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 10 am – 1 pm 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. Hyperactive since childhood, Murray was asked to leave the grammar school owing to what was perceived by teachers as a tendency to disruption – always asking awkward questions or telling jokes – traits he later identified as ideal for his future career in presenting, and which he felt should really have been nurtured by teachers.
1994–2002: Early career and radio debut
After leaving school, Murray went on to study journalism full-time. He started work as a news journalist, working both in Northern Ireland as a trainee for The News Letter, before in 1994 moving to Toronto, Canada, for a year, working on a fellowship for the Toronto Sun. 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 Murray set it up and acted as co-publisher, Blank became the highest circulating music magazine in Ulster. After Blank was merged with another title, Murray left the magazine.
Next, Murray joined BBC Radio 1 on 2 September 1999 to co-present the weekly live music programme Session in Northern Ireland on BBC Radio 1, alongside BBC Radio Ulster presenter Donna Legge, broadcast only in Northern Ireland. He had initially thought the audition was for a show on BBC Radio Ulster. That was followed by six months in 1999 presenting the main national The Session programme from Tuesdays to Thursdays. Spells deputising for hosts of other major Radio 1 shows also followed.
By 2002, Murray's work in radio and television earned him an audition as one of six co-presenters of Channel 4's new national breakfast television show, RI:SE. Having initially auditioned as the entertainment presenter, Murray was instead chosen as a news presenter. While at RI:SE he continued to co-host the evening session in Northern Ireland with Donna Legge one day a week, commuting between the province and the Channel 4 studios near Heathrow. His time with RI:SE was brief and unhappy, with Murray later stating it "scared me off TV for a long time".
2003–2008: Radio career
By 2003, Murray had teamed up with Edith Bowman (his former co-hostess from RI:SE) to work together on Radio 1, presenting their own Colin and Edith show. It began in September 2003 in the weekend late-morning slot, but from March 2004 it was moved to the weekday afternoon slot. The partnership increased the listener figures to a decade high of 5.5 million.
In 2006, Murray became the new presenter of BBC Radio 5 Live's Saturday morning comedy sports panel quiz show, Fighting Talk, his first regular show on 5 Live. His first show was on 4 February. 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 10 pm – midnight 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.
From February 2008, Murray also began presenting a weekly late-night music show on BBC Radio Ulster in Northern Ireland. After failing to find a suitable sound location, he actually presented the show from the bedroom of his home, drawing on his extensive music collection as well as new music downloaded onto iTunes. It began as a Saturday night show, but later moved to Fridays.
2009–2013: Departure from Radio 1, move to 5 Live and television career
In 2009, Murray resigned from his Radio 1 late night show to expand his work at BBC Radio 5 Live, becoming the new presenter of 5 Live Sport on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons, in time for the start of the 2009/10 football season. The Friday slot was a weekend preview show, Kicking Off with Colin Murray, while the Sunday show comprises six hours of live sports coverage. Kicking Off saw an increase in listeners after its first year of almost 20 per cent, according to 5 September 2011 figures. 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…