Andrew Hayden-Smith: What Is The TV Presenter Doing Now?

You will most probably remember Andrew Hayden-Smith best for his time on Byker Grove and as a CBBC presenter, but what is he up to now?

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His early life…

The actor and voice-over artist was born as Andrew John Smith on November 5th, 1983. He was born in Gateshead, but grew up in Chester-le-Street in County Durham.

Andrew’s older sister, Kerri Hayden, was a second assistant director on the iconic children’s TV series Byker Grove.

When he was visiting Kerri on set, he was approached by Matthew Robinson, the show’s executive producer, and he was cast as Ben Carter.

His first appearance on the show was in 1995.

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Originally known as Andrew Smith, his fame on Byker Grove led to guest appearances on Saturday morning CBBC shows such as Live & Kicking.

As there was already an Andrew Smith, he changed his stage name to Andrew Hayden Smith in 2001.

Andrew Hayden-Smith’s public coming out…

In 2005, at just 21 years-old Andrew came out publicly.

Speaking to QX, he said:

‘We got a call from a newspaper saying they were gonna do a story on it. And my boss was like “we’ve just had this phone call… do you wanna just do it yourself in Attitude and get it over with?”

‘So I did it, and then nothing more was said about it.

‘It was great’.

Andrew is in a long-term relationship with his boyfriend, Dan Maton.

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Andrew’s presenting career…

After enjoying his time presenting Live & Kicking, Andrew mentioned how he would like to do more presenting work. Fellow CBBC presenter Jake Humphrey encouraged him to ask the bosses if he could have more opportunities and they agreed.

He moved to London and started presenting the afternoon slot on BBC1.

Occasionally he would also present the CBBC Breakfast which was broadcasted on both BBC1 and BBC2.

During all of this he was still travelling up to the North East to film Byker Grove. He filmed his final scenes in 2003 before his character was killed off.

His presenting role at CBBC also included the UK Top 40. He was given the chance to be the show’s solo presenter in 2004 after Adrian Dickson and Konnie Huq stepped down.

The show was a success until the producers ‘computerised’ the format. It was last aired in June 2005.

A change of direction…

In 2006, he was hired to play Jake Simmonds in numerous episodes of Doctor Who, including: ‘Rise of the Cybermen’,’The Age of Steel’ and ‘Doomsday’.

After filming he returned to children’s presenting but decided that acting was what he wanted to focus on.

His first acting job post-CBBC was in 2008 as Romeo in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at Jermyn Street Theatre in London.

Since 2013, Andrew has been the voice of Chase on the animated children’s show, PAW Patrol.

Andrew finally got his big break in 2016 when he was cast in Hollyoaks!

He played D.S. Gavin Armstrong for 64 episodes before he was killed off. 

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In 2015 he starred in Russell T. Davis’ Channel 4 show Cucumber and E4’s Banana.

His appearance in the show hit a chord with people as he won the Rising Star Award at the British LGBT Awards.

Other presenting work…

In 2013, Andrew was a hub presenter for This Morning as well as being a roving reporter for the Channel 5 morning show, Live With Gabby.

Andrew is a continuity announcer for both ITV and ITV2, for shows such as The X Factor.

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He is also a contributor for attitude.co.uk – the magazine he publicly came out in, in 2005.

His recent heartbreak…

Although 2015 was amazing for the actor, it was also a very tough year, as he lost his father to cancer.

Speaking about it, he says:

‘We all had a pretty tough year especially as we thought all was good with my dad and he was in remission.

‘But unfortunately the disease came back in September and he was gone within a few months’.

A keen runner, Andrew decided to run the London Marathon for Leukaemia Care, in memory of his father, Wayne.