Radio Whilst at university, he presented several shows on the
students' union radio station
Livewire 1350AM, becoming the station manager in 2006, though he said it was a job he did not enjoy. He later said that he "owe[d] that place basically everything" when returning to visit the station in 2025. He also presented several breakfast shows on
Future Radio in Norwich and on
Pulse Rated,
Salhouse before he got his break at BBC Radio 1. He won 'Best Male Presenter' at the Student Radio Awards 2005. James joined
BBC Radio 1 in June 2007 to present the
Early Breakfast Show on Fridays and to provide cover for other presenters, including
Sara Cox and
Vernon Kay. He first presented the show on 1 June 2007, the day after graduating from university. In October, he was appointed as the full-time presenter of the
Early Breakfast Show, which aired from 04:30 to 07:00 before being rescheduled to 04:00 to 06:30. His first full-time show was broadcast on 1 October, and his inaugural Record of the Week was "
Hometown Glory" by
Adele. On 21 September 2009, BBC Radio 1 introduced a new schedule in which James moved to the early afternoon slot from 13:00 to 16:00, replacing
Edith Bowman, who moved to the weekend breakfast slot. From March 2010 to January 2013, James presented
The Official Chart Update on Wednesday afternoons, initially from 15:30 to 16:00 and later from 16:00 to 16:30 after moving to the drivetime slot
Scott Mills succeeded him as presenter at the original 15:30 time. Between 2011 and 2015, James also co-hosted
Not Just Cricket on
5 Live with England cricketers
Graeme Swann and
James Anderson. The show's main focus was cricket, but topics were varied. He also hosted a weekly podcast ''That's What He Said
with former BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat presenter Chris Smith. The podcast ended when James began presenting the Radio 1 Breakfast Show''. On 16 February 2013, James guest presented the
BBC Radio 5 Live comedy sports programme
Fighting Talk, standing in for
Colin Murray. On 15 November 2017, James along with
Felix White,
Jimmy Anderson, renewed producer Mark 'Sharky' Sharman (AKA Sharknado the Movie) and regular input from
Bristolian Matt ‘Mattchin’ Horan began hosting a cricketing podcast
Tailenders. This was initially a weekly podcast covering the
2017–18 Ashes series, but from 23 May 2018 it was renewed to continue on a 'weekly' basis. Features include 'General Cricketing Sadness', 'Mattchin's Quiz' and 'Black Wednesday/Xmas Show/App Launch'. Since 2019, James has also presented the
BBC Radio 4 series
Rewinder, a show where he digs through the BBC archives to find classic material to reflect on current stories of the week. In February 2023, James launched Formula 1 podcast
The Fast And The Curious alongside former Radio 1 Newsbeat presenter Christian Hewgill and BBC Sport broadcaster Betty Glover.
Drivetime On 28 February 2012, it was announced that James and
Scott Mills would swap shows from 2 April, with James taking over the
Drivetime Show from 16:00 to 19:00. Regular features during his tenure included "The 10 Minute Takeover" (Monday to Thursday at 18:00), "Impossible Karaoke", "Rage against the Answer Machine", "Mayor of Where", "Ask The Nation", "Wrong Uns", "What's My Age Again" (prior to
The Official Chart moving to Fridays), celebrity guests on Thursdays and film reviews with critic Ali Plumb. The show also featured improvised games with
Chris Smith, the main afternoon
Newsbeat reader. James occasionally presented the show from outside the studio, including a week broadcasting from the
BFBS radio studio in
Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, and hosting "G In the Park", a mini-music festival from the
BBC in
Glasgow prior to the
T in the Park festival. Following the change to the global release date for new music, from 10 July 2015, his Friday show was replaced between 16:00 and 17:45 by
The Official Chart, followed by
Dance Anthems from 18:00 to 19:00. The drivetime slot was typically divided into two segments, with a fifteen-minute break between 17:45 and 18:00 for the evening
Newsbeat bulletin. tractor 'Robocrop', named by Greg James On 19 June 2017, James chose the name "RoboCrop" from "thousands and thousands" of listeners' suggestions for a tractor on loan to
Dorset Police to tour agricultural shows to raise awareness of rural crime. Dorset Police said the tractor, equipped with a siren, had a top speed of and was "not built for response policing".
Radio 1 Breakfast On 20 August 2018, James took over
Radio 1 Breakfast from
Nick Grimshaw. The pair switched shows, with Grimshaw taking on the Drivetime show between 16:00–19:00. It was announced by the two presenters on Grimshaw's Breakfast Show on 31 May, with Grimshaw joking "It's time for a change, time for a new show and, most importantly, it's going to be time for a new wake-up time... preferably around 11:30am". Both presenters were very excited about the change, with James saying that taking over would be a "big challenge" but he was ready and willing "to give it a go". His first guest on the show was Wallace the Lion from Blackpool Zoo. James presented the BBC Three's coverage of
Glastonbury Festival 2011 and in August 2012, the
Reading and Leeds Festival (both with
Fearne Cotton). He presented coverage of
T in the Park 2012, alongside
Edith Bowman in July. In 2013, James co-presented extensive coverage of
Radio 1's Big Weekend on BBC Three with
Alice Levine. In June 2013, James once again hosted BBC Three's coverage of
Glastonbury, alongside
Gemma Cairney. He again hosted the BBC's coverage of festivals including
Radio 1's Big Weekend,
T in The Park,
Reading, and
Glastonbury in the summer of 2014. In 2012, James co-presented two series of
Unzipped (originally named
Britain Unzipped) on BBC Three with
Russell Kane and later
How to Win Eurovision, a special two-hour show, on 11 May 2013. In December 2012, James and
Gabby Logan presented
50 Greatest London 2012 Olympics Moments on
BBC Three. The show was broadcast on his 27th birthday. On 25 September 2013, James along with Kane starred in their chat show
Staying in with Greg and Russell on BBC Three. Both later appeared on the
Children in Need 2013 appeal night during a Lip Sync Challenge, which James won by performing "
Circle of Life" from
The Lion King. In 2014, James appeared as a contestant in the CBeebies gameshow
Swashbuckle with his niece Pia. In September 2014, James hosted the closing ceremony of
The Invictus Games with
Clare Balding live on
BBC Two. In 2015, he presented the
BBC Three reality game show
I Survived a Zombie Apocalypse. In May 2015, he played a police officer in the
BBC Three comedy murder mystery series
Murder in Successville. Also in 2015, James co-wrote and starred in the Comedy Feeds episode
Dead Air. In March 2016, he hosted a segment of the
Sport Relief telethon with
Alesha Dixon. James has guest presented several episodes of
The One Show. In November 2016, James co-presented the
BBC's
Children in Need appeal for the first time. He also presented the
Children in Need Rocks for Terry concert at the
Royal Albert Hall with
Fearne Cotton. Between 2016 and 2017, Greg presented
BT Sport's cricket coverage of the South Africa tour to Australia. In 2017 and 2018, he co-presented the primetime
BBC One music show
Sounds Like Friday Night with
A.Dot. The show wasn't renewed for a third series. In 2022, James became an executive producer for the
Sky documentary series
The Man Who Bought Cricket, focusing on billionaire and fraudster
Allen Stanford. It was based on a
BBC Sounds podcast presented by James on the same subject, in a series called ''Sport's Strangest Crimes''. In March 2023, Channel 4 announced that James would be the host of its new reality show
Rise and Fall. On 16 June 2023, he appeared as himself in Episode 1 of the
BBC One comedy
Queen of Oz. James is seen and heard on his radio programme questioning the outrageous antics of spoiled spare to the British crown, Princess Georgiana, played by
Catherine Tate.
Kid Normal at the 2022 Chiswick Book Festival Together with newsreader
Chris Smith, James wrote the children's book series
Kid Normal which is a 6-book series about a normal boy in a superhero world. The first one was published by
Bloomsbury and released on 13 July 2017 in the UK and the second one the following March. The first book was the biggest selling children's debut of the year and have sold over 100,000 copies combined. The books have also been released in 19 other languages around the world. ==Charity work==