Reggie Yates
Reginald (Reggie) Yates (born 31 May 1983) is a British Writer and Director with a career spanning three decades on screen as an actor, television presenter and radio DJ. Yates featured as lead voice actor for BBC animation Rastamouse and played Leo Jones in "Doctor Who." Yates has worked at the BBC in radio and television–presenting various shows for BBC Radio 1 for a decade as well as hosting the ITV2 reality show "Release the Hounds" from 2013 until 2017. Yates co-presented the prime-time BBC One game show "Prized Apart," alongside Emma Willis. He is  also the presenter of the BBC Three show "Reggie Yates' Extreme Russia," "Extreme South Africa" and "Extreme UK." In 2021, Yates released his first feature film, "Pirates". Early life. Yates' parents, Felicia Asante and Reginald "Jojo" Yates, were both born in Ghana; however, his paternal grandfather Harry was the son of an English accountant, George Yates, who worked in the gold mining industry. Harry Yates' mother Dorothy was also of mixed race: her father was a British colonial administrator, Augustus George Lloyd, while her mother Sarah was an ethnic Fante, who worked as a farmer and trader in Dixcove, Ghana . Yates grew up in North London, and attended Central Foundation Boys' School in Cowper Street, Islington. Career. Yates made his first television appearance in "Desmond's" at the age of eight. He also appeared in "Disney Club", as Robbie. In 1998, Yates appeared as a guest presenter on "Diggit" on CITV also under the name Robbie. In 2002, he played Carl Fenton in the popular children's series "Grange Hill". From 2002 to 2004, he presented the Sunday morning programme "Smile", and then went on to present "Top of the Pops" with former "Smile" co-host Fearne Cotton before the  final episode broadcast on BBC Two on 30 July 2006. He also created and starred in the series "The Crust" and presented "Dance Factory" and his own radio show on BBC Radio 1. In 2005, Yates appeared in the BBC singing contest "Comic Relief Does Fame Academy" in aid of Comic Relief, finishing in fourth place. On the show, his songs included "Boombastic", "You're The First, The Last, My Everything", "It Ain't Over Til It's Over", "U Can't Touch This" and "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)". He also sang a duet, "It  Takes Two", with Edith Bowman, the eventual winner of the show. He dyed his hair red for his performance of "Dancing on the Ceiling". On 10 March 2006, Yates appeared on "Stars in Fast Cars" and won his heat to get into the final, beating Elton Welsby and Ben Fogle in the last round. Yates presented "Mighty Truck of Stuff" and "Only in America" with Fearne Cotton on CBBC as well as a programme on BBC Radio 1. They presented a breakfast show on Saturday and Sunday mornings, taking over from JK and Joel. They played from 7:00 a.m. to  10:00 am. The duo then went on to present "The Radio 1 Chart Show" starting on 14 October 2007 until Sunday 20 September 2009. Cotton left following her promotion to weekday mornings on Radio 1 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:45 pm, leaving Yates to present on his own. In addition to the chart show, Yates also presented a request show on Saturday afternoons, known as "The Radio 1 Request Show", where listeners could send in a text or phone in to request a song. In April 2012, it was announced that Yates would finish the request show and continue with  only "The Official Chart". He announced in November 2012 that he would leave BBC Radio 1, and his last show aired on 23 December that year. In 2006 Yates appeared on a Reality TV Special of "The Weakest Link" and was voted off in the fourth round. In 2007, Yates appeared in the third series of revived science-fiction series "Doctor Who" as Leo Jones, brother of the Tenth Doctor's companion Martha. Yates also presented series 1 of "Escape from Scorpion Island" with co-presenter Caroline Flack on BBC 1 between 3 and 21 September 2007. He also appeared  on Dizzee Rascal's 2007 single "Flex" music video as one of the judges in a parody TV show called "Flex Factor". Yates co-hosted the MOBO Awards 2009 with Keri Hilson at the SECC, Glasgow. He has also presented live coverage of the Glastonbury, Reading and T in the Park music festivals for BBC Three, and interviewed stars such as Estelle and 50 Cent for MTV specials. Yates also made a cameo appearance in "" with Joanna Page and Jesse Metcalfe. Yates appeared in a special "Family Guy" episode on BBC Three, counting down the top 20 characters of the  show as part of a special "Family Guy" weekend. In 2011, Yates voiced the main character, Rastamouse, in the CBeebies television show "Rastamouse". In March 2011, he appeared with Lenny Henry, Angela Rippon and Samantha Womack in the BBC fundraising documentary for Comic Relief called "Rich, Famous and in the Slums", where the four celebrities were sent to Kibera in Kenya, Africa's largest slum. In October 2011, Yates starred in Arjun Rose's UK slasher "Demons Never Die" as Officer Mason. In 2012, as part of BBC Three's Criminal Britain Season, Yates explored the culture of fear, anger  and violence that drives the dangerous world of teen gangs. The show, "Reggie Yates: Teen Gangs", involved Yates speaking to current and former gang members to find out why and how teens get into gangs. He also investigated ways in which gang members can escape the life of violence and anger. In 2012 and 2013, Yates hosted the BBC One singing show "The Voice UK", hosting the first two series with Holly Willoughby. They were replaced by Emma Willis and Marvin Humes in 2013. 2013 saw Yates travel to South Africa to shoot a series about extreme communities entitled "Reggie  Yates: Extreme South Africa", which aired in Spring 2014 on BBC Three. It was successful enough for Yates to return with "Reggie Yates' Extreme Russia" in April 2015 for BBC Three. Yates is also a writer and director. In 2013, his first short film "Patriarch" aired on Channel 4 as part of their "Random Acts" season and he has just completed his second short called "Date Night" starring Daniel Kaluuya and Tony Way which won 'Best UK Short Film' at the London Independent Film Festival. Yates hosted the ITV2 programme "Release the Hounds" from 2013 until 2017. He was replaced  by Matt Edmondson in 2017. Yates appeared in an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?", which aired on 25 September 2014. Yates, along with Emma Willis presented the Saturday night game show "Prized Apart" on BBC One in 2015. The show was axed shortly after. In 2016, Yates was awarded Best Presenter for his critically acclaimed series Extreme Russia at the Royal Television Society Awards and Best Multi-channel Programme at the Broadcast Awards. Continuing his documentarian journey, in 2016 Yates's BBC Three series The Insider saw the presenter spend time behind bars in Texas and join  Unit 27 of the 56th Infantry Battalion in Acapulco to live the life of an ordinary soldier fighting on the front line of the brutal war against the country's powerful and violent drug cartels. In 2018, Yates was the themed category judge for Koestler Trust's "I'm Still Here" at the Southbank Centre, London, an exhibition of art works by prisoners, detainees and ex-offenders. The theme was 'connections'. Yates has also been listed in the "Powerlist", as one of the most influential people in the UK from African/African-Caribbean descent, most recently making the 2019, 2020  and 2021 editions. In 2020, Yates' television film "Make Me Famous" premiered on BBC Three. The film stars an ensemble cast including Tom Brittney, Amanda Abbington, Tilly Keeper, Aiysha Hart, Nina Sosanya and Emma Rigby. Yates released his debut feature film Pirates in 2021. This BBC Film/BFI coming-of-age comedy is a love letter to the UK Garage scene and a time capsule for 90’s London. Recently acquired by Netflix UK, Pirates is now streaming and officially selected at South By South West Film Festival. Controversies. In 2017, the BBC was forced to apologise for a Yates  (and independent production company, Sundog Pictures) piece on Australia's indigenous communities called "Hidden Australia: Black in the Outback" filmed in Wilcannia, New South Wales. The aboriginal people Yates interviewed and filmed for the documentary said they were misled by Yates and the production crew. They accused Yates of portraying them in a negative light when Yates had promised them the story would be fair. In November 2017, Yates stated on a podcast: "The thing that makes it great about this new generation of artists is that they ain't signing to majors. They're independent, they're not managed  by some random fat Jewish guy from north west London, they're managed by their brethren". His remarks were condemned by the Community Security Trust's Dave Rich who said: "Even worse than any offence is the message Yates gives his audience by reinforcing an anti-Semitic stereotype". Yates was "hugely apologetic" for his comment. Following his comments, he stood down from presenting the 2017 festive special editions of "Top of the Pops". In 2019, when filming for his MTV television series "Reggie Yates vs The World" in Derry, Northern Ireland, it was claimed that tensions on the street were  stoked by dissident Republicans "for the benefit of the film crew", resulting in a riot during which Lyra McKee was murdered. "Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said that those claims were untrue, as did MTV."