Stephen Mulhern

Stephen Mulhern

Born Stephen Daniel Mulhern
4 April 1977 (age 39)
Stratford, London, England[1]
Occupation Television presenter, Entertainer, Magician
Years active 1995–present
Employer ITV, Heart Radio
Television Presenting:
Britain's Got More Talent
Catchphrase
Big Star's Little Star
Pick Me!
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Website Official website

Stephen Daniel Mulhern (born 4 April 1977) is an English presenter, entertainer, and former magician, best known for presenting television programmes for ITV.[2]

Mulhern is best known for presenting the ITV2 spin-off series Britain's Got More Talent since 2007 and has more recently presented ITV game shows Catchphrase (2013–present), Big Star's Little Star (2013–present) and Pick Me! (2015–present). He also co-hosts the Sunday breakfast programme on Heart Radio, alongside Emma Willis.

Early life

Mulhern is the third of four children of Irish parents, Maureen (née Reid) and Christopher Mulhern, who were both market traders. He has two older brothers and a younger sister. Mulhern attended St Bonaventure's Catholic School in Forest Gate, Newham.

Career

Magic

Mulhern gained his interested in comedy and magic from his father, who would teach him a trick before bedtime when he was 13 years old. The family would spend their summer holidays at Butlin's Minehead in Somerset, where Mulhern first began performing in public. He became the youngest member of The Magic Circle, which brought about an appearance on Blue Peter in a piece for Harry Houdini's 100th birthday. Mulhern was later suspended from The Magic Circle for revealing a magic trick on Finger Tips, a kid's TV show.

After leaving school, he created a magic show under the title Stephen's Mega Mad Magic Show. He spent two summers working as a Butlins Redcoat in Minehead,[3] got winter jobs at Hamleys and Harrods[3] - where he met Princess Diana[3] - all while also auditioning for television appearances.[3] Turned down at age 18 by Michael Barrymore for My Kind of People, he won a TV talent show hosted by Jonathan Ross, and as a result, in 1997 while aged 20, was invited to take part in the Royal Variety Performance at the Victoria Palace Theatre, performing in front of HM Queen Elizabeth II.[4]

Mulhern then released a number of children's magic sets and videos, and got jobs on the Disney Channel, and then on CITV alongside Holly Willoughby on Saturday Showdown.[3] His television credits since have included The Quick Trick Show and more recently Tricky TV. In 2005, Mulhern created and presented the Channel 4 magic show Freaky, and was credited as executive producer. In 2006, he performed a magic routine in an episode of The Slammer and came in second place. The dance group Flawless, who went on to perform on Britain's Got Talent (a spin-off show of which Mulhern presents), came first. Mulhern's 2010 entertainment show Magic Numbers featured magic and illusions during the phone-in process.

He has put his name to a number of magic set for retail sale and has worked closely with producer Paul Andrews in creating magic for his television and live shows. Mulhern does not work with a regular assistant for his illusion performances, preferring to work with a range of guest celebrity assistants. Most notable of these is his former Saturday Showdown co-host Holly Willoughby, who has assisted him on many occasions in a variety of illusions including being sawed in half.[5] Other celebrity assistants have included the singers Katherine Jenkins, Rachel Stevens and Louise Redknapp, and the actress Mischa Barton.

Stage

Theatre

Radio

On 5 August 2012, Mulhern began co-presenting Sunday breakfast from 8am to 12pm with Emma Willis across the Heart Network. The duo occasionally present the Heart London Breakfast show when regular hosts, Jamie Theakston and Emma Bunton are away.[10]

Television

Mulhern began presenting on CITV in 1998. He co-hosted four series of Finger Tips with Fearne Cotton from 2001 until 2003 and with Naomi Wilkinson in 2004. He presented children's show Tricky TV from 2005 to 2010. He also co-hosted Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown (originally called Ministry of Mayhem) with Holly Willoughby from 2004 to 2006.

From 2006 to 2007, Mulhern hosted the ITV2 spin-off Dancing on Ice: Defrosted, while Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby hosted the main show.

Since 2007, Mulhern has hosted ITV2 spin-off Britain's Got More Talent, which airs immediately after the main ITV show, which is hosted by Ant & Dec. Since 2013, Mulhern has become associated with the word 'unbelievable' which slowly became his catchphrase, usually used on Britain's Got More Talent as he walks offscreen at the end of a section, with Ant & Dec often mimicking him[11] and is also known for saying "doosh!".

From 2009 to 2011, Mulhern narrated the ITV entertainment show Animals Do the Funniest Things.

Since 2011, Mulhern has presented The Hub, a small segment on the ITV daytime show This Morning. He hosted the segment on Thursday and Friday mornings although had previously hosted on Wednesdays and Thursdays until the departure of Matt Johnson in the summer of 2013. Mulhern has occasionally presented the main show, standing in for the regular presenters.

In 2010, he hosted primetime game show Magic Numbers on ITV. Mulhern has hosted numerous episodes of The Big Quiz.

Since April 2013, Mulhern has presented a revived version of ITV game show Catchphrase.[12] In September 2013, Mulhern began presenting ITV's Big Star's Little Star, a show which sees celebrities and their children compete to win up to £15,000 for charity.[13]

On 27 October 2013, Mulhern began hosting a live Sunday morning show called Sunday Side Up on ITV.[14] On 21 December 2013, Mulhern hosted entertainment special The Illusionists on ITV.[15] On 14 September 2014, Mulhern guest hosted an episode of Sunday Night at the Palladium.[16]

In early 2015, Mulhern presented the primetime ITV reality series Get Your Act Together.[17] On 5 February 2015, he began presenting ITV2 panel show Reality Bites .[18] In 2015, he presented The Magic Show Story a one-off special for ITV[19] and The Saturday Night Story, a two-part series focusing on Saturday night television.[20] In 2015, Mulhern presented Pick Me!, a daytime game show for ITV as well as ITV's annual charity telethon Text Santa.

In February 2016, Stephen became the presenter of the 'Ant vs Dec' segment on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway after replacing Ashley Roberts.[21] In 2016, Mulhern will co-present Saturday night entertainment series The Next Great Magician alongside Rochelle Humes and another series called Challenge Me (working title), both for ITV.

Filmography

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1998–2002 CITV Main presenter
1999–2004 The Quick Trick Show Presenter 5 series
2000–2004 Finger Tips Co-presenter
2003 You Can Do Magic Presenter
SMTV Live Presenter
2003–2004 Globo Loco Presenter
2004 The Record of the Year Presenter
2004–2006 Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown Co-presenter
2005–2006, 2010 Tricky TV Presenter 3 series
2006–2007 Dancing on Ice: Defrosted Presenter
2007— Britain's Got More Talent Presenter 9 series
2009 All Star Impression Show Presenter
Anonymous Presenter 1 series
2009–2011 Animals Do the Funniest Things Presenter/narrator
2010 Magic Numbers Presenter 1 series
The 5 O'Clock Show Co-presenter 2 episodes
2010, 2015 Coronation Street Uncovered: Live Presenter 2 episodes
2011–2012, 2016 The Big Quiz Presenter 4 episodes
2011–2014 This Morning's Hub Presenter Regular
2012 Emmerdale Live – The Fallout Presenter One-off special
All Star Mr & Mrs: Text Santa Special Presenter One-off charity special
2012, 2013 This Morning Stand-in presenter 4 episodes
2013— Catchphrase[22] Presenter 3 series
Big Star's Little Star Presenter 4 series
2013 Sunday Side Up Presenter 1 series
The Paul O'Grady Show Guest presenter 1 episode
The Illusionists Presenter One-off special
2014 Sunday Night at the Palladium Guest presenter 1 episode
2015 Get Your Act Together Presenter 1 series
Reality Bites Presenter 1 series
The Magic Show Story Presenter One-off special
The Saturday Night Story Narrator Two-part series
The Nation's Favourite Disney Song Narrator One-off special
2015— Pick Me! Presenter 1 series
Text Santa Co-presenter Christmas appeal show
2016— Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway 'Ant vs Dec' host Segment presenter
The Next Great Magician Co-presenter 1 upcoming series
Challenge Me (working title) Presenter 1 upcoming series
Guest appearances

References

  1. "Hello, I was born and grew up in Stratford East London x". Twitter. 24 May 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  2. ITV.com: Britain's Got Talent Hosts, Retrieved 1 August 12010
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "In a taxi with... Britain's Got More Talent star Stephen Mulhern". Mail Online.
  4. "Stephen Mulhern, on why he will always be a Butlins Redcoat at heart". Mail Online. 21 October 2011.
  5. Stephen Mulhern: 'I'd like a variety act to win this year!' ITV.com
  6. Stephen Mulhern Biography James Grant Management Archived 16 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. Performance Diary It's Behind You.com
  8. New Victoria Theatre. "Dick Whittington Woking Tickets - New Victoria Theatre Panto 2012". Atgtickets.com. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  9. "Stephen Mulhern. - Crawley Happy Times Online". Crawley Happy Times Online.
  10. Stephen Mulhern and Emma Willis Heart
  11. "Stephen Mulhern is unbelievable...".
  12. Morgan Jeffery (31 May 2012). "'Britain's Got More Talent' Stephen Mulhern for new 'Catchphrase'?". Digital Spy.
  13. Archived 18 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. Alex Fletcher (11 October 2013). "Stephen Mulhern to host new live ITV Sunday morning show". Digital Spy.
  15. "The Illusionists". "ITV Press Centre".
  16. "Sunday Night At The Palladium". "ITV Press Centre".
  17. "ITV challenges celebrities to Get Your Act Together". "ITV Press Centre".
  18. "Reality Bites". "ITV Press Centre".
  19. "The Magic Show Story". "ITV Press Centre".
  20. "The Saturday Night Story". "ITV Press Centre".
  21. http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week8/ant-decs-saturday-night-takeaway
  22. Beth Curtis (19 July 2012). "Stephen Mulhern's 'Catchphrase' revival ordered to pilot by ITV". Digital Spy.

External links

Preceded by
Mark Curry
Host of Catchphrase
2013–present
Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 27, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.