Former CBBC star with famous wife quits TV career for normal job two decades after finding fame

MICHAEL Underwood has officially turned his back on fame and is now loving life away from the limelight in a completely different career.

The star rose to fame on CBBC in the late 90s as a children’s TV presenter and was one of the most recognizable stars on the channel.

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He even found love with his co-star Angellica Bell when they turned their on-screen presenting work for the channel into a true off-screen love story.

But while his wife Angellica still enjoys her time on TV – he has swapped the TV studio for the classroom and couldn’t be happier.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Angellica opened up about how her husband found new fulfillment as a teacher after being left out of TV work when Covid pandemic here.

She told us: “It’s funny. He couldn’t get a job. He had a teaching degree. He said, ‘I can’t sit,’ so he started teaching.

“It’s been great. It was hard at first because he really wanted to do TV and had no control over it.

“But he loves it now. His students are like his big kids. They are blessed to have him. He thinks of creative ways to teach, to keep them engaged.

“He’s even had some parents say, ‘Oh my god, I used to see you at Jungle Run.’

“He’s now teaching their kids. He’s like, ‘oh my gosh, this is great.'”

The star admitted that at the beginning of her romance, it was her husband Michael who was more excited about the prospect of television job while she took a more back seat approach.

Looking back at the start of their careers, she added: “It’s funny. Michael loved TV. We met at CBBC. I was a bit more laissez-faire about TV.

“He really wanted to do it. He had a teaching degree before. He did lots of CBBC. Then he went to CITV, Jungle Run. He loved it.

“Then he did shows on ITV and Good Morning Britain. He was an entertainment reporter.”

Tellingly, Angellica went on to add that we may see Michael back on screen soon as she teased: “He’s got a few offers and stuff. And we’ve been approached to do some stuff.”

Michael has taught for more than five years at Surbiton High Boy’s Prep School in South West London, teaching Year 4, which are eight and nine year olds.

Fortunately, he was already a qualified teacher when he completed a four-year BEd teacher training course before getting his big break on TV – on the advice of his mother.

Michael has previously explained: “It was my mum who actually said, ‘Why don’t you think about doing drama as a teacher training course, specialize in it and you’ll have something to fall back on if acting doesn’t work out.'”

Angellica spoke to The Sun as part of Curries‘ campaign to save Black Friday by committing to their new minimum standard where no deal has been cheaper in the last six months and encouraging other retailers to follow suit.

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