Chris Jarvis

Martin Christopher Jarvis (born 20 April 1969) is an English actor, television/radio 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. Jarvis currently presents for BBC Radio Solent.

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 (including the mini soap opera Wood Lane TV) and created several memorable characters, including "The Anorak".

In 1997, Jarvis was part of The Friday Zone (which was broadcast on Friday afternoons on BBC One for most of the children's slot) 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.

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.

From 2010 to 2017, Jarvis and Lee toured the UK with The Chris and Pui Roadshow.

In 2019, he started a radio station for children called Little Radio. 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. 2009 Snow White at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth with Su Pollard 2010 Cinderella, at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth with Amanda Barrie 2010's Aladdin (in which he plays Emperor Sho Mee) and 2009's Jack & Jill (which he wrote and made a cameo appearance in).

Filmography

+ List of acting and presenting performances in film and television Title Year Role Notes The Broom Cupboard 1993–1997 Presenter Look Sharp 1994–1995 2 series The Anorak 1994–1996 Actor Get Your Own Back 1995 Himself Playdays Presenter 2 series Wood Lane TV 1995–1997 Actor / Writer To Me... To You... 1996, 1998 Himself 1997 TV film, played a fictionalised version of himself The Friday Zone Presenter CBBC 1998 Your Wildest Dreams host Mr Wymi Hacker tracker ChuckleVision Head page Short Change Presenter Fully Booked 1998–2000 2 series ChuckleVision Comic Relief Special 1999 Music Mogul Night Fever Himself Dream Street 1999–2002 Hot Rodney / Amber / Scarlet Catchphrase 2000–2001 Himself Voice role Jungle Run 2001–2002 Presenter Maths Mansion 2001–2003 Sad Man / Bad Man Step Inside 2002 Mr Mopple CBeebies 2002–2009 Presenter Presented links between programmes Planet Cook 2004–2005 Underground Ernie 2006 Circle / City Voice role Show Me Show Me 2009–2015 Presenter Justin's House 2023 Robert The Robot