Yvette Fielding

Presenter / Producer Most Haunted

Born : 23rd Sept, 1968

Yvette Fielding was educated at Pownall Green Primary School and Bramhall High School in Bramhall, Stockport, in Greater Manchester. She also attended Hillcrest Grammar School, Davenport and Dane Bank College in Crewe (studying drama). Fielding’s first major role came in 1983 when she was cast in the children’s BBC series Seaview. The comedy-drama show centred around a teenage girl called Sandy Shelton (played by Fielding), growing up living at her parents’ guest house in Blackpool. The show ran for two series and secured Fielding’s popularity with younger audiences. After this, Fielding made a guest appearance in an episode of Juliet Bravo.

In 1987 Yvette Fielding became a presenter on the BBC children’s show, Blue Peter. To date Fielding still holds the record of being the youngest presenter on Blue Peter, starting on 29 June 1987 three months before her 19th birthday. While on the series Fielding also had an acting role in Last of the Summer Wine (making an appearance in the series while making a Blue Peter report on the show). During her time on the show, Fielding won the SOS Award for the Most Popular Woman on Television, competing with Cilla Black, Victoria Wood and Kylie Minogue. Years after Fielding left the show, her trip on a rollercoaster with fellow presenter Mark Curry was voted the Favourite Blue Peter moment of all time by viewers. After five years of Blue Peter, Fielding co-hosted What’s Up Doc?, a Saturday morning children’s show on ITV. The series ran for three years and established Fielding with slightly older audiences.

From 1995 Fielding made a successful transition from children’s to television for an older audience. After leaving What’s Up Doc? Fielding presented Heaven and Earth, The General and City Hospital for the BBC. She was a regular host of Karaoke Challenge and contributed weekend continuity for Challenge TV. From 1998 – 2000, Fielding appeared as a regular alongside Fred Dineage and Toyah Willcox on a property-pricing based game-show called Under Offer made for Meridian Television. In 2005 Fielding appeared as Annie Lennox in a celebrity special of ITV’s Stars in Their Eyes, and in the same year she also made a guest appearance on the BBC music quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In 2007 Fielding appeared in the ITV2 reality television programme Deadline, finishing second. Later on in the year she appeared as a guest on That Antony Cotton Show. In January 2008, Fielding appeared as a contestant on the BBC quiz show Celebrity Mastermind, with her specialist subject being Henry VIII.

In 2002, Yvette Fielding and her husband Karl Beattie established their own television production company, Antix Productions. Their first production was Most Haunted for the British TV channel Living. In the show, viewers can see Fielding and paranormal experts investigating various supposedly haunted locations around Britain, in the hopes that paranormal activity may be documented by the crew. Most Haunted proved popular with audiences and remains to this day one of Living’s highest-rated original shows. Leading on from this, in 2006 Fielding presented and produced Ghosthunting with…, a paranormal show for ITV2 which shows Fielding leading various celebrities around haunted locations. These two shows have established Yvette Fielding as British televisions ‘first lady’ of the paranormal, and somewhat of a cult figure. Fielding has made many appearances and interviews in the British media in connection with her paranormal investigations and programmes, including guest appearances on The Sunday Night Project (Channel 4), The Chris Moyles Show (BBC Radio 1) and Friday Night With Jonathan Ross (BBC One). Furthering her paranormal franchise, in 2008 Fielding made her first move into radio, hosting Yvette Fielding’s Fright Nights on Kerrang! Radio. Fielding left the radio station a few months later however, due to other work commitments.

In 2008 Fielding and Beattie formed a new company called Monster Pictures to operate the Paranormal Channel. The channel (launched 9 June 2008) claims to be the first TV channel in the world dedicated to the paranormal, and aims to be ground breaking in its investigation of the subject. Fielding acts as anchor to the channel and presents original programming on the station. The channel was renamed the Unexplained Channel in 2009, this came to an end in 2010.

Yvette Fielding was the main anchor for the Paranormal Channel, later to be renamed the Unexplained Channel, for which she presented a 2009 series with Lesley Smith and Cath Howe entitled Screaming Banshees.

Fielding also presented two new episodes of Ghosthunting with… in summer 2009, one episode featuring Boyzone and Louis Walsh, and another featuring Happy Mondays.

From February to March 2009, Yvette Fielding appeared in Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV1. Fielding featured in the Ant v Dec segment of the programme, as a member of Ant’s team (she was eliminated from the contest in the 5th round).

Yvette Fielding and her husband were the celebrity subjects of a one hour documentary for Living called Living With Yvette & Karl which aired on the 1 November 2008. A sequel documentary entitled In Bed with Yvette & Karl which aired on Living on January 17, 2009, charted Fielding’s hysterectomy operation and recovery. A full-length series of In Bed with Yvette & Karl, was then commissioned, and airied on Living during June and July 2009. In October 2009, a further documentary entitled Yvette & Karl: Life begins at 40 was broadcast.

On 21 May 2009, Yvette appeared for a fourth time on the Paul O’Grady Show, and a day later, she appeared on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. In July 2009, Fielding was a celebrity panelist in an episode of the Channel 4 comedy show 8 out of 10 Cats. In November 2009, Fielding appeared as a celebrity contestant in an episode of Come Dine With Me, finishing third.

On 19 January 2010, Yvette appeared on the National Television Awards to represent Come Dine With Me.

Yvette loves cars and has owned Aston Martins and even a London taxi. Her love of cars was shown on Fifth Gear in 2008 and can be seen on YOU TUBE .

She has stated on the George Lamb radio show, that her front teeth were knocked out when she was eight years old, playing with her cousin Stuart Torevell.

Yvette Fielding announced on 25 June 2010, via the Antix Productions website, that she was to step down as presenter of Most Haunted. In subsequent interviews, Fielding also indicated that she would finish presenting Ghosthunting with.. and all other paranormal-based broadcasts in 2010.  However in May 2011, Fielding appeared in an episode of the UK version of the Celebrity Ghost Stories series for the bio channel  with the entire UK series of Celebrity Ghost Stories being produced by Antix Productions company. Then in September 2011 Fielding presented another episode of Ghosthunting with… featuring the cast of The Only Way Is Essex.

In April 2012 Yvette Fielding appeared in an episode of Olly: Life On Murs, in which she and Olly Murs visited a haunted house.

In October 2012 Fielding appeared on BBC Radio 2 and The Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV1 talking about the paranormal and her ghost hunting career. In these interviews Fielding stated that she will return to Most Haunted in 2013, which indeed it did online for Halloween.

In October 2013 she returned to Most Haunted in an online version of the show.

In December 2013 she opened a tea shop called Proper Tea in Manchester next to the Cathedral saying it was a lifelong dream of hers.

In April 2014 in an interview with Really TV and then later on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch she confirmed a new TV series of Most Haunted would be aired later in 2014.

Matt Barlow

A self confessed super fan of Most Haunted and editor of GhostMag.com. Matt’s passion for ghost hunting began when he moved into a haunted house in his second year of university in Leicester! His favourite location is the Niddry Street Vaults in Edinburgh.