The “most trusted man in Britain”, “the real shadow chancellor”, “the most influential man in British politics”. Only one person could carry the weight of all these titles – the nation’s self-appointed and much-loved money saving expert: Martin Lewis.
On Sunday, Lewis will receive BAFTA’s television special award at its annual prize-giving ceremony – an honour reserved for individuals or organisations who have “made an outstanding contribution to television”, with previous recipients including Sir Bruce Forsyth, Delia Smith and Ronnie Barker.
But how has a personal finance expert and former BBC business producer crossed over to being a Hunsnet-certified oracle for the millennial generation?
Contrary to popular belief, Lewis began as a broadcaster. After studying law and government at the London School of Economics, he completed an MA in broadcast journalism at Cardiff University. From there, he landed a role in the BBC’s business team, working on personal finance programmes before becoming business editor for Radio 4’s Today programme and reporting for BBC One and 5 Live.
He left the BBC at the tail end of 1999 to join the now-defunct television channel Simply Money, where he landed on the title that would see him become the all-conquering brand we know today: ‘Money Saving Expert’.
In 2003, Lewis launched the site of the same name from his living room for a “total capital outlay of £80”, according to the incredibly detailed bio on MoneySavingExpert.com. The website, packed with advice on everything from getting out of debt to what to do with stacks of savings, fast became the UK’s biggest consumer site, with more than 16 million of us browsing its many (many) guides every month.
Its weekly tips email is a phenomenon in its own right too. Even in the TikTok age, when shortform video is supposedly king, over 14 million of us are signed up to receive the text and table–heavy mailouts, with chaotic subject lines including this week’s gem: “6 Council Tax cost-cutters, FREE £210 ends, ‘free’ US flight trick, cheapest energy fix, Jet fuel cancellation protection?, Car Wars: industry fights back!”
It’d be easy to eyeroll at the extreme penny-pinching, if it wasn’t for the fact Martin had the last laugh by selling MoneySavingExpert to MoneySuperMarket Group for £87m in 2012 – and stayed on as editor-in-chief purely for love of the game. (I once tried to get some fun, insider gossip from someone who worked there, and the best they could deliver was ‘he really does still edit the guides’)
In the same year, he launched The Martin Lewis Money Show in 2012, which switched to a live format in 2020. It is on live television that Lewis thrives. The primetime ITV show sees him dissect decidedly unsexy topics – power of attorney and wills, anyone? – at breakneck pace, hurtling through his advice at such a speed that you suddenly find yourself in a daze, calling your parents to check things are in order (sorry mum).
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For a generation of floundering millennials who received precisely zero hours of financial education at school, Lewis is the saviour who stepped in to help us clamber out of student overdrafts and explain why paying student loans back ASAP probably isn’t the best plan. He’s campaigned on plenty of Britons’ behalf too, launching crusades against payment protection insurance, better known as PPI – yes! That was him! – unfair bank charges and energy bills, to name just a few.
Even if you don’t think his advice has made it to your door, it has. If your mates have ever started discussing switching banks or maximising credit card rewards and Avios points (in a responsible way, of course), then chances are, they nabbed their tips from him.
Parents ask their kids “would you jump off a cliff if your friends did?”, I think the millennial equivalent is, would you do it if Martin Lewis did? My honest answer? Without a doubt, yes.
After years of presenting segments on shows including This Morning, Lewis landed a regular role as a Good Morning Britain host in March 2023 and soon proved himself to be the most formidable interviewer on the show’s rotating panel for one simple reason: he’s impossible to bulls***. There is simply no person on television who knows their expert area better. Who better to grill a politician over the budget than someone who could probably reel off the entire thing in less than four minutes?
For proof of his cultural cache, look no further than the recently launched SNL UK. The topical sketch show features just a handful of running gags but our money-saving king has been mentioned multiple times across the inaugural series’ run.
An early Weekend Update gag saw Martin Lewis ruled out as a possible sperm donor because “we can’t milk our strongest soldier”. Ayoade Bamgboye returned to the bit last Saturday, declaring him “the greatest man alive today”. On the prospect of marriage, she quipped: “Martin Lewis, please, I’m saving myself for you.” Same hun, same.
If this all feels OTT then allow me to introduce a final piece of evidence showcasing Lewis’s unrivalled TV icon status: on a recent episode The Rest is Entertainment, Marina Hyde and Richard Osman discussed whether any television personalities were irreplaceable. As they pointed out, even the likes of chatshow titan Graham Norton are replaced if they’re absent for a week here and there.
They returned to the topic a week later, as Osman had pondered what would happen to The Martin Lewis Show if its host was suddenly unavailable for some reason. A chat with a producer revealed the answer: there is a contingency plan, of course… If Martin’s ill or injured, they consider broadcasting from his hospital bed. His hospital bed. Otherwise, an old episode “that’s still editorially relevant” goes out. Who else on television can say that?
