Matt Baker

Matt Baker was born in Durham where he grew up in the Dales on his family’s sheep farm. His love of the countryside and animals made him the natural choice for fronting such shows as Animal Rescue Squad for Five, One Man and His Dog, Summer Countryfile Diaries, Crufts, Animal Rescue and a BBC NE natural history series. He is currently one of the main presenters of the new-look Countryfile, shown in a prime-time slot every Sunday on BBC One and is also a regular presenter of Open Country for Radio 4. After coming second on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2010 he took part in the tour at the start of 2011.

Many people know Matt for the seven and a half years he spent with Blue Peter where he established himself as one of the best loved and most versatile presenters in the show’s history, winning him 2 BAFTA awards for Best Children’s presenter and a Royal Television Society award. Matt was also a key contributor to the Blue Peter at 50 documentary and was invited to Buckingham Palace as part of the anniversary celebrations.

Matt left Blue Peter in 2006 and began fronting BBC Daytime shows. He joined the BBC One City Hospital presenting team and was also part of the One Show series. His other BBC credits include hosting the Evacuation series, and 2 series of The Stables Live 8. He presented Jonny Wilkinson’s Hotshots rugby plus Jonny’s rugby training DVD. He has also starred in theatre productions such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium and Sunderland Empire, and as Prince Charming in Cinderella at the Sheffield Lyceum.

As a boy, Matt was a British gymnastic and sports acrobatics champion, later joining the BBC Grandstand team as a presenter and commentator for world gymnastics. He is also a world record holder for hang-gliding. Matt is a regular commentator at the Glasgow Grand Prix Gymnastics and Women’s European Gymnastics Championships for BBC2 as well as the London Marathon for BBC1. He was even a key commentator for BBC’s coverage of the gymnastics events at the 2008 Olympic Games from Beijing too.

Matt’s exceptional physical prowess has allowed him to complete an impressive number of television challenges: he trained as a stunt man in Florida; spent a gruelling week with the Royal Marine Commandos, successfully passing their recruits’ course, and later completed the Para’s P Company selection tests. He also made the final of BBC Sport Relief’s charity show jumping series Only Fools on Horses.

Matt has hosted many large-scale live concerts including BBC National Road Shows, 4 Family Proms in Hyde Park and many live Proms from the Albert Hall. Matt was also the co-host of the Olympic Handover Concert, officially marking the start of London’s tenure as Summer host city. This huge event took place in front of a 40,000-strong crowd at The Mall and was broadcast live on BBC1 and BBC Radio 2. He was also involved in the Olympic Victory Parade through central London, which went out live on BBC1 also.

Matt has made many guest appearances on shows such as The Paul O’Grady Show, The Wright Stuff, Saturday Kitchen, Market Kitchen, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, the Steve Wright Show, Song for Europe, BBC Breakfast and Children In Need.

Prior to his first job in television, however, Matt was initially studying for a BA (Hons) in Acting at Queen Margaret’s in Edinburgh. After a mere eighteen months into the course, though, he was snapped up as the 28th Blue Peter presenter – the rest, as they say, is history!