Profile: Adrian Chiles

CHEMISTRY. You just can't fake it, and from Mulder and Scully to Brad and Angelina, good chemistry can make for on-screen gold. But it's far from an exact science. After all, who would have predicted that a grumpy-looking, middle-aged Brummie and a lithe Northern Irish beauty would be able to conjure up some of the most sparkling on-screen chemistry since Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan co-hosted The Big Breakfast?

Yet for whatever reason, Adrian Chiles and his One Show co-host Christine Bleakley have managed to build a relationship that has seen upwards of 5 million viewers tuning in to the popular BBC1 magazine show every weekday. It's a relationship that has come under intense public scrutiny since they began working together in 2007, particularly when both presenters ended long-term relationships last year.

It was a surprise, then, when the Beeb made the decision to reduce Chiles's role on the programme, drafting in veteran presenter Chris Evans to host a special hour-long Friday show. The move left Chiles seriously riled, particularly since he's shown the BBC such loyalty over the years, despite offers of more lucrative contracts elsewhere.

And so the famous partnership between Chiles and Bleakley is set to come to an end, with 43-year-old Chiles choosing to finally accept one of ITV's offers rather than be sidelined. In a 6 million deal, he will jump channels, fronting GMTV five mornings a week in addition to presenting football coverage, with ITV chief Peter Fincham describing him as having "the rare talent of being able to make television presenting look effortless".

Chiles has not concealed the reasons behind the move, last week issuing a statement admitting that: "The chance to front ITV's football coverage and GMTV would have proved an irresistible opportunity at the best of times. But, coming as it did at an awkward period for me at the BBC, it made the decision to leave not quite as hard as it might have been."

For fans of The One Show, it's a big loss, since Chiles was a major part of the programme's appeal. A surly, straight-talking Brummie, he was the ultimate everyman, set off brilliantly by the glamorous and endearingly dippy Bleakley. Speculation as to whether the chemistry continued outside the studio was always met by Chiles with a characteristically self-deprecating comment about how impossible a concept it was due to her being so out of his league.

"It was like West Brom being linked with Ronaldo or something," he has said of the rumours. "Look at her, and look at me.West Brom might quite like to sign Ronaldo but it is simply not going to happen."

Chiles' eternal devotion to his beloved West Bromwich is yet another factor that endears him to the general public. He's not a plummy-voiced presenter with a patronising attitude to real people. Rather, he's everyone's favourite bloke down the pub who always gets the first round in, albeit grudgingly.

Such is his popularity in fact, that in 2008 he was the most viewed person on television in the UK; his chubby face popped up every week night on The One Show, weekly on Match Of The Day 2 and regularly covering the Olympics and The Apprentice: You're Fired, adding up to 1.04 billion sightings of him over 12 months.

Not bad for a boy from Hagley, Worcestershire. The son of a scaffolder, Chiles excelled at his local comprehensive, going on to study English at London University. After completing a postgraduate diploma course in journalism in Cardiff, he joined the BBC for work experience and has remained with the corporation until now.

The last time Chiles was linked to his co-presenter, the woman in question went on to become his wife. He met Women's Hour presenter Jane Garvey in 1994 when they both worked on Radio Five Live. He sent her an anonymous Valentine's card. She thought it was from someone else. They now have two daughters, Evelyn and Sian.

Chiles's passion for football has come to help define him for better or for worse. His ex-wife joked that the phrase "in promotion or relegation" should have been included in their wedding vows, and he said on air that if his first born grew up to be a Chelsea fan he would "disown her".

His career has had a long and gradual trajectory. Fellow presenter Johnny Vaughan once advised him to live by the professional mantra: "Long and slow for the dough. Play it fast, it won't last." He stuck by the philosophy – presenting Radio 4's Financial World Tonight by 1993 before a 10-year stint fronting the business programme Working Lunch – and it paid off. Initially The One Show struggled to speak to its audience. The tone was too knowing, too removed, too arch and sharp. When the sarcasm was toned down however, Chiles's image softened, and viewing figures doubled.

But it was the c-word that really got viewers tuning in. The chemistry between the programme's two presenters was undeniable, and when Chiles's ten-year marriage broke down, speculation was rife that Bleakley was a factor. Six months later, her relationship with businessman Mark Beirne was also over, and he let it be known that he believed Chiles was the "third party" in the relationship.

While Bleakley's charms are fairly apparent, what is it that's got Chiles on the fast-track list to National Treasure status? It might just be down to his accent. "When I first came to the BBC on work experience, they saw this large Brummie with knuckles dragging along the floor and assumed I was thick because of the accent," he once said. "So all I had to do was string a couple of sentences together and they started to think I was some sort of genius."

Not everyone is a fan. Comedian Stewart Lee says watching Chiles on The One Show is "like being trapped in the buffet car of a slow-moving express train with a toby jug". One newspaper's television critic described him as "the ugliest man on TV". Even Bleakley didn't take to him at first, describing him as "quite intense" and recalling how "as far as he was concerned, I was a nonentity. But I gave as good as I got and, eventually, that created a chemistry."

The public also grew to love him, of course, but will they love him without the lovely Bleakley by his side while he's getting used to 4am rises for breakfast telly? Time will tell.

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As a young man Chiles dreamed about being a diplomat and sat the civil service exams. He failed them but received an invitation to apply for a job at MI5. He was interviewed, but didn't get the job.

• He plays the double bass. He chose to reveal this particular talent when he performed a duet with the violinist Nigel Kennedy on The One Show.

• Bizarrely, he holds the world record for the most number of kisses received in 60 seconds. He broke the record on the One Show, receiving 78 kisses from production staff in one minute.

• His mother was Croatian and he grew up speaking her native tongue.

• He converted to Roman Catholicism three years ago.

• He admitted, while guest hosting Have I Got News for You in 2007, that he is frequently mistaken for both television survival expert Ray Mears, above, and Benny Hill.