Sykes was born in 1970 at Ashton-under-Lyne to an English father and a Catholic Anglo-Indian mother. She attended Mossley Hollins High School and studied A-level Religious Studies at Ashton Sixth Form College. Sykes was a member of the Ashtonian Brass Band, along with her father, mother and two sisters (Samantha and Stacy), playing the baritone horn.

After first reporting for The Big Breakfast, Sykes has continued her television career, including presenting stints on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and as presenter of EastEnders Revealed. In 1999, Sykes presented Melanie Sykes’ Southall Stories, a documentary for BBC Two on Asian culture in Great Britain. She has also hosted a variety of awards ceremonies, including Miss World, the BAFTA Awards and the Q Awards.

Sykes married actor Daniel Caltagirone in January 2001. The couple have two sons, Roman born in 2002 and Valentino born in 2004. In July 2008, it was reported that the couple had split up, with Sykes having “grown apart” from Caltagirone, who had moved out of their Hampstead, London home. They divorced in June 2009. Sykes married her boyfriend Jack Cockings on 18 May 2013 at Sherborne Castle in Dorset.

Sykes’ television career stalled for a period, although she made a successful comeback as host of Today with Des and Mel with Des O’Connor in 2003. On 12 May 2006, ITV announced that the show would be one of a number to be axed in a “painful, but utterly necessary” move.

From 2006 to 2009, Sykes regularly filled in for Paul O’Grady as presenter of The Paul O’Grady Show when O’Grady was unable to appear. She presented the show on eleven occasions.

In 2006, the book Blooming Beautiful: My Plan for Looking Great, Being Healthy and Surviving Hormonal Havoc, Throughout Pregnancy and as a New Mum, co-written by Sykes with Hilary Boyd, was published by Michael Joseph.

Sykes appeared as a guest panellist on Loose Women in October and November 2005 and later returned as a guest anchor in October 2008 and May 2009.

Sykes was the presenter of the daytime series Gene Detectives for BBC One. In 2008, Sykes was a judge on ‘The Sofa Factor’, an item for GMTV, where viewers sent in short clips and the winner got to present TV Pick of the Day and win a trip to Las Vegas.

In 2010, Sykes guest presented five episodes of The 5 O’Clock Show with Denise van Outen on Channel 4. In August 2011, Sykes returned to daytime television, co-hosting Let’s Do Lunch with Gino & Mel and Let’s Do Christmas with Gino & Mel with Gino D’Acampo on ITV. The show was cancelled in 2014.

Sykes was heard on BBC Radio 2 with Aled Jones sitting in for Steve Wright in the Afternoon on 22, 23 and 24 December 2008. In May 2010, she began co-hosting the BBC Radio 2 show Going Out with Alan Carr after Emma Forbes’ resignation. Sykes continued on the show until its end in March 2012. She returned on Boxing Day 2015 with Alan Carr for a one-off show on BBC Radio 2. In January/February 2017 she and Carr again returned to Radio 2 to sit in for Paul O’Grady for 4 weeks.

On 13 September 2011, Sykes co-hosted the three-part series Missing Millions with Paul Heiney on ITV.

In November 2013, Sykes was arrested and cautioned by police over an assault against Cockings. Soon after the common assault caution, after less than one year of marriage, Sykes began the process of filing for divorce.

In February 2014, BT Sport announced that Sykes would become part of their MotoGP team. Due to other work commitments, she left the channel in May 2014.

In 2014, Sykes took part in the fourteenth series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! where she finished in third place, behind runner-up Jake Quickenden and winner Carl Fogarty.

In 2015, Sykes co-presented Humble Pie, a cookery series for Watch, alongside Marco Pierre White. On 4 April 2017, Sykes was confirmed as the new voice of Blind Date, taking over the role most famously held by Graham Skidmore in the original series. The show is broadcast on Saturday nights on Channel 5.

Sykes has her own line of underwear and lingerie with high street chain and retailer Debenhams. In June 2016, Sykes launched a lifestyle website which features fitness, food and lifestyle content as well as celebrity interviews and competitions.

In 2017, Melanie Sykes appeared on a “celebrity” charity edition of TV quiz show, The Chase. She departed early after having given incorrect answers to questions including “which future German leader was imprisoned in 1924 at Landsberg?” (“Adolf Hitler” would have been the correct answer).

Sykes and Carr presented their own Saturday morning show called Alan and Mel’s Summer Escape on BBC Radio 2 for 10 weeks during the summer of 2017. She presented a show with Carr on BBC Radio 2 on Christmas Eve and another on New Year’s Eve in 2017. Sykes and Carr returned for further specials for Easter, for the Royal Wedding, and for further runs of Alan and Mel’s Summer Escape in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

In March 2018, Melanie Sykes won Star Baker in Channel 4’s The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off.