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.

Beginning in January 2013, Warbuton began to co-present for Play's breakfast show with Dom Dillon and Andy Collingham, which lasted for until February 2015 when she quit the programme when Warbuton requested Play to have her own show.

She was then moved to the Play Late Show in March 2015, an experience that caused her to develop insomnia, which in turn led to her leaving Play completely alongside 3C in September 2015, to move back to Belton to spend more time with her family and for her mental health.

Warbuton has since stated that her time at Play was intensely unhappy, with Dom Dillon being regularly rude and aggressive to Warbuton off air, and also blamed a toxic work atmosphere (where she was constantly threatened with the axe) and long working hours, leaving home at 3am for Play's breakfast show, then presenting 3C until 6pm.

Following this, despite initally considering retiring from media completely, Warbuton defected to EBC 3FM, Play's main rival for the young demographic, where she was promised first choice on any available cover spots for weekday daytime programmes.

Warbuton made her 3FM debut in February 2016, covering for the Zak Collins mid morning show, and also covered in 2016 for Nick Hutchings on the breakfast show, and Christopher Beckett's drivetime show.

She became a permanent presenter in January 2017 on Friday and Saturday mornings from 10:00am-12:45pm, with an extra 15 minutes on Saturdays taking her show up to 1pm. Her show was one of the first shows on 3FM's daytime schedule to come from Belton as opposed to Euro City.

January 2018 saw the launch of Olivia Warbuton's Comfort Blanket, initally running once a week on Sunday nights from 9pm-11pm, launching a second weekly edition on Thursday nights 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 weekdays from 4pm to 7pm - with a 15 minute break for Newsbeat at 5.45pm. The last hour of the show is often more music-based and her links are recorded at that time, with Warbuton stating she leaves to go home when Newsbeat comes on air.

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."

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.