Nikki Bedi
- Actress
- Writer
Nikki Bedi is a Television and Radio Presenter, born Nikki Moolgaoker
in Aylesbury on 9 September 1966 to an Indian father of Marathi origin
and an English mother. She is proud of both her Indian and English
roots and refers to herself as Indo-Anglian, although Indo-Anglian is a
term used to denote English literature by Indian authors. Both a stage
and television actress, she began her career in Mumbai (formerly known
as Bombay) working with some of India's finest directors; spotted by
the UK's Channel 4, Nikki hosted Bombay Chat, an on-location celebrity
talk show and Star TV gave her a primetime slot for Nikki Tonight which
quickly proved to be Asia's most widely viewed and controversial talk
show, although it was subsequently cancelled by Star TV after a guest
made a derogatory remark about Mahatma Gandhi. After the show ended
Bedi lived and worked for a time in Los Angeles. Returning to the UK in
2000, she was the face of Universal's film channel The Studio for over
two years and had her own live film show on NOW. In 2003, while
continuing her television work, Nikki began developing a career in
radio, appearing on LBC and BBC Radio 4. On the BBC Asian Network, she
became a regular stand-in presenter, most notably for the Sonia Deol
show and in 2004 became the presenter of a new weekend morning
programme called Hot Breakfast before taking over as presenter of the
weekday afternoon show, Drive in 2005. In May 2006 as part of
wide-ranging schedule changes put in place, she was given her own show
called Nikki Bedi on the BBC Asian Network and continues to present
this programme. The show, which airs from 12:30 to 16:00 every weekday,
features reports on music, films and the arts, and includes interviews
with prominent figures in the British and international arts world.
Bedi has not abandoned television and has recently appeared as a
presenter on BBC2's Desi DNA.