Early work Huq trained part-time at the
National Youth Music Theatre. The following year, she appeared alongside
Jude Law in
Captain Stirrick, a National Youth Music Theatre production. Before the
1992 general election, Huq interviewed Labour leader
Neil Kinnock for the children's programme
Newsround, and appeared as a contestant on
Blockbusters in the same year. She appeared as an uncredited extra playing a schoolgirl in the
BBC1 sitcom
2point4 Children in the Series 2 episode "I'm Going Slightly Mad". Her presenting debut, at the age of 16, was on the satellite television show, TVFM. She was assisted by
Mark Speight before Simon Parkin took over. In 1997, several months before joining
Blue Peter, Huq presented
Channel Five's early morning children's programme
Milkshake! Blue Peter Huq presented the BBC children's television programme
Blue Peter, starting on 1 December 1997. Early in her term as a presenter, she visited the village in Bangladesh where earlier generations of her family lived. For the programme's 2004
Welcome Home appeal, she visited
Angola, hoping to reunite children and their families who had been separated due to war. In 2008, during her last programme, she broke a
Guinness World Record by pinning 17
Blue Peter Badges onto fellow presenter
Andy Akinwolere's shirt in a minute. In March 2007, she apologised on air on behalf of the programme to viewers, after the result of a competition to identify the celebrity owner of a pair of shoes was faked. On 31 May 2007, Huq announced she would be leaving
Blue Peter. On 22 January 2008, she hosted her final
Blue Peter, with a
clip show of her highlights through the ten years she had been on the programme. She is the third longest-serving
Blue Peter presenter and its longest-serving female host, having passed
Valerie Singleton's record on 1 October 2007. She holds the record for working with the most co-presenters while on the show, with a total of 10. These are
Stuart Miles,
Katy Hill,
Romana D'Annunzio,
Richard Bacon,
Simon Thomas,
Matt Baker,
Liz Barker,
Zoe Salmon,
Gethin Jones and
Andy Akinwolere.
Other work Presenting and panel shows Between 2002 and 2004, Huq co-presented the
CBBC Channel's
UK Top 40 chart show and in early 2003 she was briefly a presenter for
Top of the Pops. She presented
GMTV's
LK today coverage of
New York Fashion Week on the week of 10 September 2007. In December 2007, Huq appeared on a celebrity version of
Ready Steady Cook with
Blue Peter co-presenter
Andy Akinwolere. She began presenting the
ITV1 London show
London Talking, a political debate show, alongside
Vanessa Feltz and
Nick Ferrari in 2007, Huq was the main presenter for the third series, in 2008, of
Channel Five show
Zoo Days, a documentary series about the animals and staff at
Chester and
Colchester Zoos. Huq presented The
Red Bull Air Race with
Dougie Anderson for Channel 4 in 2008. Huq appeared with her future husband
Charlie Brooker in his satirical review programme
Screenwipe in December 2008 on
BBC Four. She hosted a mock version of a "mission documentary" entitled ''Konnie's Great British
Wee. She was a guest on political show This Week'' on 18 December 2008, appearing with
M.P. Charles Kennedy. She presented
Guinness World Records Smashed with
Steve Jones on Sundays on Sky1 in 2009. On 15 May 2009, Huq began to present entertainment show
Hannah-Oke on
The Disney Channel with
Duncan James. The show was a "
Hannah Montana themed
karaoke-style game show". Huq presented the
seventh series of
The Xtra Factor on
ITV2, replacing
Holly Willoughby who was unable to fulfil the role due to her ongoing commitments at
This Morning. In February 2011, Huq appeared in an episode of the
ITV2 documentary programme
Under Pressure, where she attempted to learn how to be a
rapper. Trailers for the show asked "Will Konnie Huq it up?" She was coached by
Akala and performed at
indigO2. In May 2022 the BBC announced that Huq would be one of the guest presenters to take over
Richard Osman's role on
Pointless.
Radio On 15 September 2006, Huq became one of the presenters of
The Tube with
Tony Wilson,
Alex James and Emily Rose on
Channel 4 Radio working with production company UKoneFM. The first edition was broadcast on 3 November 2006. Huq made her debut as a news presenter on the
BBC Asian Network in September 2007, in a series of documentaries on a radio current affairs programme called the
Asian Network Report. In 2013, she took part in the
Radio 4 biographical series
Great Lives, where participants select someone who has inspired them, and chose the 19th century English mathematician
Ada Lovelace.
Cameo appearances She appeared as herself in
The Kumars at No 42 in 2001. She played a villainous servant (also called Konnie) in the last episode of the second series of
Robin Hood. In 2013, Huq played a presenter of the fictional telethon "Help a Blameless Child" in television comedy series
A Touch of Cloth. a story described as "a superhero themed journey into the imagination of two young infants as they experience love at first sight." In March 2014,
Ahmed and Mildred was selected as one of the projects to receive funding from
Film London to enable production to take place. She co-wrote the second episode of the
Channel 4 anthology series
Black Mirror, "
Fifteen Million Merits", which is a satire of entertainment shows, with her husband Charlie Brooker. An
installation featuring extracts from the episode was installed at the
Barbican Centre as part of the science-fiction themed exhibition "Into the Unknown" in 2017. On 14 October 2014, Huq was one of the speakers celebrating
Ada Lovelace Day at the
Royal Institution. On 29 June 2016, Huq hosted
VOOM 2016, a
pitch competition, for Virgin Media Business.
Children's books Her book for children
Cookie and the Most Annoying Boy in the World was published in 2019 and is the first of a projected three-book series. The character of Cookie has been described by Huq as "a cross between Wimpy Kid and Bridget Jones." A third book in the series was published in February 2022. ==Philanthropy==