Biography of Aggie MacKenzie

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 with MI6!’ She hadn’t quite envisaged a career as Miss Moneypenny, and after two years of high-level secrets crossing her desk (she won’t tell you, so don’t ask) she left to join the press office of the National Union of Students. It was there that she got a call from her older sister Kerry, who was a journalist working on Woman’s World. Aggie’s career in magazines now began in earnest, working on a string of national titles, before arriving at Good Housekeeping as associate editor in charge of the Good Housekeeping Institute, which 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 a rather scary lady called Kim. ‘I’d never met anyone like her,’ Aggie remembers fondly. Kim and Aggie were asked to comment on and clean a researcher’s grimy flat. It was, of course, the birth of ‘The Nation’s Dream Cleaning Team’.

Aggie lives in London with her architect husband Matthew and sons Rory, 12, and Ewan, 8. ‘After each show Ewan appears wearing rubber gloves and asks, “Mum, can we clean now?”’ The highlight for her so far was appearing on V Graham Norton: ‘Rory thought it was the height of cool. Kim and I had our own dressing-rooms and a gift with a note from our host, saying, “Many thanks and lots of wet kisses.” You don’t get that at the houses we visit!’ When Aggie’s not working, cleaning or tending her allotment, she adores cooking. ‘On my day off, I could happily bake all day long.’