Melanie Sykes has her 40th birthday on the 7th of August and to celebrate we thought we would take a look back at her career as a model and TV presenter from when she first became noticed in a bikini for the Boddington Beer adverts.
There were numerous adverts filmed all featuring a lovely looking Mel and her strong northern accent and although I was never persuaded to start drinking the beer the ads will always be remembered with deep fondness.
I think the best ad for me came out in 1997 and featured the runner chasing down an ice cream van over desert terrain to finally catch it and be served by the lovely Mel.
"Dya wanna flake in that lurve".
Mel has gone on to star in other commercials for companies such as Matalan, Head & Shoulders, Brighthouse, Morrisons supermarkets and Churchill Insurance Services featuring a very happy dog sharing a coffee with Mel in Paris. In her early modelling career she also worked numerous catwalk shows and helped advertise Falmer Jeans and a poster campaign for Haagen Daaz.
With her raised profile Mel signed a two year deal with Channel 4 for The Big Breakfast and while working here hosting the show throughout the summer of 1998 and reporting from the Oscars in LA etc. Mel also hosted the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party live on BBC 1 in December 98.
Mel carried on working with The Big Breakfast throughout 1999 along with presenting The Dream Ticket for ITV and also co-hosting Miss World which went out live across the UK and the world in December. The next few years saw Mel working on many different projects but it was 2002 before she hit the screens in a big way again.
Today with Des and Mel came to our screens in Sepember 2002 and had a fantastically successful run for three years with mel co-hosting with Des O' Connor and winning millions of fans with their great chemistry and witty chat.
Mel has carried on working hard throughout along with having two children and has enjoyed stints on a number of radio stations along with commercial work, co-writing a book and filling in for Paul O'Grady on the Paul O'Grady Show along with work for GMTV and the BBC.
As a fan of many years I wish mel a fantastic 40th birthday and hope that she blesses our TV screens for many more yeras to come.
