Margaret Elizabeth "Maggie" Philbin (born 23 June 1955) is an English radio and television presenter whose credits include Tomorrow's World, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and (more recently) Bang Goes the Theory.
After studying English and Drama at the University of Manchester with classmates including Adrian Edmondson, Ben Elton and Rik Mayall, she responded to an advertisement in The Stage and was offered the job of co-presenter on Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.
She married her co-presenter Keith Chegwin in 1982. The couple had a daughter, Rose – named after the editor who gave her the job with Swap Shop, Rosemary Gill, but the couple divorced in 1993. With Noel Edmonds, they formed the one-hit wonder band Brown Sauce and had a No. 15 hit with "I Wanna Be A Winner" in 1981.
She returned to television on BBC 1's flagship science and technology programme Tomorrow's World where she stayed for eight years. Since then, she has presented a variety of television and radio programmes, including Hospital Watch, Bodymatters Roadshow, QED, and BBC 2's women's documentary series The Doll's House. Philbin flew upside down in a Hawker Hunter as part of the Tomorrow's World at Large series, and drove a Top Fuel dragster, earning her International Racing Licence. She decided not to race the car, which then spun out of control after a tyre exploded with top driver Dennis Priddle at the wheel.
She has worked as a medical and consumer reporter for ITV1's This Morning and presented film reports for BBC's current affairs programme 4x4, as well as a series of 20 programmes calledHeartland for Channel Health. She has also presented 40 editions of the science programmeWideworld for Five. In October 2003 she spearheaded the BBC's Talking Teenagers project across television and radio. Starting April 2004 she co-presented the BBC Radio Berkshire weekday breakfast show with Jim Cathcart before moving to the Andrew Peach show. She reunited with her former Swap Shop colleagues for a special programme celebrating the 30th anniversary of the programme, It Started With Swap Shop, in December 2006.
In 2008 she created TeenTech an interactive science and engineering event for teenagers. In 2010 it was awarded Best Engineering Event in National Science and Engineering Week by the British Science Association. In 2012 HRH Duke of York KG became patron ofTeenTech.
BBC News announced that she would be their face of technology on television, radio and online from 2007. In December 2011 she took part in BBC Radio 5 Live's first Science Night. She has launched the Helping Hand Campaign, encouraging digital switchover help for the elderly.She is a regular reporter on the BBC One regional programme Inside Out. She writes about technology for BBC WebWise and The Guardian.
On 25 July 2010 she featured as guest presenter in Episode 3 of the LadyGeek App Show. On 26 March 2012 she featured as guest presenter in Episode 3 of the 6th Series of the BBC TV show Bang Goes the Theory, about mobile phone internet security. From March 2013 she became a full-time presenter of the programme, appearing with co-presenters Liz Bonnin andJem Stansfield.
In November 2013 she was asked to lead the UK Digital Skills Task Force which published an interim report in July 2014. On 14 October 2014 she appeared as a witness before the House of Lords Digital Skills Committee.
