Colin Murray (born Colin Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. He has hosted the Channel 4 game show Countdown since 2022.
Born and raised in Dundonald, east of Belfast, Murray first trained and worked as a news journalist. With a passion for both music and sport, he later moved into music journalism and publishing, before making his national radio debut in 1999 on BBC Radio 1 in a short spell co-hosting The Session music show. This was followed by a television debut in 2002 as one of six co-presenters on Channel 4's short-lived morning show RI:SE. From 2003 onwards Murray established himself as a music radio presenter on the weekday daytime Colin and Edith show, alongside Edith Bowman.
In 2006, Murray began his first role on BBC Radio 5 Live, hosting the sports-themed Saturday morning comedy panel game Fighting Talk, and also began presenting Channel 5's live UEFA Cup football coverage on midweek evenings. In 2006, he moved shows on Radio 1, departing Colin and Edith to front the late-night weekday evening music vehicle The Colin Murray Show. In 2008, he also began presenting The Late Show with Colin Murray, a weekly late-night music show for BBC Radio Ulster. The next year, he left Radio 1 to take on additional roles at 5 Live, hosting Kicking off with Colin Murray on Friday nights, and 5 Live Sport on Sunday afternoons. In 2010, he moved from presenting live football on Channel 5 to fronting the BBC's Match of the Day 2 Sunday night highlights show.
In 2007, he was named "Music Broadcaster of the Year" at the Sony Radio Academy Awards. In 2010, he became host of Match of the Day 2 on BBC Two, while still anchoring shows on Radio 5 Live, including 5 Live Sport and Fighting Talk and was still presenting on Radio Ulster. He has previously hosted regular Channel 5 television and Radio 1 shows.
In 2013, Murray announced he was leaving Radio 5 Live to move to commercial rival Talksport, taking up the 10am1pm slot vacated by Richard Keys and Andy Gray. Murray announced via Twitter in July 2016 that he was to leave Talksport in September 2016, following the takeover of the station by News Corp. He stated that the concomitant business links between Talksport and The Sun meant that, after the scandal of the Hillsborough disaster and of its coverage by The Sun, his position would be untenable owing to the feelings of Liverpool fans (including himself) towards that newspaper.
Between 2017 and 2022, Murray hosted the Saturday night EFL television highlights show, first for Channel 5 in the 2017/18 season and then for Quest on EFL on Quest from August 2018 until May 2022 when Quest lost the broadcasting rights to ITV.
Life and career
1977–1993: Early life
Murray was born as Colin Wright on 10 March 1977 in the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, a suburb of East Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up on Dundonald's Ballybeen estate. He said on the 5 September 2022 edition of Countdown that for two days his name was Luke Wright, until "a family member pointed out that was a direction"; he later took his stepfather's surname. He was educated at the Regent House Grammar School in Newtownards, and later at Dundonald High School, leaving after GCSEs. After returning from Toronto he moved into music journalism, writing for newspapers about rock and pop bands, including establishing a long-standing column in the Irish Sunday People, before moving into the music magazine business with a new title called Blank. After Blank was merged with another title, Murray left the magazine. Spells deputising for hosts of other major Radio 1 shows also followed. The partnership increased the listener figures to a decade high of 5.5 million. Also in February 2006, Murray became the anchor for Channel 5's midweek evening live European UEFA Cup football television coverage, with former anchor John Barnes acting as a roving reporter.
That year, Murray left the Radio 1 Colin and Edith show to start The Colin Murray Show, a new music show on the same station beginning in September, showcasing new and alternative music in the Mondays-to-Thursdays 10pmmidnight slot, with Bowman remaining in the lunchtime slot. He was inevitably compared with the late holder of the slot, John Peel; Murray stated "What I like is that it's always represented honesty, and never been influenced by what's supposed to be cool at the time. Peel played music he liked; I just play music I like". In 2007, there was a year-on-year increase in listeners to the slot of 160,000. It began as a Saturday night show, The Friday slot was a weekend preview show, Kicking Off with Colin Murray, With Murray having taken a self-imposed two months of holiday from work before starting at 5 Live, the 5 Live shows had to start without him while he recovered from a bout of H1N1 swine flu.
In 2010, he left Channel 5's football coverage team to replace Adrian Chiles as presenter of the BBC's Match of the Day 2 football highlights television programme, broadcast on Sunday nights on BBC Two as a companion show to the flagship Saturday night Match of the Day show on BBC One. He also hosted the BBC Two nightly highlights show for the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa through June and July.
In sports television, Murray has also presented coverage of late-night American Football and the European Poker Tour for Channel 5. and the Channel Five quiz show Payday in 2007.
As a celebrity contestant/participant on various television shows, Murray has appeared as Mark Knopfler on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes in 2005, and been a Dictionary Corner guest on the Channel 4 game show Countdown between 2009 and 2020. he presented Driving Wars on digital television channel Dave.
2013–2016: Departure from 5 Live and move to Talksport
On 22 January 2013, it was announced that Murray would be replaced as presenter of Match of the Day 2 by Mark Chapman, the change commencing at the end of the 2012–13 season. At the end of the 2013 season, Murray announced he was leaving BBC Radio 5 Live to host a new mid-morning show from 10am to 1pm on its commercial rival Talksport, replacing Richard Keys and Andy Gray, and therefore he would be leaving his Kicking Off show and Fighting Talk. His departure from Fighting Talk was the result of a controversy after he joked on the programme about being able to "turn" Clare Balding. Murray expressed deep regret for the line and stated that he did not come up with it, but that it had been written on his autocue. In an interview with the Guardian, he said, "The second I said it, I knew it was too much." The episode concerned was a special live outside broadcast, as opposed to the usual recorded studio format; consequently, the habitual advance checks on content had not been performed. The episode was removed from all online playback sources.
Murray made his Talksport debut on 12 August 2013 on a new show entitled Colin Murray and Friends. Murray hosted alongside Stuart Pearce and Perry Groves on Monday (previously Mike Tindall), Des Kelly and Michael Gray on Tuesday, Steve Bunce and Didi Hamann on Wednesday, Daley Thompson and Danny Murphy on Thursday (previously Kelly Sotherton), and Bob Mills and Perry Groves on Friday. The show had features such as top talking points from 10am to 10:30am, "Murray Meets.." with a 30-minute interview from 11am to 11:30am, a phone-in from 12pm to 12:30pm and the Sports Brief from 12:30pm to 1pm.
Despite leaving BBC Radio, he continued hosting the BDO World Darts Championship for BBC Television in January 2014, 2015 and 2016, alongside Bobby George and Talksport commentator Jim Proudfoot (who occasionally guested on his show), and also hosted occasional music programmes for BBC Radio 6 Music. In 2013, he hosted the two NFL International Series Matches for Channel 4, alongside Nat Coombs, Mike Carlson and Vernon Kay, and hosted the 2014 Super Bowl for the channel — its first Super Bowl in 16 years.
2016–present: Departure from Talksport and return to 5 Live
Despite a popular and successful run with Talksport, Murray announced he would be leaving the station with his final show being on 2 September 2016. Murray's decision to leave was triggered by the purchase of Talksport by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, who in turn owns The Sun. Murray, a Liverpool fan, stated that he was concerned by the "inevitable closer association of the station with the Sun newspaper". On 12 September, Murray announced via his Twitter feed that he would be returning to BBC Radio 5 Live to host Fighting Talk.
In early 2023, Murray announced his resignation from Fighting Talk and Rick Edwards took over from its return from summer recess in September 2023. During the coronavirus pandemic, Murray co-hosted "Coronavirus Call-In's" on 5 Live with Dr. Chris Smith. Murray also hosted the late evening show from 22:30 to 01:00 on Monday-Thursday until January 2023, which (during lockdown) included a virtual pub called The Lock-Inn which was broadcast via radio and Zoom.
Other work
Murray has continued his journalism work into his presenting career by writing a monthly "radio diary" piece for The Guardian newspaper. In 2007 Murray directed magician Chris Cox's Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, Everything Happens for a Reason. Murray has also compèred at the Leeds Festival since 2004. In 2003, he co-hosted the Kerrang! Awards with Edith Bowman.
Outside the UK, Murray has been a weekly fixture on The Fan 590's breakfast programme in Toronto, Canada. He appears on Fridays with frequent FT panellist Greg Brady and Jim Lang wherein he discusses the week's big sporting topics in the UK, as well as the upcoming weekend's Premier League (or either international, FA Cup or League Cup) action.
Murray is credited as the interviewer for "Lock the Box", a 40-minute video interview with Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis, which discusses the tracks selected for the band's retrospective album Stop the Clocks.
On 7 November 2020, it was announced that Murray would replace Nick Hewer as host of Countdown as the second coronavirus lockdown precluded Hewer, 76, from being able to travel to the set. Murray began hosting three special episodes in December 2020 and then his first regular episode was shown on Channel 4 on 13 January 2021 and he hosted it until 16 March. Murray returned to Countdown as a temporary host on 14 July 2022, following Anne Robinson's departure, staying until at least late October, where he took a short hiatus while four guest presenters hosted each week in honour of the programme's 40th anniversary before returning on 28 November. Murray became a full-time presenter on the show starting from 23 January 2023.
Personal life
Murray has been a fan of Liverpool and the Northern Ireland national team since childhood.
Whilst living in Toronto, Canada, Murray became a supporter of the baseball team Toronto Blue Jays and a fan of Major League Baseball in general, and has since spent his annual summer holidays in North America watching MLB games.