Stephen Mulhern

Early life

Mulhern is the third of four children of Irish parents, Maureen (née Reid) and Christopher Mulhern, who were both market traders. He has two older brothers and a younger sister. Mulhern attended St Bonaventure's Catholic School in Forest Gate, Newham.

Magic

Mulhern gained his interest in comedy and magic from his father, who would teach him a trick before bedtime when he was 13 years old. The family would spend their summer holidays at Butlin's Minehead in Somerset, where Mulhern first began performing in public. He became the youngest member of The Magic Circle, which brought about an appearance on Blue Peter in a piece for Harry Houdini's 100th birthday. Mulhern was later suspended from The Magic Circle for revealing a magic trick on Finger Tips, a kid's TV show.

After leaving school, he created a magic show under the title Stephen's Mega Mad Magic Show. He spent two summers working as a Butlins Redcoat in Minehead, got winter jobs at Hamleys and Harrods - where he met Princess Diana - all while also auditioning for television appearances. Turned down at age 18 by Michael Barrymore for My Kind of People, he won a TV talent show in The Big Big Talent Show hosted by Jonathan Ross, and as a result, in 1997 while aged 20, was invited to take part in the Royal Variety Performance at the Victoria Palace Theatre, performing in front of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Mulhern then released a number of children's magic sets and videos, and got jobs on the Disney Channel, and then on CITV alongside Holly Willoughby on Saturday Showdown. His television credits since have included The Quick Trick Show and more recently Tricky TV. In 2005, Mulhern created and presented the Channel 4 magic show Freaky, and was credited as executive producer. In 2006, he performed a magic routine in an episode of The Slammer and came in second place. The dance group Flawless, who went on to perform on Britain's Got Talent (a spin-off show of which Mulhern presents), came first. Mulhern's 2010 entertainment show Magic Numbers featured magic and illusions during the phone-in process.

He has put his name to a number of magic set for retail sale and has worked closely with producer Paul Andrews in creating magic for his television and live shows. Mulhern does not work with a regular assistant for his illusion performances, preferring to work with a range of guest celebrity assistants. Most notable of these is his former Saturday Showdown co-host Holly Willoughby, who has assisted him on many occasions in a variety of illusions including being sawed in half. Other celebrity assistants have included the singers Katherine Jenkins, Rachel Stevens and Louise Redknapp, and the actress Mischa Barton.

Stage

Theatre

Radio

On 5 August 2012, Mulhern began co-presenting Sunday breakfast from 8am to 12pm with Emma Willis across the Heart Network. The duo occasionally present the Heart London Breakfast show when regular hosts, Jamie Theakston and Emma Bunton are away.

Television

Mulhern began presenting on CITV in 1998. He co-hosted four series of Finger Tips with Fearne Cotton from 2001 until 2003 and with Naomi Wilkinson in 2004. He presented children's show Tricky TV from 2005 to 2010. He also co-hosted Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown (originally called Ministry of Mayhem) with Holly Willoughby from 2004 to 2006.

From 2006 to 2007, Mulhern hosted the ITV2 spin-off Dancing on Ice: Defrosted, while Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby hosted the main show.

Since 2007, Mulhern has hosted ITV2 spin-off Britain's Got More Talent, which airs immediately after the main ITV show, which is hosted by Ant & Dec. Since 2013, Mulhern has become associated with the word 'unbelievable' which slowly became his catchphrase, usually used on Britain's Got More Talent as he walks offscreen at the end of a section, with Ant & Dec often mimicking him and is also known for saying "doosh!".

From 2009 to 2011, Mulhern narrated the ITV entertainment show Animals Do the Funniest Things.

Mulhern regularly presented inside 'The Hub', a small segment on the ITV daytime show This Morning. He most recently hosted the segment on Thursday and Friday mornings although had previously hosted on Wednesdays and Thursdays until the departure of Matt Johnson in the summer of 2013. Mulhern has occasionally presented the main show, standing in for the regular presenters.

In 2010, he hosted primetime game show Magic Numbers on ITV. Mulhern has hosted numerous episodes of The Big Quiz.

Since April 2013, Mulhern has presented a revived version of ITV game show Catchphrase. In September 2013, Mulhern began presenting ITV's Big Star's Little Star, a show which sees celebrities and their children compete to win up to £15,000 for charity.

On 27 October 2013, Mulhern began hosting a live Sunday morning show called Sunday Side Up on ITV. On 21 December 2013, Mulhern hosted entertainment special The Illusionists on ITV. On 14 September 2014, Mulhern guest hosted an episode of Sunday Night at the Palladium.

In early 2015, Mulhern presented the primetime ITV reality series Get Your Act Together. On 5 February 2015, he began presenting ITV2 panel show Reality Bites . In 2015, he presented The Magic Show Story a one-off special for ITV and The Saturday Night Story, a two-part series focusing on Saturday night television. In 2015, Mulhern presented Pick Me!, a daytime game show for ITV as well as ITV's annual charity telethon Text Santa. In March 2015, Mulhern became a victim of the Ant & Dec Undercover segment on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. This involved Ant & Dec turning up at Mulhern's pantomime whilst he was in a production of Sleeping Beauty and landing him in all sorts of trouble, such as wetting his costumes, ruining his magic tricks and mixing his music records up.

In February 2016, Stephen became the presenter of the 'Ant vs Dec' segment on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway after replacing Ashley Roberts. In 2016, Mulhern presented Go for It, and co-hosted The Next Great Magician alongside Rochelle Humes for ITV.

Filmography