Chris Jarvis (presenter)


Martin Christopher Jarvis is an English actor, presenter and writer who has appeared mainly on children's television for the BBC since 1993, apart from 2000 to 2002 when he was working with ITV and Channel 4. In 2019, he started a radio station for children called Little Radio.
WWW chris-jarvis.com𝕏 realchrisjarvis

Early life

Jarvis grew up in Billericay and Brentwood.

Career

Early career

Jarvis made his name in the early 1990s on Children's BBC, presenting from the "Broom Cupboard" alongside Zoe Ball and Josie d'Arby, as well as hosting his own shows like Look Sharp. Jarvis wrote a lot of material for Children's BBC himself and created several memorable characters, including "The Anorak".
In 1997, Jarvis was part of The Friday Zone with Debra Stephenson, Peter Simon, Dominic Wood, Steve Rock and Emma Lee. They released a single called "Glasses" as a spin-off from the programme, to raise money for Comic Relief.
Jarvis then presented Fully Booked with Tim Vincent and Gail Porter for a few years. He has appeared on many other TV shows including Short Change, Exclusive, Playdays and Soap Fever.
Since 2025, Chris has regularly acted as a stand-in presenter on BBC Radio Solent broadcasting to Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight, primarily covering Katie Martin on the Daytime programme.

CBeebies

Jarvis was one of the original lineup of CBeebies presenters, alongside Pui Fan Lee, Sidney Sloane, and Sue Monroe every day. From March 2007 until his departure on 2 January 2009, he presented alongside Lee from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm with Discover and Do, then the Bedtime Hour from 6:00 pm and again on BBC Two in the mornings. He also starred in Step Inside as Mr Mopple and voiced characters in Underground Ernie. In 2009, he and Lee left the channel's main presentation to create Show Me Show Me.
Show Me Show Me is still broadcast on CBeebies today. The first 40 half-hour episodes were broadcast on the CBeebies channel, BBC One and BBC Two from Monday 6 July 2009 every weekday at 10:00 am and 1:30 pm. Series 5 was filmed on location near Manchester in 2013.
Since 2010, Jarvis and Lee have toured the UK with The Chris and Pui Roadshow.
In 2023, Jarvis took over the role of Robert the Robot in Justin's House from Steven Kynman.

Acting

As an actor, Jarvis has appeared in The Demon Headmaster and ChuckleVision, and played Mr Mopple in the early CBeebies story-telling programme Step Inside. He also presented Maths Mansion.

Music

Jarvis hosts family concerts for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic.

Pantomime

Jarvis has appeared in pantomimes professionally every year since 1995, and prior to that had performed in several as an amateur. Since 2001, he has written and directed many of these pantomimes.
Jarvis has been involved with several televised pantomimes on CBeebies, including 2012's Jack and the Beanstalk, which he wrote and starred in as Dame Trot, 2011's Strictly Cinderella, which he co-wrote, and starred in as Baron Hardup, 2010's Aladdin and 2009's Jack & Jill.

Filmography

TitleYearRoleNotes
The Broom Cupboard1993–1997Presenter
Look Sharp1994–1995Presenter2 series
The Anorak1994–1996Actor
Get Your Own Back1995Himself
Playdays1995Presenter2 series
Wood Lane TV1995–1997Actor / Writer
To Me... To You...1996, 1998Himself
'1997HimselfTV film, played a fictionalised version of himself
The Friday Zone1997PresenterCBBC
'1998Your Wildest Dreams host
Mr Wymi1998Hacker tracker
ChuckleVision1998Head page
Short Change1998Presenter
Fully Booked1998–2000Presenter2 series
ChuckleVision Comic Relief Special1999Music Mogul
Night Fever1999Himself
Dream Street1999–2002Hot Rodney / Amber / Scarlet
Catchphrase2000–2001HimselfVoice role
Jungle Run2001–2002Presenter
Maths Mansion2001–2003Sad Man / Bad Man
Step Inside2002Mr Mopple
CBeebies2002–2009PresenterPresented links between programmes
Planet Cook2004–2005
Underground Ernie2006Circle / CityVoice role
Show Me Show Me2009–2015Presenter
Justin's House2023Robert The Robot