Jonathan Pearce - Channel 5 and BBC

Channel 5 and BBC

When Channel 5 (known as Five for some time) was launched in 1997, Pearce was signed as their lead football commentator. His excitable style of commentary received criticism from some quarters. He joined BBC Radio Five Live in 2002 and was part of their 2002 FIFA World Cup commentary team. He went on to present the station's midweek sports programme Sport on Five from 2003 until 2005 and became a commentator for BBC television on Match of the Day in 2004.

Pearce has commentated on over 150 England internationals, five World Cups, four European Championships and over 20 Cup Finals. He has won several awards for his work including three Sony awards and the Variety Club Radio Person of the Year. Perhaps his finest hour during his time on commercial radio was his description of a Crystal Palace goal scored by Dougie Freedman. As Freedman wheeled away in celebration, Pearce cried: "He's done it! The Boogie Woogie Doogie Selhurst boy!". Other examples are "They're going with the Flo!" when Chelsea scored against Real Betis in a 1998 UEFA Cup Winners Cup game, as well as his excited commentary when England played Poland in a qualification game for the 1998 World Cup, in which he often said phrases like "Come on England!, come on England!, corner kick!, corner kick!". This received heavy criticism from the Daily Mail, while World Soccer magazine said the media were too harsh on him and praised him for doing a good job of pronouncing the names of the Polish players correctly.

He also lent his voice to Sensible Soccer, Ubisoft football game Action Soccer and UEFA Striker. Away from football, he was also the commentator on the programmes Robot Wars and Hole in the Wall. In 2005, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Game, in which he played a sports commentator named Garny Diblick.

Since joining the BBC Match of the Day team in 2004, Pearce has been the second-choice commentator to John Motson. He is regarded by many football fans as the favourite to become the BBC's first-choice commentator for live matches, now that John Motson has stopped covering those, but as with the race to become number one when Motson fully retires, his rivals would appear to be Steve Wilson and Guy Mowbray. Pearce was a commentator for BBC TV at Euro 2012.