Date of Birth: 29th July 1970
Place of Birth: London, England
Andi Peters is probably best known for his work as a childrens television presenter on the BBC in the UK. Since his first break at the age of 17, he had become an influential figure in youth television programming.
In The Beginning
His first television job came when he was given the position of presenter of Free Time on CITV. Despite not being very well known, the experience led to a promotion fronting the BBC Sunday morning pop music show entitled O Zone where he gained experience directing and producing.
This put him in good stead for his next job, as program announcer on the BBC for after school childrens television alongside Edd the Duck and Wilson the Butler in the Broom Cupboard, a small office with barely enough room for a desk and chair alongside the technical wizardry needed to fade in the the pre-recorded shows and cartoons. Television announcer on the BBC for childrens programs used to be, and still is to some degree, a high profile job. As well as announcing the shows, a certain amount of filling and pressing buttons is done live on air, as well as being the public face of childrens programming.
The Broom Cupboard
Peters' many talents were quite apparent, and whilst he was still working in the Broom Cupboard, he started to present Saturday morning BBC1 television show, Live and Kicking with Emma Forbes and John Barrowman. In any spare time he had between these two jobs, he presented one off specials such as the Smash Hits music awards and Children in Need.
After three years presenting Live and Kicking in 1996, Peters left the BBC due to the offer of promotion by another television channel to Executive Producer, Music Programmes.. At London Weekend Television Peters produced one off programmes with pop stars such as the Spice Girls and Boyzone as well as presenting shows such as The Weekend Show and The Noise.
Channel 4
After this in 1998, Channel 4 head hunted him to become Commissioning Editor of Youth Programming where he was to develop a youth programming strand called T4. Here Peters was responsible for launching Dermot O'Leary's career amongst others. In addition to making decisions behind the scenes, peters also make the odd appearance in a number of one off programms entitled Andi Meets where he interviewed big names in showbiz including Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin and Britney Spears.
Whilst working for Channel 4, he was making a documentary in a studio adjacent to the studio where Toy Story was being made. He talked to the people involved in the film and managed to blag his way into a bit pary voiceover role as a voice over the tanoy in a cargo bay.
In 2001, Peters moved television channel again, this time to ITV where he produced a nuber of music shows including Audience with Kylie Minogue, The Record of the year 2001 and Seven Days That Shook The Spice Girls. Alongside this, he presented a short-lived celebrity gossip programme called Celebrity! and a weekly show on Capital FM and BRMB radio stations.
On 28th July 2003 the BBC announced in a press release that they had appointed Peters in a exectuive role once again. This time in the newly created position of executive editor of popular music. In this job, Peters is responsible for programs targetted towards youth lifetyle and music programmes such as Top of the Pops and Later With Jools Holland amongst other shows, old and new.
Sources
http://www.imdb.com
http://www.paulmorris.co.uk/satkids/where.htm
http://www.worldscreen.com/newscurrent.php?filename=bbc728.txt
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1008844,00.html
http://www2.carlton.com/richandfamous/yourhosts/andi_peters.jhtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3100933.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/07_july/25/andi_peters.shtml