Chris Tarrant

Who Am I, Again? extract

Today he's one of Britain's biggest comics, but here Lenny Henry reveals how he used to get really upset when Tiswas host Chris Tarrant criticised his jokes.

Preview - Lenny Henry: A Life on Screen

Sir Lenny Henry has been part of British TV since the 1970s when he won talent show New Faces in 1975 at the age of 16. Since then he's done sitcoms, sketch shows, stand-up, the stage, children's TV and charity work.

"He was a sort of imp from another planet!"

This documentary about Kenny Everett, who died in 1995, is packed with contributions from his showbiz friends, including Barry Cryer, Chris Tarrant, Billy Connolly and Paul Gambaccini but we also hear from Kenny himself in generous archive footage.

We start with his childhood. He was born in Liverpool on Christmas Day during the war and Everett makes affectionate fun of his mother, a polite and traditional lady who would have hated to be considered 'common' so would carefully arrange a fruit bowl on top of the TV (a terrible place to put your fruit, Everett declares) and would never permit her young son to take a piece as it would upset her nicely arranged display.

His father wasn't quite so genteel, being a tugboat captain on the Mersey and possessing a wicked sense of humour.

From this childhood, a combination of strict manners and cheeky jokes, we trace his journey as he became one of the most beloved and daring comedians of the 1980s.

Former Phoenix Nights star and comedian Paddy McGuinness hosts the last in the series of the entertainment panel show in his usual holiday-rep style. Treading ground previously pioneered by our TV critic Clive James and Chris Tarrant in the Eighties and Nineties, the quiz focuses on wacky news stories and video clips from around the world. Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords) and Rufus Hound (Celebrity Juice) head up two celebrity teams. Their guests this week are David Hasselhoff, Louie Spence and Coleen Nolan.

While some panel shows are having trouble finding their footing, Would I Lie To You? just seems to keep going from strength to strength.

Rob Brydon, David Mitchell and Lee Mack seem to make a perfect team. There's so many angles for them to play with: Mitchell's poshness verses Mack's working class background; Mitchell's southerness and Mack's northerness; Mitchell and Mack's Englishness verses Brydon's Welshness, and so on.

There is one significant change to this new series, however, that being the show is now on before the watershed. This, for me, is a worry. You may remember that this happened to QI when it moved to BBC One, which ended up as a failure and resulted in QI moving back...

However, it would seem that it's survived this changed. The show seems to be just as funny as ever, especially the bit when Mack trying to claim that his ex-girlfriend's names spell out the world "Bermuda". The guests, Alexander Armstrong, Mel Giedroyc, Alex Jones and Chris Tarrant, provided much amusement too.

Chris Tarrant wants to put Parky's ads into Room 101

Chris Tarrant has a dig at Sir Michael Parkinson's cringe-worthy insurance adverts in tonight's episode of Room 101.

We've been enjoying the funny and impassioned banter this rebooted panel show has prompted. It's in fine fettle again tonight as Alice Cooper rants about reality TV shows, Chris Tarrant bemoans Jedward and Chris Packham shakes his head in despair over his loathing of Chris Moyles, who he describes as 'a totemic figure for the celebration of mediocrity and ignorance'.

Another chance for celebrities to whinge on national television. The new format of this comedy talk show, back after a five-year hiatus, sees three guests putting their gripes to Frank Skinner. The programme has done away with the easy banter and intimacy of previous series. But the gags keep coming, and this week's guests are certainly an eclectic mix: rock god Alice Cooper, TV presenter Chris Tarrant and Springwatch presenter Chris Packham.

Chris Tarrant wants to put Sooty into Room 101

Chris Tarrant hates children's puppet Sooty so much he wants to put it into Room 101.

I was never a fan of the practical jokes of The Unforgettable Jeremy Beadle - in fact, I think I had forgotten him until this tribute - but it certainly did its job in changing my opinion of the man himself. Frankly, it's almost impossible for me to dislike someone who loved books so much that he had an extension built onto his house to hold his library of 30,000 - that's living the dream! He was even buried under a gravestone representing books, with the epitaph "Ask my friends" and that's what this show did, eliciting what seemed to be genuinely heartfelt memories of a decent chap.

As well as being an apparently good father, stepfather, husband and friend, he relentlessly raised money for charity through marathon quiz sessions and auctions - around £100 million. "Oh, that's just showing off," said his former Game For A Laugh co-star Matthew Kelly, in awe.

But he still became something of a hate figure, once coming second to Saddam Hussein in an unpopularity poll, and a by-word for a type of trashy telly which, nevertheless, flourished even after he was dumped from his prime time slots. His family said he was hurt by the reversal of fortunes and, as fellow quasi-hate figure Chris Tarrant pointed out, it was strange how he went from being over-exposed to being a TV pariah for years, only able to appear in panto villain roles like Ant & Dec's Banged up with Beadle slot.

Ironically, he'd have probably fared better in today's celeb-crazy television environment; he could have made a good guest on Who Do You Think You Are, fronted a documentary on disability or just gone round the country on a spacehopper or something. And yet, there's a lesson there: Jeremy Beadle's fall wasn't due to his own failings or a sudden turn against cheesy pranks (still going strong on John Barrowman's excruciating Tonight's The Night). People just got sick of the sight of him - and today's actors, presenters and rent-a-guests should probably take note.