James Paul Theakston (born 21 December 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, narrator and actor. He has hosted television programmes for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. He co-presented the Saturday morning BBC One children's show Live & Kicking alongside Zoe Ball between 1996 and 1999, and hosted episodes of the music programme Top of the Pops between 1998 and 2003. He co-hosts the national breakfast show with Amanda Holden on Heart Radio. Theakston narrated the BBC documentary series Traffic Cops from 2003 to 2015, and on Channel 5 from 2016 onwards.
Education
His family had moved to the Sussex area in 1967, with his father being the UK general manager of Centronics in Burgess Hill, known mostly for the industry-standard 36-pin parallel port micro ribbon connector. He attended Ditchling primary school. He played in goal from 1979 to 1983 for Ditchling junior football team, where he was in the cub scouts.
He joined the National Youth Theatre at the age of 13, After leaving Lancing College with nine O-Levels and one GCSE in Maths, retaking it at BHASVIC. He gained three A levels in 1989.
He attended North London Polytechnic (now London Metropolitan University), from which he graduated with a first class degree in business studies.
He played cricket for Ditchling throughout the 1990s. His father had previously played for the local team from 1969, as an opening batsman, and captained the team, and was goalkeeper for the football team, like his son.
Life and career
Radio
Before embarking on a broadcasting career, he worked for auctioneers Christie's, and planned to study art history at the Courtauld Institute. Scott left Heart Breakfast in 2013; she was replaced by Spice Girl Emma Bunton, who already had a show on the Heart network. Bunton left in 2018.
On 3 June 2019, Heart Breakfast went national across the UK, following a decision by the UK radio regulator OFCOM to reduce local programming requirements. Theakston hosts the show alongside Amanda Holden.
Between Bunton's departure and Holden's arrival, Heart DJ Lucy Horobin was brought in as a temporary co-host for Theakston.
Television
On television, Theakston presented The O Zone with Jayne Middlemiss from 1995 to 2000. Theakston married Sophie Siegle in Ditchling on 15 September 2007, and they live in west London. They have two children. He was previously romantically linked to socialite Lady Victoria Hervey, singer Natalie Appleton, actress Joely Richardson, and models Erin O'Connor and Sophie Dahl.
He is a fencer and competed for Sussex in 1985. As captain of Ditchling Cricket Club, Theakston was a member of the first cricket team from England to play the Afghan cricket team in Kabul.
He is a member of Mensa, a Patron of Humanists UK and a supporter of Brighton & Hove Albion.
In September 2024, Theakston announced that he had been diagnosed with stage I laryngeal cancer, but said that the prognosis was "very positive". He finished treatment in January 2025, and has since made a full recovery.
Charity
In 2003 Theakston travelled to Uganda to meet with former child soldiers. He is a patron for Cancervive, a charity established to address the needs of anyone whose family or friends are cancer-sufferers.
He played in his fifth successive Soccer Aid match at Old Trafford in June 2014. Having, in 2010, saved four penalties for England against the Rest of the World in a penalty shoot-out, before missing a penalty himself in a defeat, he was later named man of the match for his performance in goal.
On 4 October 2019, Theakston undertook a Bike Britain Challenge; a cycling event for Global's charity Make Some Noise. The event lasted eight days, with Theakston cycling 650 miles from Edinburgh and arriving in London on the 11th. Along the way, he stopped at Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol, and met life-threatened children and their families.
Brothel visit, cocaine usage, and failed injunction
In 2002, Theakston's visit to a Mayfair brothel was exposed by British newspaper The Sunday People. Theakston attempted to prevent publication of his paying £40 for sex and his cocaine snorting with a legal injunction. The judge, Mr Justice Ouseley, allowed publication of the story based on interviews and said, "If a well-known man has sexual relations with a prostitute in a brothel, the desire on his part to keep their actions and 'relationship' confidential and the desire on the part of the other to exploit their actions and relationship commercially are irreconcilable." He went on to say, "I consider that the scales would be likely to come down in favour of the freedom of expression of the newspaper and of the prostitutes unless it was clear that there was a strong case of inhibiting it."
Performance credits
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:60%;"
|+ West End theatre
! Play !! Venue !! Year
|-
| Marat/Sade || Playhouse || |
|-
| Murder in the Cathedral || Spitalfields || |
|-
| Art || Whitehall || |
|-
| Home and Beauty || Lyric || |
|}
Filmography
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Programme !! Channel !! Notes
|-
| 2004|| Drive (The Afternoon Play) || BBC One
|-
| 1999–2002|| The Priory || Channel 4
|-
| || Natural Born Losers|| BBC One
|-
| || Pick n Mix || UK Play
|-
| || Comic Relief || BBC One
|-
| || Landmarks || BBC Two
|-
| || The Brits|| ITV
|-
| 2001|| 100 Greatest Kids Shows|| Channel 4
|-
| || Behind the Music || VH1
|-
| || Richest Kids || ITV
|-
| || Bitesize || BBC Two
|-
| 2004|| The Simpsons Quiz || Channel 4
|-
| 2004|| The UK Music Hall of Fame|| Channel 4
|-
| || 50 Years, 50 Records || ITV
|-
| || The Oscars: Live || Sky One/Sky Movies
|-
| 1976 || Wish You Were Here || ITV
|-
| 1983 || Taggart || ITV
|-
| 1995–2000 || The O-Zone || BBC Two
|-
| 1996–1999 || Live & Kicking || BBC One
|-
| 1997–2000 || Glastonbury Festival || BBC One/BBC Two
|-
| 1997–2003 || Top of the Pops || BBC One
|-
| 1998 || Blankety Blank || BBC One || Guest
|-
| 1998 || Confessions || BBC One || Guest
|-
| 1998 || Not a Lot of People Know That || BBC One || Guest
|-
| 1998–1999 || Grammy Awards || BBC One ||
|-
| 1999 || Total Eclipse || BBC One
|-
| 1999 || It's Only TV...but I Like It || BBC One || Guest
|-
| 1999 || NetAid || BBC Two
|-
| 1999 || Phones, Robbers and Videotape || BBC One
|-
| 1999 || 2000 Today || BBC One
|-
| 1999–? || Children in Need || BBC One
|-
| 1999–2000 || Rock Profile || BBC Two
|-
| 2000–2001 || A Question of Pop || BBC One
|-
| 2000 || Before They Were Famous || BBC One || Guest
|-
| 2000 || Bob Martin || ITV
|-
| 2000 || BBC Music Live || BBC One
|-
| 2000 || Holiday || BBC One
|-
| 2000 || Secret Life of Stars || BBC One
|-
| 2000 || Stars of Tomorrow || BBC One
|-
| 2000 || Trading Places || BBC One
|-
| 2001 || The True Story of TOTP || BBC Two || Host
|-
| 2001 || Aqua || BBC Two
|-
| 2001 || Car Wars || BBC One
|-
| 2001 || Linda Green || BBC One
|-
| rowspan=2|2002 || Sport Relief || BBC One
|-
| Queen's Jubilee Concert || BBC One
|-
| 2003 || Murder in Mind || BBC One
|-
| 2003–2006 || The Games || Channel 4
|-
| 2003— || Traffic Cops || BBC One <small>(2003–2015)</small><br>Channel 5 <small>(2016—)</small>
|-
| rowspan=4|2004 || Mad About Alice || BBC One
|-
| Beg, Borrow or Steal || BBC Two
|-
| Little Britain || BBC Three
|-
| Agatha Christie's Marple ("The Body in the Library") || ITV
|-
|2004–2005 || With a Little Help from My Friends || ITV
|-
| 2005 || All*Star Cup || Sky One
|-
| rowspan=3|2007 || Concert for Diana|| BBC One
|-
| The National Lottery People's Quiz || BBC One
|-
| The Search || Channel 4
|-
| 2008–2015 || Motorway Cops || BBC One
|-
| 2009 || FM|| ITV2
|-
| 2013 || This Morning Summer|| ITV
|-
| 2013– ||Forbidden History || Yesterday/UKTV
|-
| 2015– || Caught on Camera || ITV
|-
| 2016 || Dogs Might Fly || Sky One
|-
| 2017 || Richard Osman's House of Games || BBC Two
|-
|}
Radio
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Programme !! Channel !! Notes
|-
| || Saturday Sports Show || GLR
|-
| || Sportscall || BBC Radio 5
|-
| || Friday Night on 5|| BBC Radio 5
|-
| || Jamie Theakston's Cricket Show || BBC Radio 5
|-
| || Radio 5 Sport || BBC Radio 5
|-
| || The Sunday Lunch || BBC Radio 1
|-
| || The Jamie Theakston Show || BBC Radio 1
|-
| ||The Griff Rhys Jones Show || BBC Radio 2
|-
| || One Big Sunday || BBC Radio 1
|-
| 2005–2012 || Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott|| Heart London
|-
| 2013–2018 || Heart Breakfast with Jamie and Emma || Heart London
|-
| 2019– || Heart Breakfast with Jamie and Amanda || Heart
|-
|}