earned him an audition as one of six co-presenters of Channel 4's new national breakfast television show, RI:SE. Having initially auditioned as the entertainment presenter, Murray was instead chosen as a news presenter. While at RI:SE he continued to co-host the evening session in Northern Ireland with Donna Legge one day a week, commuting between the province and the Channel 4 studios near Heathrow. His time with RI:SE was brief and unhappy, with Murray later stating it "scared me off TV for a long time". 2003–2008: Radio career By 2003 Murray had teamed up with Edith Bowman (his former co-hostess from RI:SE) to work together on Radio 1, presenting their own Colin and Edith show. It began in September 2003 in the weekend late-morning slot, but from March 2004 it was moved to the weekday afternoon slot. The partnership increased the listener figures to a decade high of 5.5 million. In 2006 Murray became the new presenter of BBC Radio 5 Live's Saturday morning comedy sports panel quiz show, Fighting Talk, his first regular show on 5 Live. His first show was on 4 February. Also in February 2006, Murray became the anchor for Channel 5's midweek evening live European UEFA Cup football television coverage, with former anchor John Barnes acting as a roving reporter. That year Murray left the Radio 1 Colin and Edith show to start The Colin Murray Show, a new music show on the same station beginning in September, showcasing new and alternative music in the Mondays-to-Thursdays 10pmmidnight slot, with Bowman remaining in the lunchtime slot. He was inevitably compared with the late holder of the slot, John Peel; Murray stated "What I like is that it's always represented honesty, and never been influenced by what's supposed to be cool at the time. Peel played music he liked; I just play music I like". In 2007, there was a year-on-year increase in listeners to the slot of 160,000. From February 2008 Murray also began presenting a weekly late-night music show on BBC Radio Ulster in Northern Ireland. After failing to find a suitable sound location, he actually presents the show from his own house, in his bedroom, drawing on his extensive music collection as well as new music downloaded onto iTunes. It began as a Saturday night show, but later moved to Fridays. 2009–2013: Departure from Radio 1, move to 5 Live and television career In