Violet Berlin (born 2 January 1968) is a British television presenter, producer and script writer for films, games and immersive experiences, best known for her pioneering coverage of innovative technology and video games.[2]
Career
Berlin first appeared on television screens in the 1990s, as a presenter on WildBunch on BBC1 and as writer-presenter for live youth magazine show Cool Cube for BSkyB from 1990 to 1992.[3] On Cool Cube she produced and presented the first regular coverage of computer and video games on British television.[4] She went on to present Bad Influence! between 1992 and 1996, a video gaming series which she hosted with Andy Crane on ITV.[5] As well as presenting from the studio, Berlin covered outside reports in the USA and Japan and wrote and presented her own opinion features as "Virtual Violet".[6]
Berlin then went on the host a number of other terrestrial shows, including live entertainment show Saturday Disney[7]and long running ITV popular science show The Big Bang[8]. On the 30th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 flight in July 1999, along with Jon Snow, she co-hosted the live UK Channel 4 programme Real Time Apollo: One Small Step.[9]
She is also known for producing, writing and hostingvideo gaming shows including GameSpot TV and Gamepad, which aired on the Bravo satellite channel between 2001 and 2004. Gamepad ran for four series, and was produced by the company Berlin runs with her partner, TV presenter and podcaster Gareth Jones.
Since 2004 Berlin has been a script writer and experiential storyteller for interactive and immersive experiences for the public, including for museums, cultural and heritage sites. She helped devise branching narrative games for the BBC and Science Museum,[10] she has written the scripts for large-scale projection-mapped films, including an immersive visual poem for Gardens by the Bay in Singapore[11] and she created the dramatic characters who appear as part of the British Museum's Temple of Amaravati interactive experience in 2018, where visitors summon pilgrims to an ancient Buddhist shrine.[12][13]
To date she has written hundreds of digital games and immersive films for visitor attractions across the world.[11]
Personal life
Berlin lives in Stoke Newington with her two sons, Tycho and Indi.[14] She sometimes appears on her ex-partner Gareth Jones's motoring podcast Gareth Jones on Speed which celebrated its 400th episode in October 2020.[15] Berlin and Jones have been separated since 2021, with Jones relocating to Wales after an amicable separation.[16]
Berlin also appeared as the cult leader in a sci-fi movie written by screenwriter Paul Rose.
In 2022, Berlin played the role of Queen Isabella of France in an immersive film shown to visitors in the gatehouse when they visit Leeds Castle in Kent.[19][20]
