Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes, known collectively as Sam & Mark, are an English popular music and television presenting duo. They previously competed on the second series of Pop Idol in 2003, in which they finished third and second, respectively, behind winner Michelle McManus. Since then, Sam & Mark have had a successful career in radio and television in the UK.
Consequently, the pair, while working for CBBC, were informed that they were no longer allowed to release music, as Sam and Mark had signed a deal with Fearne Cotton for a period of two years to perform both live and pre-recorded shows. This resulted in Fuller signing the duo out of their label and contracts, as they were concentrating on children's shows on CBBC.[1]
Broadcasting career
Radio hosts
In January 2003 Sam and Mark started a career in radio presenting. First, they hosted Saturdays 10am-1pm, and Sundays 11am-3pm on Gem, before moving to weekdays 9am-1pm on 6 June 2005, with the chance to interview the biggest stars on their show. They left Gem on 2 June 2006. On 11 March 2007, they began hosting Smash Hits on Sunday at breakfast, from 7-11am. On 31 December 2007, they hosted a whole night of DJ sets on BBC Radio 1 to see in the new year from 6pm-5am. Their last Sunday Smash Hits Breakfast show was on 26 December 2010.
Sam And Mark were due to return to Gem on 1 January 2011 to host Saturday Night Gem Anthems; however, three hours before they were due on air, they could not host it. On 5 August 2011, Sam and Mark were told that they could not host any more radio shows.[citation needed]
The duo presented a radio show which can be heard on Free Radio across Coventry and Warwickshire on Sunday mornings, from 11:00am until 1:00pm.
Sam & Mark hosted CBBC's weekday morning breakfast show, Level Up for four months, from 3 April 2006 to 1 September 2006.[2] On 16 September 2006, they hosted the first episode of TMi, a new Saturday morning TV show for the BBC on BBC Two and the CBBC Channel, alongside presenter Caroline Flack. The third series of the show ended in December 2008, and the BBC confirmed a fourth series of the Saturday morning series for CBBC.
In January 2010, they began a new show, Jump Nation, which is similar to Skate Nation, another programme they presented.[3] They were also on a celebrity special of Total Wipeout.[4] Neither won, losing out to glamour model Danielle Lloyd. In Sam and Mark's Guide to Dodging Disaster for CBBC, they were in non-speaking roles, with a voice over by Hugh Dennis.[5] They have also presented the competition segment of This Morning on ITV1. On Wednesday 28 April 2010, Sam and Mark presented an On The Box segment for This Morning, in which they reviewed the latest TV shows, DVDs and movies. They then appeared on a CBBC series, Copycats.[2] A show similar to the TMi series, but called Sam and Mark's TMi Friday, began in September 2010, and finished in December; it was then cancelled.[2]
For Red Nose Day 2011, the two presented a series called Comic Relief does Glee Club, which had five 45-minute episodes, four of which were live, on BBC One. In 2012, this continued with Sport Relief does Glee Club, which had eight 30-minute episodes on CBBC and two live episodes on BBC One and CBBC. In 2013, a new series of Comic Relief does Glee Club, hosted by Naomi Wilkinson, aired. Sam and Mark joined Naomi for the last five of the 45-minute heats.
From 2011, the duo had their own series called Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up. Similar to a prank show, the programme featured celebrity guests each week.[6]
In 2013, Sam and Mark co-hosted a Channel 5 special, The Great Christmas Toy Giveaway, alongside Myleene Klass.[8] The two-hour show featured guests, toy reviews, music and videos previewing the toys and games available for Christmas; it also included a competition to win over £10,000 worth of toys.
In 2020, the BBC's revival of Crackerjack! was presented by the duo.[9]
Sam and Mark began a tour of Butlins holiday camps from February 2017, performing a new game show similar to their TV shows, such as Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind Up, TMi and Copycats.[11] The tour ended on 3 September the same year.
Samuel Nixon is an English singer and television presenter. He came third on the Pop Idol television series in 2003 and is now one half of the duo Sam & Mark, with the other being fellow Pop Idol contestant Mark Rhodes.
Crackerjack is a British children's television series which was initially aired on the BBC Television Service between 14 September 1955 and 21 December 1984. The series was a variety show featuring comedy sketches, singers and quizzes, broadcast live with an audience.
Dick and Dom are a British comedy double act consisting of the presenters Richard "Dick" McCourt and Dominic "Dom" Wood. They are primarily known for presenting 'the broom cupboard' presentation links on Children's BBC in the 1990s and early 2000s, before moving onto the double BAFTA Award winning Dick & Dom in da Bungalow, a children's entertainment show that was broadcast live during weekend mornings on BBC One, CBBC, and later BBC Two. The show ran for five series between 2002 and 2006.
Richard "Dick" McCourt is an English entertainer and presenter. He is best known as one half of the comic duo Dick and Dom, with the other being Dominic "Dom" Wood.
Jason King and Joel Ross, known professionally as JK and Joel, were a radio presenting duo, best known for hosting the official UK chart on BBC Radio 1 between 2005 and 2007 and presented the CBBC shows Hider in the House and Remote Control Star. In August 2012, JK & Joel confirmed they had split.
Mark Thomas Rhodes is an English singer, actor and television presenter, best known as one half of Sam & Mark, the other being Sam Nixon.
Naomi Wilkinson is an English television presenter.
Top of the Pops Reloaded, originally known as Top of the Pops Saturday (2002–2005), is a weekly children's music show that was broadcast as part of the Saturday morning CBBC schedule on BBC One and later BBC Two. It ran from 2002 to 2006. It was based on the programme Top of the Pops.
Level Up is a UK children's TV programme that was broadcast on CBBC. It was launched on 3 April 2006, replacing Xchange. The show is an hour long and was broadcast during the school year, from 7:30am until 8:30am. During the school holidays, including Bank Holidays, the show aired from 9.30am until 10:30am.
Sam & Mark's TMi Friday (originally TMi) is a British children's entertainment programme that was produced for five series by the BBC and aired from 16 September 2006 to 17 December 2010.
Anne Foy is a children's television presenter for the BBC. Until March 2008, she worked for the CBBC Channel and on CBBC. She can currently be heard as the voiceover on the music channel 4Music.
Ross David Lee is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television presenter. He is best known for his television shows Chute! (2007), Ross Lees Ghoulies (2008), and The Pranker (2011).
Warrick Brownlow-Pike is a British puppeteer. He is best known for performing the character "Gonger" on Sesame Street and its spinoff series The Furchester Hotel and Dodge T Dog on the CBeebies Channel.
Copycats is a children's game show which aired on CBBC and was presented by double act Sam & Mark. It involved two teams of friends and family, each of six contestants, battling against each other in a series of games. Each episode consists of a number of rounds. Three of the rounds were based on chinese whispers. These alternate with physical challenges, which varied from episode to episode.
Christopher David Johnson is a British television presenter and actor. He began presenting on the CBBC Channel in January 2010, and continued until April 2016. His first television appearance was for BBC Three, introducing Family Guy. Chris also makes content on YouTube under the user name OfficialCDJ.
Junior Bake Off is a British television baking competition in which young bakers aged 9 to 12 tackle a series of challenges involving baking cakes, biscuits, bread, and pastries, competing to be crowned Junior Bake Off Champion.
Ore Oduba is a British television and radio presenter who has also worked as an actor. From 2008 until 2013, he presented the CBBC news programme Newsround. In 2018 he hosted the game show And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief. In 2019 he began his musical theatre career, starring in the UK tour of Grease. He also appeared alongside Jason Manford in Curtains the Musical. Oduba made his West End debut in January 2020. However, he is best known for winning the fourteenth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in 2016.
Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up is a British children's entertainment series aired on the CBBC Channel since 16 September 2011. It is presented by Sam & Mark. It is effectively the replacement for TMi. A fifth series started airing from 18 December 2015, and a sixth series began airing from 16 December 2016 and finished on 31 March 2017. A seventh series began airing in January 2018.
Sam Pinkham is an English radio and television presenter. He previously presented radio programmes for Virgin Radio UK, Magic Radio, Heart and Gem 106. He has more recently been a cover presenter on BBC Radio 2 and he currently hosts popular TV series Holiday Homes In The Sun on Channel 5 with Amanda Lamb and JB Gill
Saturday Mash-Up! is a live British Saturday morning children's magazine entertainment programme on CBBC and BBC Two, first broadcast on 30 September 2017. It is currently presented by Joe Tasker, Shereen Cutkelvin and a puppet monster called Stanley performed by Dave Chapman, Kia Pegg is a recurring presenter in the show.
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