- published: 28 Feb 2015
- views: 213777
Richard Holt Madeley (born 13 May 1956) is a British television presenter, columnist and novelist. With his wife Judy Finnigan, Madeley has presented This Morning and later the weekday chat show Richard & Judy. Solo projects of Madeley's include the ITV show Fortune: Million Pound Giveaway and standing in on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show for BBC Radio 2.
Madeley was born in Romford, Greater London on 13 May 1956, the son of Mary C. (MacEwan) and Christopher Holt Madeley. His mother was Canadian. His sister, Liz Lawrence, was a teacher at The Anglo European School in Ingatestone. He attended the Coopers' Company School in Upminster, now relocated to Upminster, Greater London.
Madeley 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 Yorkshire TV, and then on to Granada Reports in the early 1980s. Here he met Judy Finnigan who was assigned to assist him on his first day.
Richard and Judy is the name informally given to Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, a British married couple who are both television presenters and columnists. They are best known for presenting the daytime television programme This Morning from 1988 until 2001 and then hosting the daily chat show Richard & Judy from 2001 until 2009.
Richard and Judy met in 1982 when they worked on separate programmes for Granada Television. At this time each was in their first marriage. The couple married in 1986 in Manchester. They have two children together, both born in Manchester: Jack Christopher (born 1986) and Chloe Susannah (born 1987). Every Friday The Show Was Liam & Adam.
Their best known show was 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.