Richard and Judy

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Richard Madeley (born May 13, 1956) and Judith 'Judy' Finnigan (born May 16, 1948) are married television presenters. Since their marriage, their television appearances have been largely made as a couple, though each has had the occasional solo project. Madeley recently fronted the ITV show Fortune - Million Pound Giveaway. Madeley was also the presenter of the unaired pilot of the home video show You've Been Framed. Richard and Judy's New Position airs from 7 October 2008.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Judith 'Judy' Finnigan

Finnigan was born in the Parish of Newton Heath, Manchester, England on 16 May 1948. She attended the local school Briscoe Lane Primary School, whose alumni include Michael Atherton OBE, Michael Le Vell, Baron Morris of Manchester, Harold Evans and Paul Reed (Journalist). She then went on to attend Manchester High School for Girls, an independent school in the city, and later studied English and Drama at Bristol University. She joined Granada Television as a researcher in 1971, and in 1974 moved to Anglia TV in Norwich to become the first female reporter on the About Anglia news team. In 1980 she returned to Granada in Manchester, working on a range of programmes including Flying Start (with Anthony Wilson), Granada Reports and Scramble. The most interesting thing about her is that she once owned a cat called Oliver.

[edit] Richard Madeley

Madeley was born in Romford, England on 13 May 1956. His mother is Canadian. He has a sister who works as a teacher at The Anglo European School. He attended the Coopers' Company School in Bow, London, now relocated to Upminster, Greater London, but did not go to university. He began his media career in local newspapers, before moving to BBC Radio Carlisle at the age of 19 as a news producer and presenter. He soon moved to nearby Border Television as a reporter on the Lookaround local news slot, before fronting its equivalent Calendar with Richard Whiteley on the much bigger Yorkshire TV, and then on to Granada Reports for Granada from the early 1980s. Here he met Judy who, assigned to look after him on his first day, greeted him with the words "Hello, I'm your mummy". He often has stated that his hero whilst growing up was Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the industrial cotton spinning mill.^{[citation needed]} In an interview, Madeley named Cuban leader Fidel Castro as the person he most despises.^[1]

Madeley hosted the popular news quiz Have I Got News For You on 14 December 2007.

[edit] As a couple

They met in 1982 when they worked on separate programmes for Granada TV. At this time each was in their first marriage. The couple married in 1986. They have two children together - Jack (born 1986) and Chloe (born 1987) - and Finnigan has twin sons - Dan and Tom (born 1978) - from her first marriage.

[edit] This Morning

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Their most well-known show has arguably^[who?] been This Morning, which they hosted from its inception in 1988 until 2001. The series, a mix of celebrity interviews, household tips, cookery and phone-ins lasted approximately two hours each weekday morning on ITV. This live show set the standard for daytime fare in British television throughout the 1990s. It first aired in October 1988 and was broadcast from the Albert Dock in Liverpool, although production moved to London in 1996. They were so closely associated with the show, that many people referred to it by their names, Richard and Judy, rather than This Morning.

[edit] Richard & Judy

In 2001, they quit This Morning, having been approached by Channel 4 to host a similar show, simply called Richard & Judy, shown for an hour in the early evenings.

The show is produced by Cactus TV, run by Jonathan Ross's brother Simon and his wife Amanda. In February 2007, the couple publicly apologised live on air due to the discovery of a TV Quiz Phone scam regarding the daily phone in "You Say We Pay." On the same show, Madeley and Finnigan took the decision to suspend the daily quiz until further notice. Later on in that week, articles confirmed that police investigations would be pursued, resulting in the possible police interview. Channel 4 have admitted that the scam may have been in force for two series of the Evening Talk show. Whilst Madeley and Finnigan urged callers to continue entering, it was confirmed that winners were picked in the first ten minutes of the show. The couple both deny being involved in the scam.^[2] This scam was revealed by the Mail on Sunday newspaper after the story was sold to them through media publicist Jonathan Hartley[2].

The TV show has also launched two very successful "clubs", the Richard & Judy Book Club and the Richard & Judy Wine Club. Both of which are similar in style to those used by Oprah Winfrey on her chat show. The Book Club features literature by new and unknown writers. One book will be reviewed each week, and a winner named "Read of the Year" will be announced at an awards ceremony.

In July 2008, Judy finally received a long-awaited knee operation and took a short leave of absence from the show in order to fully recuperate from the surgery. During this time Richard was joined by guest presenters Emma Bunton and Myleene Klass and even presented one edition of the show on his own (Wednesday 23 July 2008).

In 2008 it was announced that their Channel 4 series beginning in June would be the last and it ended on 22 August 2008. However, they signed a contract for a new primetime show on UKTV's new channel, Watch. Their new show will still contain popular features such as the "Book Club" and "Summer Read".

[edit] Richard and Judy's New Position

After seven successful years at Channel Four, Richard and Judy are now hosting a topical prime-time chat show on UKTV's brand new digital channel, Watch (EPG:109). From 7 October 2008, "Richard and Judy’s New Position" can be seen weeknights from 8pm. The show has attracted very low viewing figures, with only 200,000 people for the first episode, and 53,000 for the second.

[edit] Other work

Whilst working on their daytime show, the pair have had time for other projects. Madeley, for example, presented several series of a TV version of the classic board game Cluedo, TV Game show Connections, the daytime quiz Runway as well as a series on the world's wildest weather, Eye of the Storm. Madeley recently hosted the ITV1 show Fortune - Million Pound Giveaway, and was presenter for the unaired pilot of the home video show You've Been Framed. While Judy Finnigan presented a series of specials, just for video, looking at a particular character of Coronation Street. The videos was released during 1995 to mark the soap's 35th anniversary.

Richard Madeley has recently written a book, Fathers and Sons, which charts the tale of Richard’s family history. Spanning four generations, Father and Sons is a story of betrayal and forgiveness, and was officially released on 6 October 2008.

[edit] Embarrassing moments

In 1997, Richard asked Neil Tennant, the gay singer of the Pet Shop Boys, how his wife was faring. When interviewing a novelist in 2004, he asked: "If you were going to write an autobiography – who would it be about?" When Bill Clinton came on the show to plug his memoirs, Richard told him, at some length, how he himself had once been falsely accused of shoplifting and how he'd carried the burden of accusation for months, despite being innocent, "so I know how you must have felt". ^[3]

In 2000 while on This Morning Madeley dressed up and impersonated the comic Ali G and talked to / was interviewed by his wife, Judy. His impersonation, was met with widespread ridicule.

When the pair received an award for Most Popular Daytime Programme at the 2000 National Television Awards, Finnigan's dress accidentally dropped down exposing her cleavage, shielded only by a portion of her bra to a television audience of millions. Initially, the couple seemed to believe that the crowd was laughing and cheering for a rendition of Madeley's notorious Ali G impersonation rather than the sight of Judy's bust. When Finnigan realized what had happened, she appeared momentarily horrified, whereas Madeley appeared to relish the situation, and quickly ad-libbed: "And if we win next year, she'll show you the other one!"

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Richard Madeley & Judy Finnigan Biographical notes. The Biography Channel. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
• One of Us, Guardian Unlimited, Claire Phipps, 2000-10-12. Retrieved 2007-08-27.

[edit] External links

• The Official Richard & Judy Site officialrichardandjudy.com
• The Richard Madeley Appreciation Society A blog supposedly written by Richard Madeley
• richardmadeley.net A forum that lists some classic Madeley quotes
• Richard Madeley really is Alan Partridge Long running Digitalspy thread, where Richard and Judy viewers discuss Madeley's presenting style, often likened to fictional chat host Alan Partridge