Aggie was born in Rothiemurhus, near Aviemore, Scotland. At Kingussie High School, she discovered an aptitude for languages.
Aggie studied for a bilingual secretarial qualification in Aberdeen, then came to London to work at the Foreign Office. ‘On my first day they told me I had been security-screened and I would actually be working for MI6!’ She hadn’t envisaged a career as Miss Moneypenny, and after two years of high-level secrets crossing her desk she left to join the press office of the National Union of Students. From there Aggie’s career moved onto journalism and she worked on a string of national titles, before arriving at Good Housekeeping as associate editor in charge of the Good Housekeeping Institute. This is where they test all the latest consumer appliances, develop and test recipes and investigate new cleaning products and gadgets.
In August 2002 Aggie was asked if she would like to be considered for a TV series. At the screen test she was introduced to Kim and the rest is history. As one half of the nation’s dream cleaning team on Channel 4’s hit series ‘How Clean Is Your House?’, she shot to fame alongside Kim Woodburn. Aggie was taught the art of cleaning by her mother, who deployed a dizzying array of remedies for spots and stains.
Her role as Dirt Detective was to investigate the science and health implications behind the filth. The programme ran for six series (plus two in the US), along with a number of specials and one-offs and is now broadcast internationally, from Norway to Namibia, and repeated widely on UK digital channels. Sales of the tie-in book to the first series became a best-seller, quickly reaching over half a million copies and it continues to sell today. It also won an Award at the prestigious British Book Awards. This was later followed in 2007 by The Cleaning Bible.
Last year Aggie published ‘Ask Aggie’, a collection of her domestic advice columns from the past six years in the Saturday Times. It rose rapidly to Number One in Amazon’s Home and Garden chart. She regularly contributes to a number of national publications on a wide range of subjects and currently writes a monthly food page ‘In Aggie’s Kitchen’ in Good Housekeeping, a monthly page in Delicious where she tests a range of kitchen items, and a weekly column, ‘Clean Up!’ in Best.
Aggie is a regular on Daybreak, The Wright Stuff, BBC Breakfast and The One Show, where she comments on any number of subjects, from the psychology of hoarding to the perennial female dilemma of big-pants-versus-thong. Other recent TV credits include ‘Celebrity Family Fortunes’ and ‘Celebrity Total Wipeout’. Due to her Scottish roots, Aggie often co-presents ‘The Hour’ live teatime show on STV and occasionally stands in for comedian Fred MacAulay on BBC Radio Scotland.
As a fan of environmentally friendly products, Aggie has launched her very own range of probiotic cleaning products – a completely revolutionary phenomenon in the domestic arena. Last year Aggie was invited to join a panel of housing experts from the world of politics, media, design and academia, chaired by Lord Best, in order to identify key issues in the future provision of housing for the elderly. The panel visited exemplar projects in the UK and Europe and delivered their report to Government last December.
Aggie studied for a bilingual secretarial qualification in Aberdeen, then came to London to work at the Foreign Office. ‘On my first day they told me I had been security-screened and I would actually be working for MI6!’ She hadn’t envisaged a career as Miss Moneypenny, and after two years of high-level secrets crossing her desk she left to join the press office of the National Union of Students. From there Aggie’s career moved onto journalism and she worked on a string of national titles, before arriving at Good Housekeeping as associate editor in charge of the Good Housekeeping Institute. This is where they test all the latest consumer appliances, develop and test recipes and investigate new cleaning products and gadgets.
In August 2002 Aggie was asked if she would like to be considered for a TV series. At the screen test she was introduced to Kim and the rest is history. As one half of the nation’s dream cleaning team on Channel 4’s hit series ‘How Clean Is Your House?’, she shot to fame alongside Kim Woodburn. Aggie was taught the art of cleaning by her mother, who deployed a dizzying array of remedies for spots and stains.
Her role as Dirt Detective was to investigate the science and health implications behind the filth. The programme ran for six series (plus two in the US), along with a number of specials and one-offs and is now broadcast internationally, from Norway to Namibia, and repeated widely on UK digital channels. Sales of the tie-in book to the first series became a best-seller, quickly reaching over half a million copies and it continues to sell today. It also won an Award at the prestigious British Book Awards. This was later followed in 2007 by The Cleaning Bible.
Last year Aggie published ‘Ask Aggie’, a collection of her domestic advice columns from the past six years in the Saturday Times. It rose rapidly to Number One in Amazon’s Home and Garden chart. She regularly contributes to a number of national publications on a wide range of subjects and currently writes a monthly food page ‘In Aggie’s Kitchen’ in Good Housekeeping, a monthly page in Delicious where she tests a range of kitchen items, and a weekly column, ‘Clean Up!’ in Best.
Aggie is a regular on Daybreak, The Wright Stuff, BBC Breakfast and The One Show, where she comments on any number of subjects, from the psychology of hoarding to the perennial female dilemma of big-pants-versus-thong. Other recent TV credits include ‘Celebrity Family Fortunes’ and ‘Celebrity Total Wipeout’. Due to her Scottish roots, Aggie often co-presents ‘The Hour’ live teatime show on STV and occasionally stands in for comedian Fred MacAulay on BBC Radio Scotland.
As a fan of environmentally friendly products, Aggie has launched her very own range of probiotic cleaning products – a completely revolutionary phenomenon in the domestic arena. Last year Aggie was invited to join a panel of housing experts from the world of politics, media, design and academia, chaired by Lord Best, in order to identify key issues in the future provision of housing for the elderly. The panel visited exemplar projects in the UK and Europe and delivered their report to Government last December.
Aggie MacKenzie co-presented ‘How Clean is Your House’ and is known as the queen of cleaning remedies for household spots and stains, Aggie is also a journalist and speaker.
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