Jenny Powell

Jenny Powell (born 8 April 1968) is an English television and radio presenter. After appearing on No Limits, she went on to present series such as Wheel of Fortune, UP2U, Gimme 5, Live Talk, Wordplay and Daybreak.

Jenny Powell
Born (1968-04-08) 8 April 1968
Ilford, Greater London, England
Occupation(s)Television and radio presenter
Years active1986–present
Spouse
Toby Baxendale
​
​
(m. 2006; div. 2009)​
Children2

Early life

Jenny Powell was born on 8 April 1968 in Ilford, England.[1] Powell's parents are of Cape Coloured descent from South Africa.[2] She attended Woodford County High School for Girls in Woodford Green and the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.

Career

Powell began her career in 1985 as the ad voiceover for the 6th and 7th volumes of the Now That's What I Call Music! series. In 1986, she went on to present the BBC2 music series No Limits[3] and then moved to Saturday morning television for children, first co-presenting UP2U for BBC1 during the summers of 1988 and 1989, then Gimme 5,[1] on ITV. She was also a presenter of Top of the Pops in 1989. In 1995, she became the hostess on ITV's version of Wheel of Fortune.[4]

In 1992 she was a contestant on Cluedo, teaming up with gossip columnist Nigel Dempster, facing off against newsreader Lisa Aziz and actor Kevin Lloyd.

In 1997, Powell appeared on Channel 4's Brass Eye, a satirical spoof documentary series produced by Chris Morris.[5] Powell has also presented Soap Fever, Live Talk, Getaway and Our House for UKTV Style. She then presented a stand-up series titled Stand Up Jenny, and was a regular on ITV's Loose Women. In 2005, she was one of the competitors in the ITV reality series Celebrity Wrestling, competing under the name The Avenger.[6]

Powell provided the voiceover for ITV fly on the wall documentary Love 2 Shop, based at The Trafford Centre, in 2003.[7] She was a presenter on BBC One's To Buy or Not to Buy, and presented on ITV's Bingo Night Live in June 2008. From 23 March 2009, she presented a quiz show, Wordplay on Five in the old Going for Gold slots. In 2010, Powell was a contestant on Channel 4's Celebrity Come Dine with Me and BBC One's Celebrity Masterchef. In 2012 and 2013, she appeared in two episodes of ITV2's Lemon La Vida Loca. In 2017, she joined ITV's Bigheads as a commentator. In January 2018, Powell participated in And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief. She also participated with her daughter Pollyanna on the fifth series of Big Star's Little Star where they won £12,000 for charity. In January 2019, she took part in the quiz series Celebrity Catchphrase, alongside Ade Edmondson and Jason Manford. In April 2019, she appeared on the 5Star series Celebs on the Ranch, set in Arizona, a spin-off from Celebs on the Farm.[8][9]

Since 9 January 2021, Powell has presented the weekend breakfast show on Greatest Hits Radio.

On 26 November 2022, Powell co-hosted the Royal Television Society North West Awards alongside Adam Thomas.[10]

Personal life

In 2006, Powell married Toby Baxendell and they have two daughters, Pollyanna and Constance, together. However, in 2009, Powell announced she had separated from her husband. She now lives with her daughters in Cheshire.[11]

References
  1. "Jenny Powell". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  2. "MasterChef". 5. 22 July 2010. BBC. BBC One.
  3. "I Love 1986". BBC. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  4. "Jenny Powell and Zoe Ball become the latest beach babes to show off their figures". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  5. S. D. Tucker (15 April 2016). Forgotten Science: Strange Ideas from the Scrapheap of History. Amberley Publishing Limited. pp. 75–. ISBN 978-1-4456-4838-5. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  6. Bishop, Tom (14 April 2005). "ITV wrestles for Saturday ratings". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  7. "Kwame's retail therapy". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  8. Packer, Amy (8 April 2019). "TV's Jenny Powell: 'Freaky cyst nearly cost me £54,000 on dream holiday'". The Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  9. Ravindran, Manori (21 November 2018). "5Star boosts originals with three new commissions". Television Business International. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  10. Fitzpatrick, Katie (27 November 2022). "Corrie star Sally Carman's one word reaction after winning big at TV awards". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  11. Boniface, Susie (9 May 2009). "Jenny Powell kicks husband out for cheating on her while pregnant". The Mirror. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
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