CBBC legend Michael Underwood reveals the moment he 'knew he had to quit TV'

CBBC star Michael Underwood has spoken about the specific moment he knew he needed to leave the telly industry.

Underwood, now 50, first started his TV career in the late nineties, and was a CBBC presenter between the years of 1999 and 2002. He also moved over to CITV where he presented the iconic show, Jungle Run before moving into daytime telly, becoming the entertainment correspondent for GMTV and competing in Dancing on Ice.

Later in his career, he also went on to present on Heart FM for a short stint.

In 2018, Underwood began to step away from the world of entertainment, and went on to become a teacher. He's recently spoken about his decision to do this, and the moment he decided that he needed to leave the industry for good.

Underwood revealed why he quit telly (Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)

Over on TikTok, Underwood explained he had been working on a show with Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes when he decided he'd had enough of working in TV.

"I do remember the moment I decided that was it, I'm done with TV. Back in 2018 I was working on a show called Do The Right Thing, with Eamonn and Ruth, it was Sunday nights live on Channel 5 and if you're 100 years old like me you might remember a show called That's Life, it was basically that, a consumer show and Eamon and Ruth fronted it and myself and Roman Kemp were part of the presenting team," he said.

"Now I should say, it was nothing to do with them, Eamonn and Ruth have always been amazing, they've always been supportive and very welcoming. This isn't about them, this is definitely about me.

"During that show, I was sitting behind the desk waiting to do my bit and I just remember thinking, 'what am I doing? Why am I here?' We'd just come out of a video about the dangers of phone adaptors, which every TV show had covered for the past three years, there was another bit where a dog was doing a back flip and catching a frisbee in its mouth and another bit where Roman had a battery on a piece of ham to prove how dangerous it was."

Underwood is married to Angelica Bell (Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images)

Underwood admitted he 'didn't know what he was doing' adding he had taken the job for the money and wasn't enjoying it.

"It was that moment a switch went off in my head and I was like, 'I'm done with TV'. I went home, spoke with Angelica and started making a plan," Underwood added.

Now a teacher, Underwood is married to Angelica Bell, who was also a CBBC presenter and still works on telly, presenting The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV.