Adam Hills

Adam Hills worries Paralympic heroes will be forgotten

Comic Adam Hills says last year's Paralympics helped change perceptions of disabled people.

This comedy chat show first saw the light of day as a cheeky late-night companion to the Paralympics last summer. Hosted by Australian stand-up Adam Hills, flanked by comedian Josh Widdicombe and presenter Alex Brooker - and tonight joined by Luther star Idris Elba as a special guest - the show boldly bowls into territory the PC police would declare off limits as it reviews the week's events. During the Paralympics, Hills and co dared to treat competitors as real people rather than brave saints and they encouraged viewers to join in - the show's Twitter hashtag #isitok is still live, so expect to see photos of Paralympic snowmen for openers.

There were many triumphs of the sporting summer but one of the less trumpeted was Channel 4's late-night Paralympic chat show. Free-wheeling and sparky, it felt like a new, relaxed angle on the comedy "gang show", with Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker backing up suave Australian host Adam Hills. Their reward is a series of non-Paralympic, Friday-night slots in which to "celebrate all that is best about Britain". And of course they'll still be asking their fateful, PC-skirting question, "Is it OK..?"

Adam Hills was one of the Paralympics' more unlikely stars, widely praised for his comic yet pointed take on the Games. So much so that this new series sees him being offered the chance to widen his brief: tonight, he'll return alongside regular sidekicks Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker to cast his eye over the last seven days of news. Expect regular updates, too, on Brooker's quest to participate in the Rio Paralympics. Well, as Games aftermaths go, it'll surely have more to recommend it than Tom Daley's Splash - Idris Elba, for one, who is the guest for tonight's opening edition.

Their naughty nightly chat show during the Paralympic Games deservedly became a cult hit. Now likeable Australian stand-up Adam Hills and his two sidekicks, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker, present this weekly live review of the past seven days. Joining them on their opening show is actor Idris Elba.

Thanks to the success that was The Last Leg during the 2012 Paralympics - no less a critic than Clive James said it was almost the best bit of the whole shebang - genial Aussie comedian Adam Hills returns to present a round-up of the week's events in the news. He's joined again by stand-up Josh Widdicombe and sportswriter Alex Brooker. Doubtless their easy-going chemistry and quick quippery will snag them an even sturdier audience than the one they earned over the summer.

Australian comedian Adam Hills has scored his own series off the back of a triumphant turn in the summer presenting The Last Leg - Channel 4's nightly comedy show screened as part of their Paralympics coverage. If you missed him then, here's your chance to catch Hill's happy, ironic brand of humour as he steps up to the mic for a one-off stand-up show recorded live in the West End.

Six months ago, few in the UK had heard of Adam Hills. Probably about the same number of people as were familiar with David Weir and Sarah Storey, in fact. But just as the Paralympics made stars of many British athletes, so it elevated one Australian comedian into the limelight where, following a bidding war from which C4 emerged victorious (he's even delivering the channel's Alternative Christmas Message at 4.20pm on Christmas Day), he looks likely to thrive. After The Last Leg, his acclaimed series during the Paralympics that revived the dread concept of a 'sideways look' at current events (and has one last hurrah at 11.05pm on December 30), Hills recorded this one-off gig at the Lyric in Hammersmith. An established star in his homeland, and not as prone to mine his disability for laughs as you might fear (Hills only has one leg), he's an accomplished comic whose laid-back style disguises a barbed, subversive wit. This should be a treat.

Australian comic Adam Hills proved a hit during the 2012 Paralympics as host of Channel 4's nightly irreverent show The Last Leg - often using the fact that he was born without a right foot as a source of comedy. Here's a chance to watch him in a warm and witty stand-up set recorded live at London's Lyric Theatre. Hills blends hilarious anecdotes with laid-back delivery, spontaneous ad libs and audience participation.

Adam Hills to host C4's 'Alternative Christmas Message'

Adam Hills has been announced as this year's host of Channel 4's Alternative Christmas Message.