Nikki Bedi

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Nikki Bedi is a Television and Radio Presenter, born Nikki Moolgaoker in Aylesbury to an Indian father of Maharashtrian origin and an English mother. Famously married to Kabir Bedi from 1992 to 2005, retaining her married name after an amicable divorce, her first marriage was to food stylist Sunil Vijayakar.^[1]

She is proud of both her Indian and English roots and she has referred to herself as Indo-Anglian^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Career

Both a stage and television actress, she began her career in Mumbai working with some of India’s finest directors; spotted by the UK’s Channel 4, Nikki hosted Bombay Chat, an on-location celebrity talk show. Star TV gave her a primetime slot for Nikki Tonight which quickly proved to be Asia’s most widely viewed and controversial talk show, although it was subsequently cancelled by Star TV after a guest, gay rights activist Ashok Row Kavi, made a derogatory remark about Mahatma Gandhi.

Bedi then moved to live and work for a time in Los Angeles, before returning to the UK in 2000 to be the face of Universal’s film channel The Studio for over two years and had her own live film show called 'Worldwide Screen' on NOW.^[2]

In 2003, while continuing her television work, Nikki pursued a career in radio, appearing on LBC and BBC Radio 4. On the BBC Asian Network, she became a regular stand-in presenter, most notably for the Sonia Deol show and in 2004 became the presenter of a new weekend morning programme called Hot Breakfast before taking over as presenter of the weekday afternoon show, Drive in 2005.

In May 2006 as part of wide-ranging schedule changes put in place, she was given her own show called Nikki Bedi on the BBC Asian Network and continues to present this programme. The show, which airs from 12:30 to 15:00 every weekday, features reports on music, films and the arts, and includes interviews with prominent figures in the British and international arts world. During 2007, she regularly covered for a number of key presenters on BBC Radio 2. Bedi also continues her television work as a presenter on BBC2's Desi DNA.