Paddy McGuinness

Patrick Joseph "Paddy" McGuinness (born 14 August 1973) is an English comedian, actor and television presenter. McGuinness rose to fame with the help of Peter Kay, who invited him to appear in his programmes such as That Peter Kay Thing, Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere. He is best known for his roles within Channel 4, ITV and BBC presenting game shows such as Take Me Out as well as, since 2019, making up one third of BBC's Top Gear trio of hosts.

Career

Television

McGuinness made his television debut in 1995 as a contestant for the show God's Gift. He also appeared in the second series of the Sky 1 show The Match. On 15 May 2006, McGuinness hosted Inside Wayne Rooney on Sky 1, a programme where he completed different tasks to see the difference between him and the professional footballer.

McGuinness' other television work includes his own Chuck Stryker: The Unknown Stuntman on E4 which he wrote and starred in opposite Jonathan Wrather and a few other familiar faces.

McGuinness presented Stars in Their Cars, a series for the Travel Channel in 2016.

Rory and Paddy

First airing on 13 August 2008, McGuinness co-starred in a television series with British comedian Rory McGrath, broadcast on Channel 5, Rory and Paddy's Great British Adventure. This was a four-part series in which McGuinness and McGrath embark on a nationwide road-trip, on a mission to explore Britain’s sporting heritage by probing the hidden life of its towns and villages. The series focuses on arcane sports, such as cheese rolling. A second series began on 20 September 2010 on Channel 5.

Channel 4

On 29 November 2006, McGuinness guest hosted The Paul O'Grady Show while O'Grady took the week off. He presented the entertainment series Hotel GB in 2012, however the show was later cancelled. On 18 January 2013, McGuinness presented Paddy's TV Guide, consisting of eight episodes. In October 2014 McGuinness narrated the three-part charity series Stars at Your Service for Channel 4. In 2015, he presented the Channel 4 daytime game show series Benchmark for 30 episodes as well as five celebrity editions.

ITV

In 2007, McGuinness presented Raiders of the Lost Archive, where he and his guests watched TV shows they had appeared in years ago, which they had previously thought were lost. Between 2010‐19, McGuinness hosted the ITV dating show Take Me Out.

He guest presented a number of episodes of This Morning in July 2010, a role to which he returned in 2011. He hosted the second series of 71 Degrees North with Charlotte Jackson in 2011. On 29 December 2012, he hosted a one-off special Paddy's Show and Telly. The show returned for a second special, which aired on 22 December 2013.

McGuinness hosted the comedy panel show Mad Mad World for seven episodes in the summer of 2012. Two episodes were recorded but never aired. McGuinness was one of the presenters of Christmas telethon Text Santa. In 2012 and 2013, McGuinness co-hosted one hour of the telethon with Christine Bleakley, although Alesha Dixon was his co-presenter for the 2014 appeal.

In 2013, McGuinness co-presented talent show series Your Face Sounds Familiar with Alesha Dixon. In 2014, McGuinness co-hosted the Saturday night game show Amazing Greys alongside Angela Rippon. In 2015, he regularly starred in the ITV2 comedy show The Keith Lemon Sketch Show.

McGuinness played the role of police officer Ian in the ITV comedy The Delivery Man, beginning in April 2015. In 2015, McGuinness guest starred in six episodes of Coronation Street, playing the role of Dougie Ryan. The episodes were shown in August. On Christmas Eve in 2015 he presented one-off ITV special, The ABBA Christmas Party

He starred in the ITV comedy series The Keith & Paddy Picture Show with Keith Lemon in 2017. It returned for a second series in April 2018. In January 2018, McGuinness presented The Greatest TV Moments of All Time, a one-off special for ITV.

McGuinness has appeared as a panellist on numerous episodes of Keith Lemon's shows Celebrity Juice and Through the Keyhole. In 2019, he replaced Fearne Cotton as team captain on the former show.

BBC

In 2017, McGuinness presented two episodes of Even Better Than the Real Thing on BBC One. McGuinness presented Paddy McGuinness' Sport Relief Warm-Up and was one of the presenters for the 2018 Sport Relief show. He provided the voiceover for the BBC series Ready or Not in 2018.

On 22 October 2018, it was announced that McGuinness would be presenting series 27 of Top Gear.

Radio

McGuinness had his own radio show on Bauer City 1 stations across the North of England on Sunday mornings from 9 am until 12 noon. Paddy's show ran from 2014 until 2017.

Tours

In 2005 and 2006, McGuinness toured the UK, performing 108 shows. Paddy McGuinness: The Dark Side Tour was his first solo stand-up tour. While on tour, he reprised his role of Lord Love Rocket from the award-winning comedy Phoenix Nights. From 21 August to 11 December 2008, McGuinness was involved in a second tour – known as the Paddy McGuinness Plus You! Live – which included 76 scheduled dates around the UK and Ireland. The Plus You! Tour featured McGuinness, along with other variety acts that were chosen by him, through a competition that ran on his official website, hence the title of Plus You!

In 2011, he went on his third stand-up tour, called Paddy McGuinness: Saturday Night Live Tour.

In January 2015, he announced that he would be touring across 2015 and 2016 with the "Daddy McGuinness" tour throughout the UK. The tour opened in Scunthorpe on 28 September 2015 and the final date was at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on 27 February 2016.

Other work

From 12 to 27 November 2010, McGuinness starred in the adult pantomime Panto's on Strike at the Opera House, Manchester with Robbie Williams and Jonathan Wilkes. On 17 November 2010, he starred in a UK TV advertising campaign for Victor Chandler, a British bookmaker. In 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, McGuinness took part in the charity football match Soccer Aid, which raises money for Unicef. The match is aired live on ITV.

In 2012, McGuinness played Gary in Keith Lemon: The Film. In 2013, McGuinness joined Pizza Hut as their brand ambassador.

In 2017, McGuinness joined Jackpot Joy as their brand ambassador, taking over from Dame Barbara Windsor.

Personal life

McGuinness was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, to Irish parents from County Tipperary, and attended Mount St Joseph High School. It was from his school days in Farnworth that McGuinness formed his close relationship with Peter Kay.

He married Christine Martin on 4 June 2011. The couple have three children; twins Penelope and Leo (b. 2013) and Felicity (b. 2016). During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, McGuinness described fatherhood as "the most fantastic thing ever".

In 2017, it was revealed that twins Penelope and Leo had been diagnosed with autism. In June 2018, aged just 44, McGuinness revealed that he had arthritis.

Stand-up DVDs

• Live (6 November 2006)
• Plus You! Live (17 November 2008)
• Live 2011 (21 November 2011)