Liz Bonnin

Elizabeth Bonnin (born 16 September 1975) is a French-born Irish science, wildlife and natural history presenter, who has worked on television in both Ireland and the United Kingdom.[2][3] She is also a biochemist and wild animal biologist.[4] She presented morning show RI:SE and music show Top of the Pops in the early 2000s.

Liz Bonnin
Bonnin in June 2018
Born	Elizabeth Bonnin (1975-09-16) 16 September 1975[1] Paris, France
Nationality	Irish, formerly French
Education	Trinity College, Dublin (BA) Royal Veterinary College (MSc)
Occupation	Television presenter
Years active	2002–present
Musical career
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	Pop
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Polydor
Website	www.lizbonnin.com

She is best known for presenting wildlife and science programmes including Galapagos, How the Earth Works, Animals in Love, Stargazing Live, Blue Planet Live, Cats v Dogs: Which is Best? and Should We Close Our Zoos?.[4]

She co-presented the BBC factual series Bang Goes the Theory from 2009 until 2014 and since 2013, has co-presented Countrywise for ITV.

In 2019, she presented "Meat: A Threat to our Planet?"

Early life and education

Bonnin was born in Paris to a Trinidadian mother, of Indian and Portuguese descent, and a French-Martiniquan father, who was a dentist.[3][5] Her family moved to Ireland when she was nine years old.[2][3]

Bonnin has a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Trinity College, Dublin,[2][6] She also holds a master's degree in wild animal biology and conservation from the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Veterinary College (2008), for which she tracked tigers in Nepal.[7][8] She continues to work on big cat conservation programmes at the Zoological Society.

Career

Bonnin began her career by joining an Irish girl pop group named Chill, who signed to Polydor but broke up before recording.[9] The band had performed on Dustin the Turkey's third album Faith of Our Feathers, duetting on "We Are Family".[10] She was offered a job hosting the IRMA Awards which led to presenting roles on RTÉ Television in Ireland, on The Den, Telly Bingo, Millennium Eve: Celebrate 2000 and for two years, Off the Rails with Fiona McShane.[2] At the time she was in a relationship with the publisher John Ryan.[11][12] In 2002, she moved to London to present on a number of TV channels.[13]

In 2002, she became one of the presenters of the Channel 4 morning show RI:SE, specialising in reporting on entertainment-related stories.[14] In the same year she became a regular presenter on Top of the Pops in the UK.[15]

In 2004, Bonnin was locked in a giant kennel along with MPs Paul Burstow, Evan Harris and Ivan Henderson and actress Liza Goddard, BBC Newsround presenter Lizzie Greenwood and DJ Becky Jago in a stunt to launch the annual RSPCA Week to raise awareness and funds.[16]

Since 2005, Bonnin has been involved in science broadcasting. She presented the show Gadgets, Gadgets, Gadgets in 2005[17] and co-presented the BBC science series Bang Goes the Theory on BBC One from 2009 until 2014.[18] In 2008, Bonnin presented a documentary series Science Friction on RTÉ One which looked at taboos in discussions of scientific topics (such as paedophilia and nuclear power) in Ireland.[2][19] She also contributed to BBC Two's series on the work of the London Natural History Museum, Museum of Life.[20]

In October 2010, she joined the cast of Autumnwatch and in January 2011, she presented segments of BBC Two's Stargazing Live from various areas of Hawaii including atop Mauna Kea.[21] In May 2011, she co-presented BBC One's Egypt's Lost Cities.[22]

Personal life

Bonnin grew up with her older sister Benni, while she said that "I was extremely close to my granny, who passed away in 2003." She has moved back to London.

Bonnin is a role model for EDF Energy's Pretty Curious programme, which is aimed at encouraging teenage girls to study science-based subjects at school.[23] She has said in a 2016 interview, "FHM offered me a spread but I said no."[1]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Roles	Channel
1999–2000	Millennium Eve: Celebrate 2000	Co-presenter	RTÉ One
2000–?	Off the Rails	Co-presenter
2002–?	RI:SE	Co-presenter	Channel 4
2002–2003	Top of the Pops	Co-presenter	BBC One
2003	Never Mind the Buzzcocks	Guest	BBC Two [24]
2004–2005	Wild Trials	Presenter	RTÉ
2005–?	Gadgets, Gadgets, Gadgets	Co-presenter
2008	Science Friction	Presenter	RTÉ One
2009–2014	Bang Goes the Theory	Co-presenter	BBC One
2009–2010	Country Tracks	Co-presenter	BBC Two
2010	Museum of Life	Co-presenter
2010–2011	Autumnwatch	Guest presenter
2011—	Stargazing Live	Co-presenter	BBC One/BBC Two
2011	Egypt's Lost Cities	Presenter	BBC One
	Springwatch	Guest presenter	BBC Two
2012	Super Smart Animals	Presenter	BBC One
	Horizon: The Transit of Venus	Presenter	BBC Two
2013	Tomorrow's World: A Horizon Special	Presenter
	Operation Snow Tiger	Presenter
2013—	Countrywise	Co-presenter	ITV
2013	Animal Odd Couples	Presenter	BBC One
	How the Earth Works	Co-presenter	Discovery Channel
2014	Cat Watch 2014: The New Horizon Experiment	Presenter	BBC Two
	Animals Through The Night: Sleepover At The Zoo	Co-presenter	BBC Four
2015	Big Blue Live	Co-presenter	BBC One
	Animals in Love	Presenter
	India: Nature's Wonderland	Co-presenter	BBC Two
2016	Cats v Dogs: Which is Best?	Co-presenter
	Horizon – Should We Close Our Zoos?
	Nature's Epic Journeys	Presenter	BBC One
2017	Galapagos	Presenter
	Wild Alaska Live	Co-presenter
2018	Drowning In Plastic	Presenter
2019	Blue Planet Live	Co-presenter
	Would I Lie to You?	Guest
	Snow Animals	Presenter
	Meat: A Threat to our Planet?	Presenter

References

1. John Meagher (15 May 2016). "Former RTE star Liz Bonnin on choosing science over celebrity: 'FHM offered me a spread but I said no'". Independent.ie. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
2. Jarlath Regan (15 November 2014). "Liz Bonin". An Irishman Abroad (Podcast). No. 61. SoundCloud. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
3. "About Liz". Liz Bonnin. Archived from the original on 11 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
4. "Liz Bonnin - The Gordon Poole Agency Ltd". The Gordon Poole Agency Ltd. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
5. "Why Liz Bonnin dream's of living in provence". Coventry Telegraph. 1 July 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
6. "Meet Liz Bonnin". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
7. Jeremy Torrance. "Nature UK: Autumnwatch: Ask Liz Bonnin a question". BBC. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
8. O'Connor, Stuart (16 April 2010). "Liz Bonnin: 'I'm still a nerd, just a different type of a nerd'". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
9. "Can Liz Bonnin RI:SE to the Occasion?". ShowBiz Ireland. 14 June 2002.
10. "Dustin-Faith of our Feathers track list". Last.fm. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
11. "Olaf bares all". The Irish Times. 25 November 2000. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
12. Jackson, Joe (14 September 2000). "John Ryan Interview". Hot Press Magazine. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
13. "Liz Bonnin and Gordon D'Arcy". RTÉ. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
14. "Liz Bonnin". TV.com. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
15. "Top of the Pops 2 – Trivia". BBC. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
16. "MPs in the doghouse for charity". BBC. 26 April 2004.
17. Gadgets, Gadgets, Gadgets on IMDb
18. "Talking Shop:Liz Bonnin". BBC. 3 June 2009.
19. "SCIENCE FRICTION ***New Series***". RTÉ Press Centre. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
20. "Museum of Life" (Press release). BBC. 11 November 2009.
21. "Stargazing Live: TV Gold". Spew.co.uk. 6 January 2011.
22. "Egypt's Lost Cities". 31 May 2011.
23. Huffington Post UK
24. ""Never Mind the Buzzcocks" Episode #12.10 (TV Episode 2003)". IMdb.

External links

• Official website
• Liz Bonnin on IMDb