Colin Murray

Colin Murray (born Colin Wright) is a radio and television presenter from Northern Ireland. He has hosted the Channel 4 game show Countdown since 2022. Born and raised in Dundonald, east of Belfast, Murray first trained and worked as a news journalist. With a passion for both music and sport, he later moved into music journalism and publishing, before making his national radio debut in 1999 on BBC Radio 1 in a short spell co-hosting The Session music show. This was followed by a television debut in 2002 as one of six co-presenters on Channel 4's short-lived morning show RI:SE. From 2003 onwards Murray established himself as a music radio presenter on the weekday daytime Colin and Edith show, alongside Edith Bowman. In 2006, Murray began his first role on BBC Radio 5 Live, hosting the sports-themed Saturday morning comedy panel game Fighting Talk, and also began presenting Channel 5's live UEFA Cup football coverage on midweek evenings. In 2006, he moved shows on Radio 1, departing Colin and Edith to front the late-night weekday evening music vehicle The Colin Murray Show. In 2008, he also began presenting The Late Show with Colin Murray, a weekly late-night music show for BBC Radio Ulster. The next year, he left Radio 1 to take on additional roles at 5 Live, hosting Kicking off with Colin Murray on Friday nights, and 5 Live Sport on Sunday afternoons. In 2010, he moved from presenting live football on Channel 5 to fronting the BBC's Match of the Day 2 Sunday night highlights show. In 2007, he was named "Music Broadcaster of the Year" at the Sony Radio Academy Awards. In 2010, he became host of Match of the Day 2 on BBC Two, while still anchoring shows on Radio 5 Live, including 5 Live Sport and Fighting Talk and was still presenting on Radio Ulster. He has previously hosted regular Channel 5 television and Radio 1 shows. In 2013, Murray announced he was leaving Radio 5 Live to move to commercial rival Talksport, taking up the 10 am – 1 pm slot vacated by Richard Keys and Andy Gray. Murray announced via Twitter in July 2016 that he was to leave Talksport in September 2016, following the takeover of the station by News Corp. He stated that the concomitant business links between Talksport and The Sun meant that, after the scandal of the Hillsborough disaster and of its coverage by The Sun, his position would be untenable owing to the feelings of Liverpool fans (including himself) towards that newspaper. Between 2017 and 2022, Murray hosted the Saturday night EFL television highlights show, first for Channel 5 in the 2017/18 season and since August 2018 for Quest on EFL on Quest.