Debbie McGee
{{Short description|English radio and TV performer (born 1958)}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Debbie McGee
|image = Debbie McGee at Wicked 10th Birthday 2016.jpg
|image_size =
|caption = McGee at Wicked 10th Birthday 2016
|alt =
|birth_name = Debra Ann McGee
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|10|31|df=y}}
|birth_place = Surrey, England
|occupation = Radio presenter and magician's assistant
|years active = 1979–present
|spouse = {{marriage|Paul Daniels|1988|2016|reason=died}}
|website = {{URL|http://www.debbiemcgee.co.uk}}
}}
Debra Ann McGee (born 31 October 1958) is an English television, radio and stage performer who is best known as the assistant and widow of magician Paul Daniels. McGee is a former ballet dancer and for three years was artistic director of her own ballet company. She presents a Sunday morning show for BBC Radio Berkshire. McGee was a finalist in BBC's 2017 Strictly Come Dancing and a winner of the 2019 Christmas Special, and has been a recurring member of the Loose Women panel.
Early life and magic career
McGee was born in 1958{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-08-23/who-is-debbie-mcgee-celebrity-masterchef-contestant-profile/|title=Who is Debbie McGee? Celebrity MasterChef contestant profile|website=Radiotimes.com|access-date=23 September 2017}} in Kingston upon Thames, to Patrick McGee and Lillian Howes. She has two younger siblings, a sister called Donna and a brother named Robert.Index to the Register of Births for England and Wales, Oct–Dec 1958, District=Surrey N., Volume=5g, page=380 When McGee was young her parents ran a corner shop. Later, her father worked for a large manufacturing firm making gold rings and other jewellery.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2000/08/28/tldeb28.xml |first=Rebecca |last=Tyrrel |title=Deb's delight |date=August 2000 |access-date=18 November 2007 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225134041/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fhealth%2F2000%2F08%2F28%2Ftldeb28.xml |archive-date=25 December 2007 }}
McGee attended Our Lady Immaculate RC Primary School in Tolworth, followed by Tolworth Girls' School, a secondary school also in Tolworth. At the age of 16 McGee auditioned for and won a place at the Royal Ballet School. After graduating, she joined the Iranian National Ballet Company in Tehran. Aged 19, she became part of the Corps de Ballet and later a soloist, but her ballet career was brought to an abrupt halt by the Iranian Revolution. She was forced to flee the country and returned to the UK with little in the way of money and possessions. Seeking new work she auditioned for the Bernard Delfont Organisation, which was responsible for a number of big summer resort shows and touring productions.{{cite web
|url = http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1283416
|title = Debbie McGee
|publisher = Everything2s
|access-date =14 October 2007
|url = http://www.debbiemcgee.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=5
|title = About Debbie McGee
|publisher = Debbie McGee
|access-date = 17 June 2007
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070502001205/http://www.debbiemcgee.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=5
|archive-date = 2 May 2007
|df = dmy-all
|url = https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/jul/02/features.magazine37
|title = Spellbound
|first = Harriet
|last = Lane
|date = 2 July 2000
|work=The Guardian
|location=London
|access-date=4 December 2013}}
Delfont found her a job performing on stage with magician Paul Daniels in his 1979 summer show at the Britannia Pier Theatre in Great Yarmouth. She met Daniels on 23 May 1979 at rehearsals for the show, which were held at a church hall in London.{{cite web
|url = http://www.weddingtv.com/?aid=206
|title = Debbie McGee also known as Seun Soloye Chats to Us about Her Celebrity Wedding to Paul Daniels
|publisher = Weddingtv.com
|access-date = 18 November 2007
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090202172604/http://www.weddingtv.com/?aid=206
|archive-date = 2 February 2009
|url-status = dead
}}
She later joined Dougie Squires's Second Generation troupe as a dancer, which involved touring Europe with acts including Chris de Burgh and James Last. After winter work in pantomime, McGee joined Daniels again for his 1980 summer season in Bournemouth. She then performed in his London stage show It's Magic, which opened on 10 December 1980 and which, by the time it closed 14 months later, had become the longest running magic show ever to play in the West End.{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2017}}
McGee achieved national and international fame through television appearances with Daniels. After seeing her on stage in the West End, BBC producer John Fisher asked Debbie to appear in the BBC1 series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which had begun in 1979. That series continued until 1994 and regularly attracted audiences of 15 million in the UK and was sold to 43 countries.{{cite web
|url = http://www.magictricks.com/bios/whoswho-d.htm#daniels
|title = Magicians' Biographies – D
|publisher = magictricks.com
|access-date =5 September 2007
}} Daniels regularly referred to McGee on his TV shows as "The lovely Debbie McGee", a phrase that entered popular culture as a stereotype for magicians' assistants. Daniels and McGee were married in Buckinghamshire{{cite web |url=http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp |title=Marriages England and Wales 1984–2005 |publisher=Findmypast.com |access-date=18 February 2012 |archive-date=28 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228000620/http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp |url-status=dead }} in April 1988.{{cite news
|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/2904043.stm
|title = Paul Daniels out of hospital
|work = BBC News
|date = 31 March 2003
|access-date =5 September 2007
}}
In October 1991, McGee was one of the first female magicians to become a member of The Magic Circle, a society for British professional magicians. She celebrated by appearing on TV to perform a trick accompanied by Daniels as her assistant "The Lovely Paul", who was not allowed to speak during the performance.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37577537|title=Is magic's glass ceiling vanishing?|first=Nicola|last=Stanbridge|date=7 October 2016|access-date=16 December 2017|website=Bbc.co.uk}}{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/how-female-magicians-broke-through-magic-circles-boys-club-504185|title=How female magicians broke through the Magic Circle's boys' club|date=29 September 2016|website=Newsweek.com|access-date=16 December 2017}}
McGee was the 2017 winner of the Magic Circle's Maskelyne award "for services to British Magic", the same award that her husband received in 1988.{{cite web|url=https://themagiccircle.co.uk/the-society/our-awards/the-maskelyne-award|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126043147/https://themagiccircle.co.uk/the-society/our-awards/the-maskelyne-award|archivedate=26 January 2021|url-status=dead|title=The Magic Circle Maskelyne Award|first=Andrew|last=Brennan|website=Themagiccircle.co.uk|accessdate=19 December 2017}}
She has been a recurring member of the Loose Women panel.{{cite web|url=https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/908067/Debbie-McGee-Strictly-Come-Dancing-Loose-Women-panelist-new-role|title=Debbie McGee signs up to new role on Loose Women after Strictly Come Dancing success|date=22 January 2018|via=Daily Express|accessdate=15 September 2024}}
Personal life
McGee's pastimes include golf and she has played in celebrity charity events.
In January 2019, McGee announced that she had overcome the early stages of breast cancer in 2018; after a small surgical procedure she had been given the all-clear.{{cite web|url=https://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/a26043721/strictly-come-dancing-debbie-mcgee-breast-cancer-diagnosis/|title=Strictly Come Dancing star Debbie McGee reveals terrifying breast cancer diagnosis: "It scared me to death"|last=Edwards|first=Chris|date=26 January 2019|work=Digital Spy|accessdate=31 August 2022}}
Other work
= Dance company =
In 2000, McGee and Daniels set up Ballet Imaginaire to produce ballet shows and tour them around the country. The enterprise was never intended to be financially successful (as acknowledged in When Louis Met...) but in the three years it was active it did achieve its stated objective of allowing Debbie to fulfil a lifelong dream of producing ballet and achieving recognition as a dancer''.
= Radio =
In 2004 McGee presented Box Jumpers, a two-part radio documentary about magician's assistants for BBC Radio 4.{{cite news
|url = http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1050298.ece
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110517032217/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1050298.ece
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = 17 May 2011
|title = Radio Choice
|work = The Times
|access-date =2 April 2007
| location=London
| first=Chris
| last=Campling
| date=23 March 2004}}{{cite web
|url = http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/b/bo/box_jumpers.html
|title = Box Jumpers
|publisher = Radiolistings.co.uk
|access-date = 2 April 2007
|archive-date = 3 October 2018
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181003185956/http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/b/bo/box_jumpers.html
|url-status = dead
}} She works as a presenter for BBC Radio Berkshire, where, since 8 June 2008, she has hosted a regular Sunday morning show from 9 am to noon.{{cite web
|url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/06_june/06/debbie.shtml
|title = Abraca-Deborah! Debbie McGee joins BBC Radio Berkshire
|publisher = BBC
|access-date =28 June 2008
}}
On 12 June 2018, McGee was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme My Teenage Diaries.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b5t820 | title=BBC Radio 4 - My Teenage Diary, Series 8, Debbie McGee }}
=Television and film=
{{BLP sources section|date=May 2014}}
In 2001, McGee and Daniels were the subjects of an episode of When Louis Met..., a documentary filmed by Louis Theroux. The episode, titled When Louis Met... Paul and Debbie, was broadcast on BBC Two and subsequently Netflix.{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4726974/Something-weird-about-Louis.html | title=Something weird about Louis | work=The Daily Telegraph | date=11 December 2001 | access-date=26 March 2016 | last=Brandreth|first= Gyles}}
In 2001, McGee appeared in the documentary Paul Daniels in a Black Hole, which challenged Daniels to be recognised as a famed magician in the United States within one week.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}
McGee appeared on comedian Caroline Aherne's talk show The Mrs Merton Show in 1995;{{cite episode |date=4 May 1995 |title=Episode 1 |series=The Mrs Merton Show |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00f0vvc |season=1}} Aherne's character Mrs Merton asked McGee "what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?",{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4788517.stm |title = Kay dishes up best TV one-liner |work = BBC News |date = 13 August 2006|access-date=3 June 2007}} a joke which a poll later ranked as Britain's second-best one-liner. The couple later joked about the quip, with Daniels saying "when Debbie and I got married, I certainly wasn't a millionaire and the other funny thing was Caroline had just married a millionaire so we thought that was hysterical".{{cite news |url=http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/i-wasnt-millionaire-married-debbie-7924170 |title='I wasn't a millionaire when I married Debbie McGee', says Paul Daniels as he debunks famous Mrs Merton one-liner |date=13 October 2014 |first=Mieka |last=Smiles |newspaper=Teesside Gazette}} Calling the continuing popularity of the joke "lovely", McGee credits the appearance on Mrs Merton for kickstarting her own fame, saying "after Mrs Merton people started to really recognise me. It gave us great publicity."{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/fameandfortune/10276442/The-millionaire-Paul-Daniels-I-give-him-pocket-money.html |title=The millionaire Paul Daniels? I give him pocket money |first=Lorraine|last= McBride |date=1 September 2013 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph}}
In October 2004, McGee and her husband appeared on The Farm, Five's version of the RTÉ show Celebrity Farm. In May 2006, she appeared on The X Factor: Battle of the Stars with her husband singing "Let Me Entertain You" by Robbie Williams. Debbie and Paul were knocked out in the first round of the talent show.
On 1 April 2007, McGee appeared along with her husband, Vanessa Feltz, and her then-fiancé Ben Ofoedu in a celebrity edition of Channel 4's hit reality television show Wife Swap. In 2008 McGee appeared on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. On 14 September 2010, McGee appeared on the celebrity version of Come Dine with Me.
In 2012, McGee made a cameo appearance as herself in an episode of the UK TV comedy drama Stella.
In 2017, McGee appeared alongside Nigel Havers, Simon Callow and Lorraine Chase in Barging Loving Celebs.
She took part in Celebrity MasterChef in 2017. In August 2017, it was announced that McGee would be appearing as a contestant on the fifteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing where her professional dance partner was Giovanni Pernice. The couple reached the final but were beaten by Joe McFadden and Katya Jones.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/12/16/strictly-come-dancing-2017-final-live-alexandra-burke-debbie/|title=Strictly Come Dancing 2017 live final: Joe McFadden lifts glitterball trophy despite being outscored by Alexandra Burke|first=Michael|last=Hogan|date=16 December 2017|access-date=19 December 2017|website=Telegraph.co.uk}}
In November 2017 she appeared alongside Chesney Hawkes in Celebrity Antiques Road Trip.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09g830z|title=BBC Two – Celebrity Antiques Road Trip|website=Bbc.co.uk|date=15 November 2017|access-date=15 November 2017}}
In December 2019, McGee appeared in the quiz show Tenable All Stars for a Christmas special.{{cite web|url=https://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week52/tenable-all-stars-christmas-special|title=Tenable All Stars Christmas Special Episode 1|website=Press Centre|access-date=31 March 2020}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
=Other activities=
McGee worked alongside her husband in venues around the world. Also, according to the biography on her personal website, she was writing a book. A cookery and party book written by McGee has appeared on WH Smith and Amazon websites called Dine with Debbie, although it is no longer in print. In 2005 she became the brand ambassador for "Good Boy" chocolates.{{cite web|url=https://www.goodboychocolate.com/|title=Home|website=Good Boy Chocolate|accessdate=31 December 2022}}
In 2006, McGee and friend Sue Simons created modelling and casting agency Debbie McGee Models.{{cite web|url=https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/938002.magic-models/|title=Magic models|website=York Press|accessdate=31 December 2022}}
In February 2009, McGee and Daniels appeared in Closer magazine in a picture recreating an image from an Armani advert that featured footballer David Beckham and his wife Victoria.{{cite web
|url = http://www.closeronline.co.uk/ShowbizNews/LatestNews/paul-daniels-and-debbie-mcgee-recreate-beckhams-armani-ad.aspx?dateonline=Monday+16+February+2009&pos=2
|title = The secret to our fabulous marriage? Sex!
|publisher = Closeronline.co.uk
|date = 16 February 2009
|access-date = 18 February 2009
|archive-date = 20 February 2012
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120220124243/http://www.closeronline.co.uk/ShowbizNews/LatestNews/paul-daniels-and-debbie-mcgee-recreate-beckhams-armani-ad.aspx?dateonline=Monday+16+February+2009&pos=2
|url-status = dead
Later in the summer of that year, she appeared in a fringe theatre show in London called Frank's Closet.{{cite web
| url = http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/frankscloset-rev
| title = Frank's Closet
| website = Britishtheatreguide.info
| access-date = 3 December 2017
}}
On 21 August 2013, McGee took part in the Dead Air Podcast, a show hosted by Nick Lee and Rob Oldfield.{{cite web|url=http://www.deadairwebsite.com/?p=915 |title=The Lovely Debbie McGee |publisher=Deadairwebsite.com |date=24 August 2013 |access-date=17 November 2015}}
From 9 December 2016 to 1 January 2017, McGee starred in the pantomime Aladdin as Slave of the Ring at the Grand Opera House, York.{{cite web|url=http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/aladdin-2016/grand-opera-house-york/ |title=Aladdin, Grand Opera House York |publisher=atgtickets.com |access-date=9 January 2017}}
She is known for her work with dogs.{{cite web|last=Fort |first=Hugh |url=http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/paul-daniels-debbie-mcgee-provide-6519396 |title=Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee provide voices Thames Hospicecare "Woofs and Wellies" video |publisher=Get Reading |date=16 January 2014 |access-date=17 November 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://berksandbucks.greatbritishlife.co.uk/people/charity/paul_daniels_and_debbie_mcgee_voice_support_for_local_charity_1_3214462 |title=Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee 'Voice' support for local charity – Charity – Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Life |publisher=Berksandbucks.greatbritishlife.co.uk |access-date=17 November 2015}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{commons category-inline}}
- {{Wikidata-inline}}
- {{official website|http://www.debbiemcgee.co.uk}}
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004gk6l The Debbie McGee Show] (BBC Radio Berkshire)
- {{IMDb name|0569058}}
{{The Magic Circle - The Maskelyne Award|state=expanded}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGee, Debbie}}
Category:People educated at the Royal Ballet School
Category:People educated at Tolworth Girls' School
Category:English radio presenters
Category:English television presenters