live's Saturday morning comedy sports panel quiz show, Fighting Talk, his first regular show on 5 Live. His first show was on 4 February.[13] Also in February 2006, Murray became the anchor for Channel 5's midweek evening live European UEFA Cup football television coverage, with former anchor John Barnes acting as a roving reporter.[14]

That year Murray left the Radio 1 Colin and Edith show to start The Colin Murray Show, a new music show on the same station beginning in September, showcasing new and alternative music in the Mondays-to-Thursdays 10 pm – midnight slot, with Bowman remaining in the lunchtime slot.[7][15] He was inevitably compared with the late holder of the slot, John Peel; Murray stated "What I like is that it's always represented honesty, and never been influenced by what's supposed to be cool at the time. Peel played music he liked; I just play music I like". In 2007, there was a year-on-year increase in listeners to the slot of 160,000.[7]

From February 2008 Murray also began presenting a weekly late-night music show on BBC Radio Ulster in Northern Ireland.[9] After failing to find a suitable sound location, he actually presents the show from his own house, in his bedroom, drawing on his extensive music collection as well as new music downloaded onto iTunes.[16] It began as a Saturday night show,[9] but later moved to Fridays.[16]

In 2009 Murray resigned from his Radio 1 late night show to expand his work at BBC Radio 5 Live, becoming the new presenter of 5 Live Sport on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons, in time for the start of the 2009/10 football season.[17] The Friday slot was a weekend preview show, Kicking Off with Colin Murray,[16] while the Sunday show comprises six hours of live sports coverage.[6] Kicking Off saw an increase in listeners after its first year of almost 20 per cent, according to 5 September 2011 figures.[18] With Murray having taken a self-imposed two months of holiday from work before starting at 5 Live, the 5 Live shows had to start without him while he recovered from a bout of H1N1 swine flu.[19]

In 2010, he left Channel 5's football coverage team to replace Adrian Chiles as presenter of the BBC's Match of the Day 2 football highlights television programme, broadcast on Sunday nights on BBC Two as a companion show to the flagship Saturday night Match of the Day show on BBC One. He also hosted the BBC Two nightly highlights show for the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa through June and July.[20][21]

In sports television, Murray has also presented coverage of late-night American Football and the European Poker Tour for Channel 5.[10] From January 2010, Murray has also presented the BBC's televised coverage of the annual BDO World Darts Championship, alongside Bobby George.[16] In music television, Murray has co-hosted Glastonbury Festival coverage for both BBC Three and Radio 1, presented a late-night music show Ear Candy on Channel 4 (under the 4music strand) and guest-presented the BBC music show Top of the Pops.[10] He has also presented ITV2's coverage of the Brit Awards.[10] In documentary television, in 2010 Murray co-wrote and presented the BBC Two documentary Davis v Taylor: The '85 Black Ball Final, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1985 World Snooker Championship final.[11]

As a game show presenter, Murray has co-presented the Channel 4 challenge show Born Sloppy with Sara Cox;[10] he also fronted the Sudoku-based game show Street-Cred Sudoku broadcast on UKTV G2 in 2005[22] and the Channel Five quiz show Payday in 2007.[7] Other TV work has included presenting shows on BBC Three such as EastEnders Revealed, a companion show to the popular soap series.[10] As a narrator, Murray has appeared on the BBC television series Can't Take It With You, and Boys Will Be Girls on E4.[10] He has also provided the narration for the gameshow Scream if You Know the Answer! on Watch, alongside host Duncan James.[23]

As a celebrity contestant/participant on various television shows, Murray has appeared as Mark Knopfler on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes in 2005,[10] performed in Comic Relief does Fame Academy in 2007,[7] competed in the Celebrity MasterChef in 2009,[24] and been the Dictionary Corner guest on the Channel 4 game show Countdown.[6]

In October 2011[25] he presented Driving Wars on digital television channel Dave.

On 22 January 2013 it was announced that Murray would be replaced as presenter of Match of the Day 2 by Mark Chapman, the change commencing at the end of the 2012–13 season.[26] At the end of the 2013 season, Colin Murray announced he was leaving BBC Radio 5 Live to host a new mid-morning show from 10 am to 1 pm on its commercial rival Talksport, replacing Richard Keys and Andy Gray, and therefore he would be leaving his Kicking Off show and Fighting Talk. His departure from Fighting Talk was the result of a controversy after he joked on the programme about being able to "turn" Claire Balding.[27] Murray expressed deep regret for the line and stated that he did not come up with it, but that it had been written on his autocue. In an interview with the Guardian, he said, "The second I said it, I knew it was too much." The episode concerned was a special live outside broadcast, as opposed to the usual recorded studio format; consequently, the habitual advance checks on content had not been performed. Had it been an ordinary studio broadcast, Murray would have not have approved the joke and would have removed it from the script.[28] The episode has been removed from all online playback sources.[29]

Murray made his Talksport debut on 12 August 2013 on a new show entitled Colin Murray and Friends. Murray hosted alongside Stuart Pearce and Perry Groves on Monday (previously Mike Tindall), Des Kelly and Michael Gray on Tuesday, Steve Bunce and Didi Hamann on Wednesday, Daley Thompson and Danny Murphy on Thursday (previously Kelly Sotherton), and Bob Mills and Perry Groves on Friday. The show had features such as top talking points from 10 am to 10:30 am, "Murray Meets.." with a 30-minute interview from 11 am to 11:30 am, a phone-in from 12 pm to 12:30 pm and the Sports Brief from 12:30 pm to 1 pm.

Despite leaving BBC Radio, he continued hosting the BDO World Darts Championship for BBC Television in January 2014, 2015 and 2016, alongside Bobby George and Talksport commentator Jim Proudfoot (who occasionally guests on his show), and also hosted occasional music programmes for BBC Radio 6 Music.[30] In 2013, he hosted the two NFL International Series Matches for Channel 4, alongside Nat Coombs, Mike Carlson and Vernon Kay, and hosted the 2014 Super Bowl for the channel — its first Super Bowl in 16 years.

Despite a popular and successful run with Talksport, Murray announced he would be leaving the station with his final show being on 2 September 2016. Murray's decision to leave was triggered by the purchase of Talksport by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp,[31] who in turn owns The Sun. Murray, a Liverpool fan, stated that he was concerned by the "inevitable closer association of the Station with the Sun newspaper". On September 12, Murray announced via his Twitter feed that he would be returning to BBC Radio 5 Live to host Fighting Talk.[32] Since then, Colin has disappointed fans by announcing his resignation. During the coronavirus pandemic, Colin co-hosted 5 live "Coronavirus Call-In's" on BBC Radio 5 with Dr. Chris Smith.[33] Murray also hosts the late evening show from 22.30 to 1.00 Monday to Thursday, which (during lockdown) included a virtual pub called The Lock-Inn which was broadcast via radio and Zoom.[34]