Angela Scanlon

Angela Scanlon
Personal Information
Born	29 December 1983
Years Active	2012 - Present
Robot Wars Information
Role	Presenter
UK Series	8-10
Predecessor	Craig Charles Jayne Middlemiss

Angela Scanlon (born 29 December 1983) is an Irish stylist, journalist, and television presenter. She was announced as one of the co-presenters of Series 8 on 3 February 2016, alongside fellow Irish presenter Dara Ó Briain, and reprised her role in Series 9 and 10.

Scanlon wore blue overalls, provided by Topshop, during Series 8.

Robot Wars

Angela Scanlon is given the controls of competing machine Chompalot in The Pits

Angela started out as a relative unknown to many Robot Wars fans, with this role considered by some as her "big break" into a wider television audience. She spoke of her excitement online:

"So excited to be joining the mighty @daraobriain on the brand new series of ROBOT WARS!!!!"

— Angela's Twitter Account

Angela Scanlon with Team Carbide

Her role in the Revival Series was more significant and far-reaching than those of previous female co-presenters, being equal to those of fellow co-host Dara Ó Briain. While reporting on and interviewing teams and Judges in The Pits - as with Philippa Forrester, Julia Reed and Jayne Middlemiss - Scanlon also featured prominently in introductions, outros, voiceover work, and in conducting pre- and post-battle arena interviews alongside Ó Briain. Throughout Series 10, she and Ó Briain would be seen watching battles from a vacant control room, with Scanlon expressing particularly animated and excitable reactions to the action within the main combat arena. In Heat D, Scanlon assisted roboteers with repairs to competitor Androne 4000, prior to its Semi-Final fight against Nuts 2.

Angela Scanlon in a promotional shot with Sir Killalot

Angela Scanlon's Behemoth flips TR2

In Episode 1 of Battle of the Stars, Scanlon took to the controls of Behemoth to battle Dara, who was controlling TR2. Scanlon repeatedly missed with her flips, overturning Behemoth in the process, allowing TR2 to throw it around. Behemoth's only flip came when Dara Ó Briain willingly allowed Angela to flip TR2, and three minutes passed, with no official winner being declared. Unaired on television, the two robots continued to battle after 'Cease', but Scanlon eventually drove Behemoth into the Pit.

"Behemoth let me down, Dara Ó Briain was merciless!"

— Angela Scanlon

In Series 9, Scanlon conducted interviews with the Judges in segments previously exclusive to Dara Ó Briain:

Angela Scanlon in an official shot

• Heat A: Alongside Dara Ó Briain, Scanlon played and lost a game of Connect 4 against a robotic arm, while Professor Sethu Vijayakumar explained the concept of 'shared autonomy'.
• Heat C: Scanlon talked to Professor Noel Sharkey about the use of robotics in farming.
• Heat D: Angela Scanlon talked to Dr Lucy Rogers about the available choices of armour for combat robots. This gave Scanlon the opportunity to strike an HDPE panel with a hammer, and cut into it with a grinder, before attempting to use the grinder on a HARDOX panel.

In Series 10, Scanlon once again interviewed the Judges to discuss topics relating to robotics and Robot Wars itself:

• Heat A: Scanlon talked to Vijayakumar about the British robotics industry and a rocket suit developed by engineer Richard Browning. This was followed by a short segment featuring Browning and demonstrations of his Daedalus Mk. 1 jet suit. She also claimed that it would be a "good outfit for a new Refbot."
• Heat C: Scanlon interviewed Dr Lucy Rogers, who explained the role of the House Robots as well as offering her views on the newly-introduced Fog of War arena hazard.

Outside Robot Wars

Angela Scanlon's earliest roles as television presenter include stints as a reporter for TV3's Xposé and RTÉ One's Off the Rails; alongside the 2012-2013 revival of RTÉ Two's The Movie Show. Her first major documentary, Oi Ginger!, was broadcast by RTÉ Two in 2013, which was followed by the four-part documentary series Full Frontal in 2014.

In 2015 and 2016, Scanlon worked as one of the co-presenters for the RTÉ/BBC travel series Getaways, hosting the programme alongside Joe Lindsay. 2015 also saw her take up her most notable role prior to Robot Wars, as the 'digital presenter' for Series 4 of The Voice UK. Scanlon would be responsible for presenting backstage interviews and insights for the series which were released online, primarily through the BBC iPlayer-exclusive spin-off The Voice Unheard. Alongside these roles, she presented the series Angela Scanlon's Close Encounters! for BBC Three, and was part of the presenting team for the channel's live broadcast of T in the Park 2015.

In between the filming and airing of Series 8, Scanlon also began her first forays as a radio presenter. Upon the launch of Virgin Radio UK on 30 March 2016, she teamed up with comedian Russell Kane to co-host their 10am Saturday morning shows. This lead to various presenting stints for BBC Radio 2, including a self-titled Sunday morning breakfast show running between 20 May 2018 and 25 April 2021. Scanlon has also written for various well-known women's magazines, such as Grazia and U Magazine.

In early 2017, Angela Scanlon began hosting BBC's The One Show while its regular co-host Alex Jones went on maternity leave. She hosted the show alongside Matt Baker to positive reception. Scanlon was also one of seven celebrities who championed one object for Britain's Greatest Invention on BBC Two in June 2017, with the mobile phone being her choice.

In November 2017, Angela revealed she was six months pregnant with her first child, and gave birth to Ruby Ellen Horgan on 25 February 2018. Scanlon's second daughter, Marnie Fae Horgan, was born on 11 February 2022.

Angela Scanlon was a guest panellist in Series 13, Episode 1 of Would I Lie to You?, first broadcast on BBC One on 18 October 2019. Alongside comedian and actor Chris McCausland, Scanlon was part of the team captained by Lee Mack, recalling the moment where, while reporting on a BAFTA ceremony for BBC Three, she unknowingly met and talked with film director Steven Spielberg.

Since 2021, Scanlon has fronted her own talk show for RTÉ One, titled Angela Scanlon's Ask Me Anything. Premiering on 23 October 2021, the ongoing series involves her interviewing celebrity guests as they are asked about and light-heartedly discuss 'absolutely anything'.

In September 2022, she made a guest appearance during the seventeenth series of A League of Their Own, where she was paired with Richard Ayoade and Jamie Redknapp and discussed her background in Irish dancing.

On 4 August 2023, an official BBC press release announced Angela Scanlon as the sixth contestant for the twenty-first series of Strictly Come Dancing. The statement included a brief mention of her stint as co-presenter of Series 8-10, along with her past work hosting BBC documentaries and Ask Me Anything. Scanlon was paired up with professional dancer Carlos Gu in the pre-series launch show; together, the pair stayed on in the competition until the end of Week 10.

In 2024, she became the face of television advertisements for the security company Verisure and replaced Graham Norton as the weekend host of Virgin Radio UK's breakfast show. In November 2024, Angela Scanlon starred as a guest on the Channel 4 gameshow Countdown. During the episode broadcasted on the 13 November that year, she recalled the incident involving Behemoth team captain Anthony Pritchard in which he walked out of the booth after a loss against Cherub. She mistakenly recalls the latter robot being called Glitterbot (most likely trying to remember Glitterbomb).

External Links

• Official website
• Angela Scanlon on Wikipedia
• Angela's Twitter
• Radio 5 Live interview with Angela Scanlon about Robot Wars