After studying English and Drama at the University of Manchester, Philbin responded to an advertisement in The Stage and was offered the job of co-presenter on Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.[5] She married her co-presenter Keith Chegwin in 1982; the couple divorced in 1993.[6] They had a daughter, Rose, named after Rosemary Gill, the Swap Shop editor who gave Philbin a job on the programme.[7]