'The phone stopped ringing... it's not a nice place to be in': CBBC star Michael Underwood, 45, reveals he's now a primary school teacher after his 20 year TV career 'just dried up' The star was once the primetime face of children's TV, hosting CBBC and CITV, but said he had to change his career to teaching after work dried up He said: 'The phone stopped ringing, it's just not a nice place to be in' Michael's TV career spanned from 1999 to 2020, when he announced he had officially retired from the small screen It was by chance he landed a TV job after a pal ripped off a TV advertisement from the BBC in the newspaper asking for people to send in audition tapes