Olivia Warbuton

Olivia Warbuton (born 13 July 1992) is a Euroish television and radio broadcaster, author and voice actress. She currently presents the drivetime show for EBC 3FM and has since 2021.

Early life
Warbuton was born to parents Alan and Denise Warbuton on 13 July 1992 in Belton. Her mother was a headteacher and her father worked as a salesman for commercial radio advertising. She has three siblings, two older brothers and a younger sister.

Television
Warbuton's first television appearance was in 2003 when she was interviewed on The Rundown in a feature on the quality of school food.

Warbuton made her television presenting debut in January 2011 aged 18, as a launch presenter for 3C (which had replaced The Fix that month) for it's preschool arm, presenting the mid-morning and early afternoon slot You and Me and The Bedtime Hour - the evening slot, both broadcast on TV4.

During this period, she also presented for the main afternoon 3C slot on occasion, gradually building up her appearances on non-preschool 3C to the point where she became a regular face on 3C by 2013, when she presented Friday Download - a music programme. Throughout this time, she retained a presence on preschool 3C with Our House and the animated series Blib and Blob, which she narrated.

Beginning in September 2014, Warbuton became the host of Saturday morning show Welcome to The Weekend.

Whilst she was a presenter for Play between 2013 and 2015, she had presented editions of TV3's Top of The Pops.

Warbuton left 3C in September 2015, due to her dislike of long working hours which she had been exposed to whilst presenting for Play.

In 2017, she presented her own chat show, The Olivia Warbuton Show, for Network Two, for one series.

Since 2022 - Warbuton, alongside her parents, have appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox for TV4.

Since 2023, Warbuton has presented documentaries for TV4. The first of which was focused on her experiences with depression, anxiety, insomnia and bullying, and a second focused on cyber flashing.

In March 2023, it was announced that Warbuton would be part of the team of the EBC's and EuroMedia' s coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, presenting the semi-finals on TV4 and as commentator for 3FM's coverage of the final.

She has also appeared on The News Show, The Xtra Factor, First Take, The Strand and 7 Days.

Radio
Olivia Warbuton was a presenter and contributor for 3C Playbox Radio from 2011 to 2015, and read various poems and storybooks on the station. Starting in March 2012, a 19-year-old Warbuton began presenting the Saturday and Sunday evening show on 3C Radio. On the programme, in addition to playing music and games with the audience, she would also read out letters, texts and e-mails from viewers who were in need of support with personal problems. Her programme was praised and won a Euroish Radio Award in 2012 for Programme of The Year.

Despite the praise, the show would be short lived as in January 2013 off the back of her award, Warbuton was promoted from 3C Radio to Play's lucrative and highly popular breakfast show, The Jay & Jasmine Show. On the programme she would read the showbiz news summary. She chose not to move with Jay & Jasmine to The Hits in 2015, instead choosing to remain on Play. With Dom Dillon set to take over the breakfast slot moving from late nights. Warbuton was moved to his former slot - 11pm to 4am, six nights a week. During this era, she was on air for 30 hours a week. She stood down from the programme in August 2016 after she developed a severe case of insomnia and a deep depression from the late hours.

Following this, despite reports stating she had retiring from media completely, Warbuton immediately defected to EBC 3FM, Play's main rival for the young demographic, where she was promised more accessible working hours. Warbuton began her time on 3FM in November 2016 as a cover presenter on weekends, until April 2017 when, on the internet and satellite station 3FM Pop - she began presenting a mid-morning show from 10:00am to 12:45pm on Monday to Thursday mornings. On Friday mornings she would present on the flagship 3FM station in the same slot. Her show was one of the first shows on 3FM's daytime schedule to come from Belton as opposed to Euro City. November 2017 saw the launch of Olivia Warbuton's Comfort Blanket, on 3FM Relax, a daily two-hour programme that aired at 4pm, along with a weekly highlights edition on 3FM once a week on Sunday nights from 9pm-11pm.

The daily drivetime editions on 3FM Relax ended in July 2021, although it remained on 3FM on Sunday nights and a second weekly edition on Thursday nights was launched in September 2022 when Isabel North's Chill Show was ditched when North moved to Play.

Beginning in September 2021, Warbuton has presented the drivetime show on 3FM on Mondays to Wednesdays from 4pm to 7pm - with a 15 minute break for Newsbeat at 5.45pm. On the programme she is assisted by programme producer Roxy Hamilton and Grace Simmons, Newsbeat presenter. Friday afternoons also see her joined by Eddie Cole for The Official Chart.

Warbuton has also presented programmes for 3FM's sister stations. She is the main cover presenter for the breakfast show on 3FM Relax, and has also presented multiple special series for the channel. She also presents the 1pm to 3pm show on 3FM Pop twice a week, on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Personal life
Warbuton is trained as a. She is engaged to Alex Brassett, an actor who notably stars in TV3 medical drama series Complications, and they have had two children together.

Politics
Warbuton is an active supporter and fundraiser for the Labour Party.

She was suspended from Play in December 2014 after once saying on air of the National Party "they're just can't serve our diverse, multicultural and vibrant country in a competent way when they're sending half of the refugees back to their often war-torn homelands, leaving them without food or shelter just because they aren't white. It's tragic." Jay Cardle said in response that she is a "fat, self-affirming slag".

Charity
Warbuton is a donator, ambassador and spokesperson for the mental health charity Mind, which she joined in 2021 to raise awareness of her past social, emotional and psychological struggles, and how it has affected her life and career since.