Nick Knowles
Best known for:
Although best known for his involvement in DIY and home make-over programmes, especially 'DIY SOS'.
Summary:
Nick Knowles is a TV presenter, writer and director, he is regarded as on of Britain's most versatile presenters who has fronted everything from the National Lottery to Last Choir Standing. Having established himself as a popular presenter of factual shows, Nick has gone on to host programmes including Holiday Hit Squad, and The One Show. Nick has also appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, A Question of Sport and is a regular on Loose Women. Nick has journeyed to Africa to lead teams building shelters and wells, audition budding wildlife photographers, and see the work of Sport Relief, and has presented a week of live broadcasts from inside a prison.
Biography:
Nick started his TV career at the BBC in London in the Documentary Features department. He then spent two years in Australia working for WIN TV channel 4 news room. A brief spell in news in Phoenix Arizona followed before returning to the UK and the ITV TVS newsroom in Maidstone. Reporter, Producer and Director, Nick was the first journalist on the scene of the Deal barracks bombing. Later he moved to the newsroom of Meridian Broadcasting as Production Editor and reporter. At this stage he was asked to present more and more programmes. The first was Confidential, a sex advice programme, then TV Weekly, Entertainment Today, Put It To The Test, where Nick worked for the first time with Carol Vorderman - the only show to our knowledge that has been shown on ITV and BBC! Ridgeriders- a motorbike history series that ran for eight years, getting viewing figuresin excess of 50% and still being repeated today!! Walk Over History, carreview programme Roadshow and TV Revealed, based at Elstree studios. He also covered Sailing for ITV and SKY including taking part in a leg of the Round the World Speed Record with Adventurer. A freelance presenter -Nick has worked across the channels on a variety of programmes:
Nick's career progressed with 5's Company on Channel 5 - Straight Up - a political Sunday programme for ITV, The Great Escape for BBC - Three years of RTS award winning City Hospital for the BBC and Find a Fortune (9 million viewers) and Holidaymaker (7 million viewers) for Sunday evening ITV. He piloted two weeks of Housecall for BBC and Trading Up before appearing on BBC's hit show DIY SOS which regularly draws viewing figures of 8 million and has been consistently the most popular factual programme on TV.
Two series of UK's Worst for the BBC set record viewing figures for an investigation programme at 7 million. The quiz series Judgemental added to Nick's broad range of shows: 'I just thoughtas I'd never done a quiz show it was about time I did!'
A trip to Nairobi for Comic Relief in 2003 produced an extraordinarily touching report which showed this former rugby player's softer side. The all new Secrets of Magic for Saturday night BBC1 and the writing, research, development and presenting of the groundbreaking and wacky history programme Guy Fawkes And The Gunpowder Plot for BBC1 on Sunday night with an amazing almost 7 million viewers rounded off apretty wide ranging and creative year for Nick.
DIY SOS continued into series 8, 9, 10 etc followed by a six part series off the back of the successful Gunpowder Plot. Histrionics was a family comedy history drama researched, written and presented by Nick along with the finest Directors, crew and actors a factual budget can buy. Another 'Secrets of Magic' special was well received followed by a one off History format called Celebrity Time Machine. Nick then went to Zambia in 2004 where heshot a heart-rending report for Sport Relief. "It's hard to explain just how awful the situation was there, I truly felt there was no hope and it made me quite ill for a while - when they asked me to return in 2005 I tried quite hard to find reasons not to go".
In 2005 he did indeed return and the change in Zambia - thanks to the generosity of you all through Sport Relief and Comic Relief - was astounding.
2006 saw series 12a of DIY SOS. Also in 2006, Nick brought a series of live shows from Behind Bars on daytime TV from Cardiff prison.
Nick saw in the New Year with us all with the BBC coverage of the midnight bongs of Big Ben on New Year Live and 2007 kicked off with Mission Africa where fifteen apprentices were guided by Nick and the wonderful Major Ken Hames through six weeks living in the African bush providing security, a wildlife reserve and safe drinking water for the Samburu people in a drought hit region of northern Kenya. Series 14, 15 and 16 of DIYSOS went down well too and were possibly some of the funniest series yet. Real Rescues, a daytime format based around the Police, Ambulance, Coastguard and Fire Services went down very well with the daytime audience.
Nick also made a memorable film on Orangutans for the BBC's Saving Planet Earth series, a real insight into the error of choosing biofuels as an alternative fuel source. He also managed to squeeze in a series of Wedding Programmes for BBC1 called The Big Day.
2008 also saw two series of the highly popular lottery quiz show, Who Dares Wins which has returned for several years and the high rating Real Rescues.
Also summer 2008 saw the amazing Last Choir Standing which became must see TV. It started quietly, as would any Saturday night show with choir in the title, but viewing figures rose and word of mouth just made it cool. The last show had almost seven million viewers which is pretty good for a first series and congratulations to the winning choir Only Men Aloud on their fantastic success and recording contract.
Nick continues to break new ground with original and high rating shows, always taking risks on new projects rather than relying on tried and tested formats.
Fee range:
10,000-20,000 GBP