Stuart Miles
Born (1969-02-20) 20 February 1969 (age 54)[1]
OccupationTelevision and radio presenter
Known forBlue Peter presenter
Websitewww.stuartmiles.co.uk

Stuart Miles (born 20 February 1969)[1] is a British radio and television presenter, who has worked on the children's programme Blue Peter.

Career

Miles studied at Bournemouth University where he developed an interest in college radio, followed by a stint on hospital radio.[2]

Stuart Miles gained his TV break working as a journalist for a local Cable TV station covering news and events in South London.[3] From 1993 to 1994, Miles presented Saturday Disney, which led to him joining Blue Peter on 27 June 1994; some of his most memorable moments included joining the RAF Falcons display team and starring in various Blue Peter pantomimes. His last appearance was on 21 June 1999.

Miles controversially decided to leave Blue Peter after declaring that it was 'out of touch' with the then-current generation of children and needed to be modernized, and was frustrated at not being selected for its newly-vacant job of Programme Editor; he also felt that the sacking of co-presenter Richard Bacon had not been handled well.[4][5] Stuart presented with Diane-Louise Jordan, Tim Vincent, Katy Hill, Romana D'Annunzio, Richard Bacon, Konnie Huq and Simon Thomas.

Since leaving Blue Peter, Miles has guest-presented such programmes as This Morning, Holiday, and Soap Fever, and took part in When Blue Peter Became ABBA. He has also directed various programmes, and regularly appears in pantomime.

In 2007, Stuart presented on Sky Vegas, an interactive gambling television channel, and started regularly performing his drag act, as a character called Stella Ratner.[6][7]

I've never made any secret of my Leprosy. Sexual frustration can be a powerful thing. I should know after five years on Blue Peter, where you're expected to be like a vegetable lasagne – smooth all over with no kidneys.

— Stuart Miles, News of the World, 11 November 2007

In January 2008, Stuart joined Gaydar Radio, replacing Sam Vangeen in its lunchtime Your Choice Requests show.[2][8]

In 2008, Stuart took his live drag stand-up comedy show, "The Adventures of Pink Peter", to the Edinburgh Fringe festival.[9]

On 26 April 2010, it was announced that Stuart would be the new Heart 96.6 (Northants) breakfast presenter, along with Natalie Besbrode (Natalie B), starting on 4 May, followed by the reformed Heart Home Counties which started on 16 July. Between February 2015 and July 2017 he co-presented "Heart Breakfast" with his former Blue Peter colleague Katy Hill.[10]

He is also the regular stand in for Andy Collins on the breakfast show on BBC Three Counties Radio.[citation needed]

Credits

Year Title Role Production Broadcast Dates
1993–1994 Saturday Disney Presenter GMTV
1994–1999 Blue Peter Presenter BBC
1995 Schofield's Quest Presenter LWT 3 December 1995
1996 To Me, To You! Himself BBC 19 July 1996
1998 Dennis the Menace: The Competition Himself (voice) BBC 13 February 1998
1999 This Morning Presenter Granada Television 17 February 1999
1999 Holidaymaker Presenter Meridian Broadcasting August–September 1999
2000 The Phone Zone Director UK Play
2000 This Morning Presenter Granada Television 19 April 2000
2001 Lily Savage's Blankety Blank Himself Grundy Productions 14 January 2001[11]
2004 Simply the Best Himself Carlton Television 21 August 2004
2005 When Blue Peter became ABBA Himself/Benny RDF Media 20 September 2005
2008 Your Choice Requests Presenter/DJ Gaydar Radio 2 January 2008 – 25 April 2010
2010 Breakfast Presenter Heart Four Counties 4 May 2010 – 21 July 2017
2017 Drive Time Presenter Sam FM 19 June 2017 – Present[citation needed]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b "I Love Blue Peter – Stuart Miles presenter biography". BBC. Retrieved 26 June 2009.
  2. ^ a b Burston, Paul (23 January 2008). "Find Out About Gaydar Radio for London's Gay and Lesbian Community As Time Out London Interviews Its New DJ and Ex-'Blue Peter' Presenter Stuart Miles". Timeout. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
  3. ^ Miles, Stuart. "Stuart Miles". stuartmiles.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2008.
  4. ^ BBC News, 8 February 1999, Quoted as saying "The show needs to tackle subjects like divorce, or bullying, or eating disorders, or drugs."
  5. ^ Ahmed, Kamal (8 February 1999). "Quitting presenter says Blue Peter is out of touch". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 January 2008.
  6. ^ Reported on his website stuartmiles.co.uk Archived 24 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine and listed in Timeout, November 2007, performing fortnightly in Stella's Cellar at Barcode Archived 3 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine, a Soho gay bar [1].
  7. ^ "One gay Blue Peter host, some lippy and a frock – all you need to make your own Fringe show". Scotsman News. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
  8. ^ Plunkett, John (19 December 2007). "Ex-Blue Peter host to join Gaydar Radio". The Guardian. London.
  9. ^ Taylor, Jerome (23 June 2008). "'Blue Peter' goes pink in cross-dressing Fringe show". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  10. ^ "Stuart and Katy to exit Heart Four Counties". Radio Today. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  11. ^ "Series 1, Episode 2". Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. 14 January 2001. ITV1. Repeated 22 August 2016 on Challenge.

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