denise-van-outen tvradio tvheroes Virgin Media
Name: Denise Van Outen – Lads mag favourite, cheeky chap-ess and all-round ‘ cor blimey let’s have a cockney-knees-up-guvnor’ TV presenter. Famous for her double entendres and general sauciness within just 100 yards of any male guest.
Best known for: The Big Breakfast on Channel 4 (1995), with fellow co-host Johnny Vaughan. Outen’s risqué, lads mag charm seemed to play well against equally cheeky chappie Vaughan and the pair took the Big Breakfast’s morning ratings to new highs.
Lowest ebb: Profesionally? Probably the needlessly saucy Something For The Weekend on Channel 4. A late night pub-closing-time show where, one of the game show tasks involved a random girlfriend having to identify her boyfriend’s appendage which was sticking out of a hole in a cardboard screen. Classy! Then there was the short-lived, ladess, flat-sharing sitcom Babes In The Wood on ITV. The phrase “It’s more fun watching paint dry,” had never seemed so apt.
Personal life: Dated environmentally friendly, petrol-guzzling sports car freak and funky, cat-in-the-hat Jamiroquai for five years before a very public split. Eventually, Denise decided she just wasn’t Jay Kay’s Cosmic Girl.
She’s a bit like… Babs Windsor. Oh come on, that cheeky cockney charm? That, ‘Ooh, whoops sir, sorry, my bra just flew off in your face.’ Denise says of Babs: “She’s the greatest blonde of all time and British through and through!”
She stands on her own two feet! Denise paid her own way through acting school – which would eventually lead to a stage role as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago and a one-woman role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, Tell Me On A Sunday. “I worked professionally from a young age to pay my way,” says Denise. “ I worked on TV commercials and did a stint at the RSC."
Memorable catchphrase: No catchphrase, but has been heard to utter: “Ooh, is that an i-pod in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me. Whoops, cheeky!”
Big screen potential: Perfect as a cockney gangster’s moll in any forthcoming Guy Ritchie flick (if he's still allowed to make films after the awful Revolver) or in a spoof Carry On Thieving type revival comedy.
Why is she a hero? Her down-to-earth, cockney ladette charm is impossible to dislike and you just know that if she ever won an Oscar her acceptance speech would include the local cockle and welk stall owners she grew up with in Essex and any second hand car dealers who know her…
