Jenny Powell is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 presenter.

Early life

Powell's parents are from South Africa, she attended Woodford County High School for Girls in Woodford Green

Woodford Green

Woodford Green, formerly in the county of Essex, is part of the North East London suburb of Woodford, on the edge of Epping Forest, mostly within the London Borough of Redbridge with a small part on the western side of the green within the London Borough of Waltham Forest .-History:Woodford Green...

 and the Italia Conti school in London.

Career

Powell began her career in 1986 presenting the BBC2

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 music programme No Limits and then moved to Saturday morning television for children, first co-presenting UP2U for BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 during the summers of 1988 and 1989, CITV

CITV

CITV is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network .The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00...

's Ghost Train

Ghost Train (TV series)

Ghost Train was a children's television programme broadcast on ITV, between 1989 and 1991, produced by Tyne Tees Television in association with various ITV regional stations including Border Television, Television South West, Ulster Television, Channel Television and Grampian...

and then Gimme 5

Gimme 5

Gimme 5 was a children's television programme broadcast on Saturday mornings on ITV from 1992 to 1994. The programme was a live two-hour show which included live guests, cartoons, competitions and games. For series 1, it was presented by Jenny Powell, Lewis MacLeod, Matthew Davies,and Nobby the...

, again on CITV. In the mid-1990s, she became the hostess on ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

's version of Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune (UK game show)

Wheel of Fortune is a British television game show created by Merv Griffin. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes...

.

More recently, she has presented Soap Fever

Soap Fever

Soap Fever is a British television Entertainment programme on ITV2 presented by Liza Tarbuck, Denise Welch, Emma Kennedy, Jenny Powell and towards the end of its run Fiona Phillips and Penny Smith....

, Live Talk, Getaway, and Our House for UKTV Style

UKTV Style

Home is an interior home and garden-oriented lifestyle television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom, as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel originally launched on 1 November 1997 and relaunched in it's current format on 30 April 2009...

. She tried to make it as a stand-up comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

 in Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

's Stand Up Jenny, and was a regular on ITV's Loose Women

Loose Women

Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...

. In 2005, she was one of the competitors in the ITV reality TV show Celebrity Wrestling

Celebrity Wrestling

Celebrity Wrestling is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in 2005. It involved two teams of celebrities, competing against each other in wrestling style events. The series was presented by Kate Thornton and Rowdy Roddy Piper...

, competing under the name The Avenger.

In 1997 she appeared on Channel 4's Brass Eye

Brass Eye

Brass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries. A series of six aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001....

, a satirical spoof documentary show produced by Chris Morris. She talked earnestly about the perils of 'heavy electricity' and warned that the south of England could be catapulted towards Finland if people did not bang on wires with hammers.

Powell has been a presenter on BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

's To Buy or Not to Buy

To Buy or Not to Buy

To Buy or Not to Buy was a British reality television series made between 2003 and 2010 for BBC One in the UK. The final series was the eleventh and contained 90 episodes, in one of two formats—either 30 or 45 minutes in length. It aired on both BBC1 and BBC2...

, and presented on ITV's Bingo Night Live

Bingo Night Live

Bingo Night Live was an interactive television programme featuring a free-to-play bingo game, broadcast in the United Kingdom on the ITV Network...

in June 2008.

From 23 March 2009, she presented a quiz show, Wordplay and Wordplay Plus on Five in the old Going For Gold

Going for Gold

Going for Gold is a British television game show that originally aired on BBC1 between 12 October 1987 and 9 July 1996.It has since been revived for Channel 5 from 13 October 2008 to 20 March 2009...

slots.

In summer 2010, Powell was a contestant on Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's Celebrity Come Dine with Me and BBC One's Celebrity Masterchef.

Personal life

Powell has two daughters, Constance, born 18 January 2001 and Pollyanna born November 2008. Powell and her daughters live in Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

.