Julia Bradbury Biography 2020

Credited with revamping Sunday night primetime television on BBC One’s Countryfile, and dubbed “Lady of the Lakes” following her many walking series, Julia Bradbury is one of the small screen’s most popular and versatile presenters.

Although having presented many genres of programming from motor sports to consumer affairs, she is best known for her love of travel and the outdoors and her most recent series ‘Greek Islands With Julia Bradbury’ sponsored by Tui Tours proved a great success and averaged close to 3.5 million viewers per episode. Last year, in recognition of Julia’s popularity ITV dedicated a two and a half hour slot to Britain’s Favourite Walks: Top 100. The online resource The Outdoor Guide (TOG – Julia co-founder with her sister Gina) mirrored the walks and attracted over 18,000 hits and continues to reach an ever-growing audience of outdoor enthusiasts.

Her 6 part walking series in the UK, Britain’s Best Walks was originally shown on ITV and

continues to be repeated, reached an average of over 4 million viewers per programme. It is accompanied by a book and dvd. Australia with Julia Bradbury also for ITV, Julia travelled from the west to east coast, and talked to surfers, crocodile wranglers and conservationists, combining her passions for travel and the environment. 

In July 2019 Julia is presenting Britain’s Greatest National Treasures with Sir Trevor McDonald on ITV. It celebrates the top 20 favourite national treasures in Britain from iconic buildings and ancient monuments to breathtaking natural coastal and countryside wonders and awe-inspiring feats of engineering.

In contrast the same month, Julia co-hosted Goodwood’s Festival of Speed where she interviewed the great and the good from the world of motorsport “royalty” and experienced some of the latest and greatest cars.

Outside her television life and following her dedication to environmental causes, she is an ambassador for Keep Britain Tidy, The National Trust and a champion for Ordnance Survey. Julia is also proud to be the first female President of The Camping and Caravanning Club. Following her involvement with the BBC programme Famous, Rich and Homeless, she has now become a staunch supporter of the Big Issue and the plight of homelessness. 

Julia moved “homes” in 2015 to ITV where she presented a five part show Wonders of Britain. This saw her travelling across the country reporting on some of her favourite wonders that make Britain great from our industrial and royal heritage, to rolling countryside, dramatic coastline and beautifully eclectic buildings. The show documented her 12,000 mile journey around the country, using Julia’s wonder-fully effervescent personality to bring the locations to life. In 2016 Best Walks With A View was one of Julia’s new ITV walking programmes, where she hiked across the UK showing off some spectacular walking locations.

Having previously co-hosted BBC One’s rural affairs show Countryfile alongside Matt Baker for five years, Julia said her final farewell earlier this year to the show. During her many years at the helm alongside Matt, she is credited with helping ratings soar to over 7 million viewers. BBC One Controller said of the record viewing figure high “Countryfile has won millions of new fans in its Sunday evening slot. It’s a tribute to the quality of its unique coverage of the countryside that so many are now enjoying the show.”

Through the overwhelming popularity of Countryfile, this led to further success with Baker in Secret Britain, and she put her countryside know-how to further use on The Great British Countryside for BBC One with Hugh Dennis.

On top of travel Julia is a motor head! She has presented Top Gear (1999), Auto Sport (2001) and Stars  in Fast Cars (2005) for BBC One, Superbikes (2004) for British Eurosport, Speedway Grand Prix (2002/3) for Channel 4 and The Real Car Show (2000) for ITV. In 2019 Julia presented Goodwood 76th Members Meeting for ITV, the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival.

Julia’s reputation as the face of the outdoors began when she presented Wainwright Walks, a stunning BBC Four series shot in the Lake District. The programme sees Julia re-tread the footsteps of legendary fell-walker Alfred Wainwright, and has to date spawned three series and has been seen by millions of viewers all over the world. Julia has also filmed additional sets of hiking exploits, in Germany and South Africa, Iceland, and two series Canal Walks and Railway Walks (both dvd and book). Her books, Wainwright Walks and Coast to Coast both feature behind the scenes exploits of the TV programmes.

2013 was a very busy year for Julia, where she presented a number of consumer shows and documentaries, including Fightback Britain alongside Adrian Simpson, a show that looked into how the public help the police fight back against criminals, plus BBC1’s Keeping Britain Safe 24/7 where Julia and Matt Allwright spent time with the UK’s frontline workers: ordinary people doing extraordinary things to keep Britain running at critical pressure points throughout the year such as Bonfire Night, New Year’s Eve and summer holidays.

In ITV’s Mystery Map Julia’s sceptical views on the supernatural where put to the test, as she and co-presenter Ben Shephard investigated myths and legends from around the British Isles. And Long Live Britain saw Julia work with Phil Tuffnell and Dr Phil Hammond, giving viewers advice on how to reduce the risk of contracting serious diseases and to live a long and healthy life.

Away from Julia’s documentary work, she had an amazing time hosting ITV’s fast paced primetime quiz show, Take On The Twisters where contestants used guile and strategy to win big cash prizes!

Julia’s impressive back catalogue of presenting posts includes a five year stint on consumer affairs programme Watchdog, a posting to Los Angeles as Hollywood correspondent for GMTV, hosting the launch of Channel 5 in 1997, before going on to present Exclusive! for Five, as well as a decade of travel journalism presenting Wish You Were Here for ITV1 and the Rough Guide series for Channel 5.

Julia fronted Planet Earth Live with Richard Hammond; BBC1’s incredibly ambitious natural history programme offering a uniquely simultaneous look at some of the most charismatic animals around the world.

In 2010, Julia supported the Children in Need charity appeal when she participated, again alongside Matt, in a unique globetrotting experience, Around the World in 80 Days. The six part series saw six celebrity pairings embark on a mammoth quest to travel around the world in relay race fashion – Julia and Matt undertook the Asian leg, traveling through Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. Her efforts for Children in Need raised over £15,000, as, aside from her cross continental exploits, an ardent fan donated £10,000 to join her on a TV walk.

In Climb Britain for BBC1 Julia faced her fears and managed to successfully climb to the top of The Old Man of Stoer – a 60 meter high sea stack that surges from the sea alongside the cliffs in Lochinver, Sutherland. Julia had never rock climbed before and regards this as one of her most frightening challenges. “It is good to push yourself – to prove to that you really can do anything if you set your mind to it.”

As a pioneer for outdoor exploration and adventure, drawing on her epic travels throughout the UK, Julia contributed to DK Travel Guides’ publication, Where To Go When: Great Britain and Ireland. Additional TV ventures include BBC Three’s Kill It, Cook It, Eat It, already in its fifth series. Exploring how our meat makes its way from field to fork, the show’s cameras never shy away from portraying the realities of the food process, from rearing to the often stomach churning slaughter.

Outside of her presenting duties, Julia’s culinary expertise was put to the test with an appearance on Channel 4’s cult hit Come Dine With Me, in which she went head-to-head with Edwina Currie, Christopher Biggins and Philip Olivier, all of whom were vying to stage the most delectable dinner party. Her Aquavit fuelled starters made her episode an un-missable hit. She also sang alongside legend  Tony Christie in BBC One’s Just The Two of Us, in which six famous faces were paired with professional singers to duet together for viewers’ votes. They reached the quarter-finals of the second series.

But despite her fulfilling career Julia claims that her proudest achievement is the arrival of her son Zephyrus, born in 2011 and her twin girls Zena and Xanthe, born in 2015. She currently lives with her children and her partner Gerard in West London.

And underpinning all this, Julia co-founded The Outdoor Guide with her sister Gina, a free, online resource of curated information about all things outdoors. 

Contact: Gina Bradbury Fox Gina@theoutdoorguide.co.uk  07973 382256