Davina McCall says being made an MBE for broadcasting work ‘means a great deal’

Ever since her role as the inaugural presenter of Big Brother in 2000, McCall has been a stalwart of British television.

Davina McCall says MBE for broadcasting services ‘means a great deal’ (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)

Davina McCall said being made an MBE for services to broadcasting “means a great deal”, following a television career spanning more than two decades.

Ever since her role as the inaugural presenter of Big Brother in 2000, McCall has been a stalwart of British screens.

The TV star, philanthropist and lifestyle guru, 55, has hosted shows across most major networks in the UK including Channel 4, ITV, Sky and the BBC.

Known too for her impressive abdominal muscles, McCall is a firm advocate for health and wellbeing, having launched her own line of fitness equipment and activewear and multiple exercise DVDs.

She has also been vocal in championing women’s issues, including contraception and the menopause, having produced documentaries on both subjects and a book on the latter.

McCall has been made an MBE in the King’s birthday honours for services to broadcasting.

“I can’t believe it. It’s a great honour and it really means a great deal,” she said, in a statement shared with the PA news agency.

Though she presented several TV shows during the 1990s, McCall’s big break came after landing the role of Channel 4’s new reality show Big Brother.

She went on to present the popular British show until 2010 as well as several series of the weekly eviction spin-off and celebrity edition.

Big Brother was axed by Channel 4 in 2010, though McCall said she would not be returning to the show after it was picked up by Channel 5 the following year.

At that time McCall began hosting weight-loss show The Biggest Loser on ITV though the series was cancelled in 2012.

Her latest project, announced in January 2023, will see her front Your Mum, Your Dad, described by McCall as a “midlife Love Island”, which will aim to match up single parents on dates observed in secret by their grown-up children.

As well as her programme presenting duties, McCall is also known for her social justice and charitable work, though she has occasionally combined the two.

Since 2005 she has often been part of the celebrity presenter line-up for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day and in 2021 featured in the Stand Up To Cancer telethon, during which she gave an emotional tribute to her friend – Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding.

McCall has released numerous fitness DVDs, stating that her goal is to “encourage everyone in the UK to be healthier and more active whilst having fun however little time they have.”

In 2022 she released her second book, titled Menopausing, with the aim of ending “the shame and horrific misinformation surrounding menopause”.

The book, written by McCall and Dr Naomi Potter, was named overall book of the year at the 2023 British Book Awards.

It followed the release of her Channel 4 documentary Sex, Myths and the Menopause, which was released in September 2021.

More recently she called for a revolution on contraception, after exploring the effects of the pill in an intimate new Channel 4  documentary.

Davina McCall’s Pill Revolution showed the presenter having her coil fitted on TV in a rare on-screen moment to help dispel misinformation around contraception.

Speaking ahead of the show’s launch in June she said that women’s health “deserves to be on the national agenda” and that filming parts of the programme had left her feeling “really f****** angry”.

“With a change of government, obviously, then there’s a whole lot of new people… So we’ve just got to keep hassling, keep pushing” she said.

“This is where we’re talking about a conversation, that has to be a revolution that keeps the momentum going.”