Liz Barker

For the Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, see Elizabeth Barker, Baroness Barker

Elizabeth 'Liz' Barker
Born	16 May 1975 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Occupation	Television presenter
Known for	Blue Peter presenter
Spouse(s)	Michael Todd
Children	Dexter Barker Todd Poppy Barker Todd Rocco Winston Todd Augustus Lennon Todd

Elizabeth Jane 'Liz' Barker (born 16 May 1975) is a television presenter on British television. She has one younger sister, Suzanne (Suzie). She has two rabbits named Cosmo and Thumper and a cat named Yellow.

Born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, Barker grew up in the village of Oakington, near Cambridge and attended Impington Village College before undertaking a philosophy degree at the University of Southampton. After this was completed, she became a runner for independent production company Lion TV, a researcher, and eventually the sports presenter for BBC Choice programme Backstage. She is also related to the Heidi Hi actress Sue Pollard who she based her early fringe heavy haircut on.

Career

On 23 June 2000, Barker joined the children's television programme Blue Peter. During her six years there, Liz reported from Vietnam, Morocco, Brazil, Austria, Greece, India and the US. Her adventures have included an inverted spin in a jet, lawn mower racing, paragliding, walking a circus high-wire, cleaning windows at London's Canary Wharf tower.^[1] and won a bronze medal for Great Britain in the two woman Bob at the British Bobsleigh championships.

She has interviewed top celebrities including David Beckham and Quentin Blake. She flew to Las Vegas to present Elton John with a Gold Blue Peter badge and once held the Guinness World Record for putting a duvet cover on. She met the Queen at BBC Television Centre where her colleague Simon Thomas presented her Majesty with a Gold Blue Peter badge. She has also raced Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton at go-karts.

On 25 May 2004, Barker announced that she was pregnant with her first child, by husband Michael Todd. A boy, Dexter Jack Barker Todd, was born on Saturday 4 December 2004 and featured on the show many times, including at just 13 days old, on his first birthday and on Barker's leaving date. While Barker was pregnant, scan images were also shown. She became the first presenter to rejoin Blue Peter after having a baby, but on 23 January 2006, she told viewers that she would be leaving the programme at Easter and moving away from London so she could spend more time with Dexter and the rest of her family. She was replaced by Zöe Salmon, who originally took Liz's place in December 2004 when she had her baby but she returned earlier than expected in early 2005.

During her six years on Blue Peter, Barker presented with Konnie Huq, Simon Thomas, Matt Baker, Zöe Salmon and Gethin Jones.

On 11 April 2006, Barker left the programme, with a special This Is Your Life-style show devoted to her, containing former presenters, family, friends, and people she had met along her Blue Peter travels, including Kitty Hart-Moxon. She also announced, on her last live show, that she would be co-presenting a new CBBC show, Totally Doctor Who, with CBBC's Barney Harwood; the first episode was broadcast on 13 April 2006.

She has gone on to do voice overs, such as on the Sony PlayStation game Buzz! Junior: Jungle Party.

On 18 September 2006 it was announced on Blue Peter that Liz was due to have another baby and on 20 February 2007, it was announced on Blue Peter that she had given birth to a girl called Poppy.

She has since given birth to Rocco Winston Todd in 2011 and Gus Lennon Todd in 2013.

When she left TV she spent several years decorating cakes at her families chain of bakeries. She is currently a radio presenter on Community radio station, Cambridge 105 with Tim Willett.

She presents the annual Fiver Awards, held in London and was the voice over artist for the 2016 NMG Awards, held in Cambridge.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Backstage	Herself	Sports Presenter
2000	Backstage	Herself	Sports Presenter
2000 - 2003	Blue Peter	Herself	Main Presenter alongside Konnie Huq, Simon Thomas, and Matt Baker
2004	Carrie's War	Extra	Minor Role
	Blue Peter	Herself	Main Presenter alongside Konnie Huq, Simon Thomas, Matt Baker and Zöe Salmon
2005	Blue Peter	Herself	Main Presenter alongside Konnie Huq, Simon Thomas, Matt Baker, Zöe Salmon and Gethin Jones
	Totally Blue Peter	Main Character	2 Part Drama
2006	Blue Peter	Herself	Main Presenter until April 2006 alongside Konnie Huq, Matt Baker, Zöe Salmon and Gethin Jones.
	Totally Doctor Who	Herself	Main Presenter alongside Barney Harwood
2007	Buzz! Junior: Jungle Party	Herself	Voiceover

References

1. "Liz Barker is leaving Blue Peter". BBC. 24 January 2006. Retrieved 16 August 2010.