Television Ball began her television career as a presenter on the pre-school programme
Playdays. From 1993–1995 she was also a presenter on Children's BBC. Ball became a runner at
Granada Television and researcher for
Cool Cube (1990–1994), a children's Saturday afternoon magazine show, produced at Granada's studio in Manchester, by Clear Idea Television, and broadcast on the
British Satellite Broadcasting channel
Galaxy. From 1994–1996, Ball presented
SMart with
Mark Speight and
Jay Burridge. In 1995, Ball hosted
Fully Booked for the first series. In 1997 and 1998, she was a regular presenter on
Top of the Pops, In 1998, television personality
Chris Evans was a guest of the show, Ball’s presenting jobs have also included hosting
The Big Breakfast on
Channel 4, Ball co-hosted the 2002
Brit Awards with
Frank Skinner, In 2005, she co-hosted the
BBC reality show
Strictly Dance Fever. In 2006, Ball co-hosted the
ITV programme
Extinct, alongside
Trevor McDonald. In January 2007, Ball presented the second series of ITV's
Soapstar Superstar, taking over from
Fern Britton and
Ben Shephard, who hosted the first series. In March 2007, she hosted the
ITV talent search
Grease Is the Word. Alongside
Jamie Theakston, Ball presented
Channel 5's quiz series ''
Britain's Best Brain in 2009. Ball has guest presented several episodes of The One Show'' as a stand-in for
Alex Jones. On 4 August 2013, as hostess of a special entitled
Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor, she revealed
Peter Capaldi as the incoming
Twelfth Doctor and hosted his first interview in that capacity. In November 2013, Ball co-hosted the
BBC One Children in Need telethon, alongside Sir
Terry Wogan,
Fearne Cotton,
Nick Grimshaw and
Tess Daly. In 2014, Ball presented a
BBC Two spin-off from
The Voice UK called
The Voice: Louder on Two. The show aired for one series of ten episodes. In 2015, Ball hosted
EastEnders: Backstage Live, a spin-off show during the
EastEnders live week. She co-presented the
BBC Young Dancer competition with
Darcey Bussell on BBC Two. Ball also narrated two ITV specials, ''
The Nation's Favourite '70s Number One and The Nation's Favourite '80s Number One, as well as the BBC One series Don't Tell the Bride. In 2016, Ball co-presented Can't Touch This'', a Saturday night game show for BBC One, alongside
Ashley Banjo. Ball narrated ''
The Nation's Favourite Carpenters Song, and guest-presented an episode of Film 2016. In 2017, Ball co-presented The Big Family Cooking Showdown'' with
Nadiya Hussain on BBC Two. Since 2020, Ball has appeared alongside her son Woody Fred Cook on
Celebrity Gogglebox. In 2021, Ball appeared on
The Masked Dancer, masked as Llama. She was the sixth celebrity to be unmasked. In 2023, Ball appeared as herself in Episode 1 of the
BBC One comedy
Queen of Oz. Ball is seen and heard on her radio programme questioning the outrageous antics of spoiled spare to the British crown, Princess Georgiana, played by
Catherine Tate. In 2024, Ball appeared as a panellist on the "New Year's Treat" episode of
Taskmaster for that year.
Strictly Come Dancing and It Takes Two In October 2005, Ball became a contestant on the
third series of the BBC One talent show
Strictly Come Dancing, where she was partnered by
Ian Waite. Ball and Waite were ranked in third place; airing every weeknight on
BBC Two; in 2014, whilst Winkleman was on leave after her daughter suffered serious burn injuries, Ball co-hosted the main show. She was twice warned by the BBC for swearing on the radio. Ball left
BBC Radio 1 in March 2000. Her final show was on 10 March 2000; she was succeeded by
Sara Cox. Ball returned to radio in mid-2002 when she joined London radio station
Xfm, where she presented the weekday drivetime show until December 2003. In January 2004, she took over a Friday evening music show for the station. She also stood in for
Ricky Gervais while he filmed the second series of
The Office. She left Xfm at the end of 2004. In September 2007, she returned to BBC Radio and co-hosted a show with
Sara Cox, celebrating 40 years of
BBC Radio 1 and
BBC Radio 2. From 2006, she provided relief presenting duties for
BBC Radio 2, fronted specialist documentaries, sat in for
Dermot O'Leary for three weeks in February 2006, and co-presented (with
Danny Baker) the hastily conceived replacement for
Jonathan Ross' Saturday morning show, in the wake of Ross's suspension due to
Sachsgate in 2008. In 2009, Ball became the usual relief presenter for
Ken Bruce's weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2. She also began hosting the Saturday breakfast show from 6 am to 8 am on the network from 6 June 2009 as part of a shake-up of weekend programming at Radio 2. Ball covered
The Radio 2 Breakfast Show for
Chris Evans on several occasions. From 4 March 2017 to 22 December 2018, Ball returned to Radio 2 on permanent basis where she presented the Saturday afternoon slot on BBC Radio 2 between 3 pm and 6 pm, taking over from
Dermot O'Leary. On 3 October 2018, she was announced by Chris Evans as the new host of
The Radio 2 Breakfast Show, which began on 14 January 2019.
Rylan Clark replaced Ball in the Saturday mid-afternoon slot. In August 2024, the BBC confirmed Ball was the second-highest paid BBC presenter after
Gary Lineker, with a salary of £950,000, having exceeded that figure for the previous three years. From 12 August to 23 September 2024, Ball took a six-week break from the show with
Scott Mills covering for her. Soon after, on 19 November she announced on the show that she would step down as host of
The Breakfast Show from 20 December with Mills taking over permanently in the new year, but would remain working for the station. On 18 February 2025, It was announced that Ball would begin a new Saturday show replacing
Pick of the Pops, which had held the 1 pm to 3 pm slot for 16 years. Her show began on Saturday 3 May while
Pick of the Pops moved to Sundays from 5 pm to 7pm. On 13 December 2025, Ball announced that she would step down from her Saturday show the following week, with
Emma Willis taking over the slot thereafter; however, Ball was to remain on the station to front various specials. ==Personal life==