Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English television presenter and author. After beginning her career as a continuity announcer and a newsreader, she went on to co-present Breakfast Time in the 1980s and hosted the cookery game show Ready Steady Cook between 1994 and 2000 on BBC One. Britton presented the ITV daytime programme This Morning from 1999 to 2009. She also co-presented the British Soap Awards between 2006 and 2008 and All Star Mr & Mrs between 2008 and 2010.
Following her departure from This Morning, she went on to present Fern Britton Meets... for the BBC between 2009 and 2017 and Fern for Channel 4 in 2011. She also presented The Big Allotment Challenge for the BBC between 2014 and 2015 and fronted a revival of Watercolour Challenge for Channel 5 in 2022. Britton is also an author, having published a number of bestselling novels and books varying from short stories to non-fiction, several of which have featured in The Sunday Times bestseller list. She also appeared as a contestant on the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, and was a housemate on the twenty-third series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2024.
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Early life
Fern Britton was born on 17 July 1957 in Ealing, West London, to actor Tony Britton and his first wife, Ruth (née Hawkins). She has an older sister and a younger half-brother Jasper, an actor, from her father's second marriage. She attended Dr Challoner's High School in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire, and the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she trained in stage management.
Career
After working with The Cambridge Theatre Company, Britton subsequently began her broadcasting career in March 1980 in Plymouth working for Westward Television, the then-incumbent ITV regional company, as a continuity announcer and newsreader on the weeknightly local bulletin Westward Diary. After Westward lost its franchise at the end of 1981, Britton moved to the local BBC headquarters as a presenter with Spotlight in the South West, before moving to BBC 1's Breakfast Time, where she became the BBC's youngest-ever national news presenter. She was also a stand-in co-presenter on News After Noon during this period.
Britton then worked for TVS in Southampton, co-hosting the South edition of the news programme Coast to Coast with Fred Dinenage, as well as Coast to Coast People, The Television Show, Magic Moments and, as presenter with Stefan Buczacki, of That's Gardening. She stayed until TVS's franchise ended in December 1992. In 1988, Britton took part in Cinderella, a pantomime in which she played the role of Dandini at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. She was presenting Coast to Coast from the city at the time and her preparation for the part was filmed for the programme.
In January 1993, she joined London News Network's London Tonight, before moving in April 1993 to GMTV to present the post-9:00 am slot, Top of the Morning. Britton moved back to Carlton Television to present After Five in 1994. She also appeared in the first two series of The Brian Conley Show. From 1994, Britton presented the television cookery gameshow Ready Steady Cook, which she continued until 2000, however she returned to the show in an episode of the primetime celebrity edition as a celebrity contestant in 2001. Britton had guest presented This Morning since 1993, but from September 1999 she became a full-time host presenting the Friday edition with John Leslie. In 2002, she became the main host of the series along with John Leslie and, later, with Phillip Schofield.
In 2002, Britton was the subject of This Is Your Life when she was surprised by Michael Aspel at Wickham Hospital in Buckinghamshire. In 2006, Britton co-presented the reality television show Soapstar Superstar. On 31 May 2007, she hosted the Classical Brit Awards at the Royal Albert Hall and she also co-hosted The British Soap Awards from 2006 until 2008 with Phillip Schofield. Britton has appeared twice as a panellist on the BBC show, Have I Got News for You, and guest presented on 27 April 2007 and on 17 October 2008.
Writing
In March 1998, Britton released her first book, Fern's Family Favourites, published by André Deutsch and written with the cook and home economist Susie Magasiner. In November 2008, Fern, My Story was published by Michael Joseph. It went straight into The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller list where it remained for 12 weeks. Britton has written eleven novels New Beginnings (2011), Hidden Treasures (2012), The Holiday Home (2013), A Seaside Affair (2014), A Good Catch (2015), The Postcard (2016), Coming Home (2018), The Newcomer (2019), Daughters of Cornwall (2020), The Good Servant (2022) and A Cornish Legacy (2025), several of which have been in The Sunday Times bestseller list. Whilst her short stories include The Stolen Weekend and A Cornish Carol (2014), The Beach Cabin (2015), A Cornish Gift (2017) and The Great Cornish Getaway (2018). In 2016, she signed a three-book deal with the publishers HarperCollins.
Personal life
Britton's first marriage was to television executive Clive Jones. The couple met while Jones was still married and began an affair. Britton broke off their affair after a year but Jones turned up on her doorstep two days later, after leaving his wife for her. They married on 12 November 1988 in Southsea and have three children together: twin sons and a daughter. Britton and Jones separated in January 1998. A year later, Britton began dating celebrity chef Phil Vickery after they met on the set of BBC Two's Ready Steady Cook. After her divorce from Jones was finalised, they married in spring 2000. They have one daughter together, born 2001. In January 2020, Britton and Vickery announced their separation after twenty years of marriage. Britton subsequently relocated to Cornwall. Between 2021 and 2023, Britton was stalked by a man who sent her flowers and stayed in her holiday cottage. He was given a ten-year restraining order and was banned from entering Cornwall, as well as having to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.