Presenter profiles

Matthew Davies is an award winning presenter who has worked extensively on stage, screen and radio as well as a columnist and fronting major concerts and ceremonies.

He is a polished performer and has been described by his Uncle Bert as a 'self deprecating warm wit' basically he doesn't take himself too seriously:

"Earlier this year I interviewed a bra lady followed by the then PM, Tony Blair… That’s showbiz, all tits and teeth".

Matthew, fronted BBC Proms in the Park in Middlesbrough for 2007 in front a crowd of 6,000, bringing together various acts including a full orchestra as well as linking to the Royal Albert Hall.

2007 kicked off with him finishing a season of playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan, smashing all box office records at Middlesbrough Theatre.

Matthew recently presented an evening of film themes with the Northern Sinfonia at the acclaimed venue, The Sage in Gateshead in July, another sell-out.

Matthew has been honoured by winning a BBC National award as the BBC Local Radio Programme Presenter of the Year (Gold) and received this prestigious title at the Frank Gillard Awards in 2002. He also was part of the presentation team who won a Sony (Gold) for a programme on President Bush’s visit to Mr Blair’s then constituency.

On radio, Matthew has also contributed to output on the World Service, Radio 5 and Radio 4.

Matthew has also had a successful television career in children's broadcasting. He co-presented the network Saturday morning show Gimme 5 on ITV for three years.

Other TV credits include Superchamps (action/games), Teen, Win Lose or Draw (team captain/game), 50/50 (The original Flynn the Computer, CBBC) and Hyperlinks (science series). Last year Matthew worked with Aardman Animations on Series Two of Creature Comforts (ITV1).

He co-presented Action Time (Social action) and fronted New Visions (film) as well as Out and About on BBC ONE. Matthew also presented two regular features for Tyne Tees; Matt’s Movies and What’s On Café and has contributed to several other TV programmes. He’s appeared in Byker Grove and voiced the opening sequence for the BBC TV documentary on Billy Elliott.

Matthew has compered numerous events from the Children’s Disney Awards to Education and Business awards. He’s fronted an international TV ad campaign for Nestlés Multi Cheerio’s and has done numerous voice-overs.

Matthew was a columnist for the Evening Gazette for nearly two years, a paper which is part of the Trinity-Mirror Group.

On stage, Matthew has appeared in numerous commercial pantomimes including Cinderella (Darlington Civic Theatre and Middlesbrough Theatre), Beauty and the Beast (Sutton’s Secombe Centre), Jack and the Beanstalk (Horsham Arts Centre), Mother Goose (Eastbourne’s Devonshire Park Theatre) and Aladdin, Dick Whittington and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Middlesbrough Theatre).

In his spare time Matthew enjoys playing the auto-harp as well as attempting close-up magic very badly.