The Continuity Booth
ITV 1 - Thames
If you're not included on these pages and feel that you should be, or if you'd like to make an amendment to an existing profile, click here to update us. Many announcers contact us every month, updating us on their career to date. Profile updates appear on the site within hours. Please do keep the information coming and help us maintain the most comprehensive reference of its kind.
One of ITV's legendary announcers, John Benson announced for ABC Television, in Manchester and Birmingham, from 1957 until 1966. In 1967, he was a presenter for the BBC Light Programme, and a relief announcer for Rediffusion in London.
He joined Thames Television when it took over the London weekday franchise from 1968. He also continued as a relief announcer for Westward, Anglia, Southern, Thames and TVS. Benson's voice-over credits include the introduction to Southern Television's final programme, It's Goodbye From Us, Anglia TV's Sale Of The Century, and Yorkshire TV's 3-2-1. John Benson died in 1995.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Australian-born former pirate radio disc jockey (known as Jim Gordon, or Jumbo Jimmy Gordon during his time on Radio Caroline North), who went on to become an in-vision continuity announcer for Thames Television, a relief announcer at Southern TV and also a voice only announcer on the BBC. Sadly, Guy died of cancer in 2001.
In-vision continuity announcer for Thames Television in London, often on the overnight shift, and also for HTV West in Bristol. 
Tom Edwards started his career as a newspaper journalist before moving to television as an announcer with Border. He went on to become a familiar announcer on Thames Television in London and on HTV West. Tom is also thought to have been an announcer with Anglia. He also spent several years as a pirate radio disc-jockey.
Tom left Thames at the end of the 1980s to move to the United States but later returned to the UK as a presenter on BBC Radio Norfolk and occasional presenter of the BBC's 'Look East' magazine programme. Most recently, he was the voice-over for BBC TV's 'Wipe Out' daytime quiz show.
Image courtesy of Paul R Jackson.
Central TV continuity announcer, who moved to host the late night Thames Television strand in the mid and late-1980s, along with colleagues Patricia Yorston and Victoria Crawford.
Started his television career as a continuity scriptwriter for ATV, but soon moved to the glamorous side of the camera as an announcer and programme presenter. His first in-vision job was as a relief announcer for North and Midlands weekend contractor, ABC Television, and he remained there for three months before landing a permanent job with Tyne Tees TV in the North East.
His innovative approach to continuity, which included donning a white coat and stethoscope before introducing Emergency Ward Ten or a stetson before Wagon Train secured him a large fan base, and he was voted TTTV's personality of the year within 12 months of landing the job. Later, he moved to ABC Television as one of its permanent announcers, and then when ABC joined with Rediffusion to form Thames Television in 1968, he continued as a continuity announcer and programme presenter. He could also be seen down the road at Southern Television at weekends when Thames was off air. National fame followed with a stint as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 and presenter on BBC Radio 2, and several television game shows.
David continues in broadcasting to this day; in more recent times he has had spells with Saga FM and Classic Gold radio.
Continuity announcer for Southern Television in the 1970s and 1980s who also read the news on BBC Look East from Norwich in 1979, and also announced for Thames in London.
Central Television and Thames Television announcer in the 1980s. Later, Hilary worked for Carlton Television, London, as an announcer from 1994 until 5 February 1997. Hilary now lives in France. 
Well known Thames Television announcer and news reader (from the late-1970s to 1992) and LWT continuity announcer. Robin was also a familiar voice to viewers across the ITV network, for his voice-overs at award ceremonies and the Royal Variety Show. Robin has also been heard as the voice of the questions on Channel 5's '100%'; he also presented the channel's 'One To Win' gameshow.
Sheila Kennedy, who later made a name for herself as an announcer on ABC Television and then Thames, landed her first television job with Westward. Hotfooting it straight from a career as a theatre actress, Sheila was the first female presenter on the new Westward Television, and proved a real hit with viewers. She became very closely associated with Gus Honeybun, and also contributed articles to Westward's own local television listings magazine, Look Westward.
Started his television career as a cameraman and moved into continuity with TVS before joining Thames Television as a continuity announcer in the 1980s. He stayed until Carlton took over and was the only member of the Thames continuity team to move to the new station when it took over on January 1 1993. Mark was Carlton's senior announcer until October 2002 when the station's London identity was dropped. However, Mark continues to present weekend bulletins for Central News South - a role he has been performing since 1991. He has also presented the main early evening news programme during the week.
Mark spoke to TTVRP in January 2006: "Over the past three-and-a half-years I have had the opportunity of working on a number of projects at Central News. I was Assistant Producer on a few outside broadcasts including Central's pan-regional 'Britain On The Move' campaign and the Fairford Royal International Air Tattoo. More recently while our studio was being redesigned for the ITV rebranding, we took Central News outside and presented the programme from five of the region's hospitals. I helped produce this and was also the roving reporter each night taking on a variety of tasks, from sampling the hospital Christmas dinners to being a cleaner for the day and hospital porter. My skills were also put to the test one night when due to sickness with one of our directors, I ended up directing the outside broadcast. It was a great week and well received by the viewers. That together with some radio presenting and voice-over work, I have been a busy man since leaving Carlton."
Thames Television in-vision continuity announcer, often found on the daytime shift in the late-1970s and early-1980s.
Continuity announcer for Ulster TV (1967 to 1969), Anglia TV (1970 to 1973), Southern, Thames Television, ATV, and, on occasions, HTV West. Also recognised nationally as the host of the 'TV Times Awards' and 'Miss United Kingdom' on the ITV network in the 1970s and 1980s. He also presented the BBC's 'Come Dancing' from 1980 to 1983, and has regularly reported for ITV's 'Wish You Were Here'. Marshall originally trained as a teacher, and then an actor with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before joining a Bournemouth rep company.
In-vision continuity announcer for Thames Television during the daytime and for the overnight service in the wee small hours during the mid to late-1980s. She also announced for Television South in the 1980s.
S4C's most recognised presentation personality. Now presents the weather on the channel. Has previously worked as an announcer with S4C from the early-1990s. Jenny was also a long serving announcer for HTV Wales. One of her first TV jobs was as one of the glamorous hostesses on 'Sion A Sian', the Welsh language version of 'Mr And Mrs' in the 1960s. As well as announcing for HTV, Jenny occasionally appeared as an announcer on Thames TV in London.
Thames Television overnight announcer in 1989/1990 and also a TVS announcer and radio presenter. Laura went on to work as an announcer for Living TV in the 1990s.
Veteran ATV continuity announcer who joined the company in the 1960s and stayed with its successor, Central, until the mid-1980s. Mike also announced, occasionally, for HTV Wales, HTV West, Thames and Southern Television.
Since leaving the world of continuity announcing, Mike has become a successful television producer and businessman. In the independent production sector, notably with Winchester Entertainment Plc, he was the co-creator and executive producer of 'Jellabies' and 'The Snow Children' and he was also executive producer for 'The Wheels On The Bus'.
In 2003, Mike founded Shangers Ltd, a multimedia and consumer licensing company. He also recently made a brief return to ITV screens in the Midlands, helping to promote the ITV 50 features on 'Central News'.
Announcer for Associated Rediffusion, Southern, Anglia and Thames TV. Christopher had a friendly air and a great screen presence. He presented Southern's final programme, It's Goodbye From Us with great panache, and was one of only two continuity announcers featured, the other one being veteran colleague Brian Nissen. After Southern lost its contract, Christopher popped up from time to time as an announcer on TVS, before going into theatre. He has also announced for Thames TV in London and Anglia Television.
Recently, he's been on tour with a one-man play about Charles Darwin. He trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. In the theatre he has achieved notable success in the plays of Shakespeare, Ibsen, Lope de Vega, Calderon, Euripedes and Miller. For four years he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, during which time he played the title role in King Lear. On television his portrayal of the Cyberleader in the Dr. Who adventure The Revenge of the Cyberman won him a cult following. Christopher has also worked as director and designer and his play The Sirens of Eroc, was written under the nom-de-plume of James Alan. As an artist he has held successful exhibitions of his photographs.
Bill Steel is mainly remembered as Tyne Tees Television's chief announcer and one of the main presenters of evening news magazine programme, Northern Life, when it started in 1976. He has also announced across the ITV network on stations such as Thames and Border Television.
His first job at TTTV was as an Assistant Transmission Controller and he then progressed to voice-over work, including a spell as the announcer on TTTV's Song For The Swinging Sixties pop music show. He then took up a newsreading job at ABC Television in Manchester and Birmingham while continuing his day job during the week as a Transmission Controller at TTTV.
When ABC and Rediffusion 'merged' in 1968 to form Thames Television, Bill was kept on as an announcer, working with former Tyne Tees colleague, David Hamilton. At around this time he was also asked to take on some voice only continuity at Tyne Tees, present the nightly news magazine programme, Today At Six and was also offered a job as breakfast show DJ on the North East's new commercial radio station, Metro Radio.
A very busy man, Bill at this stage was forced to give up advertising voice-over work and his Transmission Control job to concentrate on the other elements of his successful broadcasting career. After his news contract ended, he moved over to continuity and took over from Neville Wanless as chief announcer in 1988.
He left Tyne Tees in 1996 and since then has developed his acting career -- in 1997 he joined Coronation Street briefly as Bernard McKenna. Until recently, he was also a presenter on Century Radio and is a director of a local media training company.
HTV West and Thames TV continuity announcer who moved to the HTV weather department when in-vision announcing was axed in 1993. Lorna Stevens was regularly seen as a weather presenter on both HTV West and HTV Wales, but recently left when weather presentation was centralised in Birmingham. Lorna is also believed to have announced for HTV Wales.
A former professional model who worked with The Bluebell Girls first in Barcelona, Spain, and then in Paris, she started her broadcasting career on her return the UK with local ILR station Radio 210 in the Thames Valley. She went on to work as an announcer for BBC Radio 4 and was an announcer on BBC TV from 1984 to 1986, before embarking on a career as a freelance announcer/presenter for several ITV companies and also on BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting). Lorna also worked as an announcer on Westcountry Television in Plymouth for around 18 months from 1993 with colleague Peter Griffin.
Vivien was a Central TV announcer and news reader in the early-1980s. She was also a daytime continuity announcer for Thames TV and Anglia TV at about the same time.
In 1983, she had a spell as a BBC TV announcer. She was a presenter, BBC Radio 2 in 1980; BBC Radio 2 announcer from 1980 until 1982. She also appeared as relief weather presenter on BBC TV's 'Breakfast Time' in 1988 and as a voice on BBC TV's 'Points Of View' in 1988 - TBC.
Thames TV and HTV West continuity announcer in the 1980s who went on to co- anchor HTV News in the early-1990s. She also co-hosted HTV's BLT lunchtime magazine programme in the 1990s. Yorston went on to become a presenter on TV Travel Shop on various digital television platforms.
