Alex Brooker

Alex Brooker interview

The Last Leg presenter and comedian is confronting his fears and concerns around his disability head on in a new BBC Two documentary.

Alex Brooker: Viewers don't define me by my disability

When comedian Alex Brooker was hired to appear on The Last Leg he was initially put on a nine-day contract. Which isn't surprising. After all, the programme was only supposed to run for two weeks, alongside the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Brooker, who was working as a sports journalist at the time, assumed that once the tournament concluded, so too would the series. But then, the team started noticing how much momentum was building around it.

The lighthearted TV responses to lockdown have been abundant so far, from video-linked episodes of Have I Got News For You to Matt Lucas's sketches and Grayson Perry's Art Club. Yet, none have quite managed to capture the mix of anxiety, uncertainty and unexpected humour many of us have been experiencing - which is where The Last Leg comics come in. Live from Melbourne, London and Huddersfield, the trio will present their typically incisive take on the week's events.

Adam Hills presents a special two-hour edition of the show, in which to bury this frankly rancid year in concentrated earth and try to move on. While Johnny Vegas pours the pints, Alex Brooker aims to become the first disabled man in history to complete a high-speed lap in a F4 racer at Donington Park.

There are panel shows galore tonight, and Pointless's Richard Osman hosts the most ambitious of all, assessing the best of the decade in the five categories of film, television show, song, celebrity and "new thing". Celebrity guests who will be arguing out their top choices include Jon Richardson, Lorraine Kelly, Alex Brooker and Rhianna Dhillon, while viewers can have their own say via a Twitter poll in the run-up to the show. Will Malala win celebrity of the decade, or will it be Kanye West?

Comedy panel show The Last Leg begins a new series with a fundraising special. Hosts Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker will be joined by celeb guests including Kathy Burke for a comic review of the past seven days, with a focus on their worthy Cancer Research cause.

If you only watched one thing on Hogmanay before the bells I do hope you made it The Last Leg, which is very much not tottering on that eponymous limb. In so many ways this was the perfect end to an often laughable year, and featured no pomp and precious little politics. Instead, just a studio full of genuinely funny and irrepressible guests, a gospel choir, the magnificent house band led by Alex Horne and, chiefly, the near-alchemical chemistry and interplay between Adam Hills and Alex Brooker. And, on the filmed sections in Austria, the establishment of Brooker as the first disabled person to descend an Olympic-standard double-luge run was, away from the laughter and the cavorting, actually rather impressive.

The Last Leg rings in the new year with a lineup that includes Katherine Ryan, Richard Ayoade and Nish Kumar. There will also be a look at Alex Brooker's attempt to become the first disabled man to take part in the double luge.