Iain Lee


Iain Felix Diamond Lee is an English broadcaster, streamer, presenter, narrator and writer. His career began when he performed stand-up comedy gigs across venues in London. He subsequently became co-presenter of the comedy current affairs show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 and . After three years at London speech station LBC 97.3, Lee resigned and, after two years presenting a Sunday night slot, hosted Iain Lee's 2 Hour Long Late Night Radio Show on Absolute Radio until leaving the company on 17 October 2011.
On 8 February 2016, it was announced that Lee would be part of the launch team on Talkradio and would present a weeknight show, The Late Night Alternative, from 10pm to 1am. The station and Lee's show started on Monday 21 March 2016. On 10 July 2020, Lee announced that The Late Night Alternative would move to streaming service Twitch from 20 July.

Early and personal life

Lee was born in Slough, Buckinghamshire, England, and attended Herschel Grammar School. He came out as bisexual in July 2019 live on air.
On 17 April 2020, Iain announced on his talkRadio show that his sons had decided on two middle names for him, choosing "Felix" and "Diamond".

Television career

Lee was the lead presenter on satirical comedy show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4, alongside Mackenzie Crook and Daisy Donovan. The show also featured comedians Ali G and Ricky Gervais. He then went on to present the early morning show on Channel 4, , with Kate Lawler from Big Brother 2002. Lee has also presented Channel 4's Thumb Bandits, appeared on Sky News, The Wright Stuff and ITV's This Morning, and hosted the Big Brother companion series Bit on the Psych for Channel 5.

''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''

In November 2017, Lee took part in the seventeenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Lee entered the show on Day 5. During the show, Lee was elected Prime Minister of 10 Downing Creek. Lee made it to the final and finished in third place. He spoke openly about mental health whilst participating in the show.

''Good Morning Britain''

From the start of 2018, Lee was on the breakfast TV show Good Morning Britain, filling in for Richard Arnold who was taking a 3-week break.

Credits

Radio career

Lee began his radio career as a presenter on Xfm London from 1999 to 2001.

2005–2007: LBC 97.3

Lee was a presenter on London talk radio station LBC 97.3 from January 2005 to November 2007. Lee filled in for Clive Bull for two weeks in late 2004, until he presented on Friday-Sunday 10pm to 1am.
In October 2005, Lee moved from weekends to the drivetime slot from 4pm to 7pm. Lee titled the show The 3 Hour 4 'Till 7 Iain Lee Afternoon Wireless Show.. In January 2006, Lee moved again to 3pm to 6:30pm, with the show being renamed to The 3 and a Half Hour 3 'Till 6.30 Iain Lee Afternoon Wireless Show.
For just over two years Lee hosted "Triple M", a feature where calls go straight to air, live and unscreened. Other talk radio presenters have also hosted similar features, including Nick Abbot, Tommy Boyd and Clive Bull. Initially, Lee would host the feature every Friday evening during the last half-hour of the show. Originally called "Mental Mayhem", it was renamed to "Mick's Mental Mayhem", then simply "Triple M". The rising popularity of the format, along with a change in show times in May 2006 led to Lee presenting a whole three-hour show on Sunday evenings from 10pm to 1am to Triple M, being called "Sunday Night Triple M", from 7 May 2006 to 16 September 2007. At the time, management favoured the unique format as they hoped that it would introduce exclusive listeners to the radio station.
From January 2007 to his resignation in November, Lee presented the evening slot from 7pm to 10pm preceding Bull in the newly titled show, "Iain Lee's Good Evening". Lee chose the name after seeking advice from his friend and comedian Mackenzie Crook. The afternoon show was taken over by then weekend breakfast show host Paul Ross.
A change of radio station management in mid-2007 led to the demise of the Sunday Night Triple M show altogether, with the last show on 16 September 2007. Lee's style of presenting fell out of favour with the new management, with returning topical and news-led conversation. Without notice, Iain Lee's Good Evening came to an end on 2 November 2007, with the last ten minutes being given to Triple M.

2008–2011: Absolute Radio

Lee was rehired by his old LBC boss David Lloyd at Absolute Radio where he presented The Sunday Night Show from 10:00 pm – 1:00 am, with a mixture of music and phone-ins. From 12 October 2009, Lee's show was broadcast Monday to Thursday from 11:00 pm – 1:00 am, taking over the slot from Ben Jones. In April 2009 he became the first radio DJ in the UK to wrestle a listener. The match was broadcast on Absolute Radio on 17 May 2009. Absolute Radio announced on 17 October 2011 that Lee's contract would be terminated with immediate effect by mutual agreement.

2012: The Iain Lee Pocket Radio Show

In February 2012, Lee launched 'The Iain Lee Pocket Radio Show' which was a podcast available free through various outlets, that was similar in style to Lee's previous radio shows but utilised the various social media platforms. The bulk of the podcast is made up of a phone-in section, whereby Lee would invite people to call him either by telephone or though Skype at a specific time to discuss one of three topics that Lee would post on Twitter. Listeners were also invited to interact with the show by sending AudioBoos, to be included in the recording.
The podcast also included Lee interviewing guests and celebrity news with the Daily Express's Elisa Roche.

2012–2015: BBC Three Counties Radio and BBC WM

Between 2012 and 2015, Lee presented the breakfast radio show on BBC Three Counties Radio, broadcast across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire from Luton and Dunstable. In 2014, Lee was awarded a Radio Academy Award in the 'Breakfast Show of the Year ' category. Commencing December 2013, Lee also presented a Saturday morning show on BBC WM, adding a Friday afternoon show from September 2014 onwards. Lee departed the station in August 2015, citing a "mix up".
Complaints were received about an interview with a lawyer from Christian Concern that was conducted on 3 November 2015 in which he accused her of being 'bigoted' and 'homophobic' after she defended a minister quoting verses from the Bible condemning homosexuality as sinful. On 14 November it was reported Lee had been sacked by BBC Three Counties Radio.

2016–2020: ''The Late Night Alternative''

On 8 February 2016, Lee announced he would join Talkradio. The station launched on 21 March 2016 with Iain hosting The Late Night Alternative from 10pm to 1am, Monday to Friday. The programme was produced by Katherine Boyle, whom Lee worked with at Three Counties Radio.
Lee and Boyle won several Audio and Radio Industry Awards awards, including Gold in the 'Best Speech Presenter – Non-Breakfast' category in 2017 and 'Moment of the Year' in 2020 for directing emergency services to a caller who had taken an overdose.
On 2 June 2020, Lee announced that his contract at Talkradio was not renewed. On 10 July, the pair issued a press release confirming they had been signed by internet streaming service Twitch, and would re-launch the program on 20 July.

Filmography

Lee runs 7A Records as a hobby with his friend Glenn Gretlund. The company specialises in releasing rare and obscure recordings by The Monkees. In November 2017, the label released Micky Dolenz's Out of Nowhere, which featured the 30 piece American Metropole Orchestra. Lee also had a cameo role in the British IBM's music video for their self-titled single, which was released in 2012.
Lee formerly wrote a gaming column for MSN.co.uk, as well as recording monthly podcasts. He has also appeared on "XLeague.tv" discussing video games alongside former LBC producer 'Agent Chris'.
Lee has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends, and presented the official Big Brother radio show with co-host Gemma Cairney. The programme was called Big Brother's Big Ears and aired twice a week on the Big Brother website. Lee has also been heard as a continuity announcer on the TV channel Dave.
Lee is a big Lost fan, and presented Channel 4 radio's UK Lost podcast, where he summarised each episode of series two after it was broadcast in the UK. After Sky acquired rights to air Lost from seasons 3 onwards, Lee was recruited by Sky for their own podcast, entitled The Lost Initiative. For seasons 5 and 6, The Lost Initiative changed from an audio podcast to a "vidcast", with up to three online video discussions a week.
Lee has performed an experimental work by artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard in Sheffield called "Performer. Audience. Fuck Off" - an interpretation of the seminal piece "Performer/Audience/Mirror" originally presented in 1975 by American artist Dan Graham. Previously, Lee presented a free podcast called "Shindiggery", consisting of music, sound bites and audio recordings.
Lee's favourite music artists include The Who, The Beatles, The Monkees, Barenaked Ladies and the Beach Boys.