Leigh Francis (AKA Keith Lemon)

Leigh Francis is a comedian and performer who, although perhaps not that well known in his own right, is the creator of some of the most popular, and outrageous cult comic characters around including Keith Lemon, Avid Merrion, and The Bear. However it is as Keith, star of a whole host of ITV2 shows, that he has become best known.

Starting out as a standup comedian, Leigh had an early TV break as Bobby Stark, a man delivering tips on how to be a lothario with mixed success. He then appeared on Channel 4’s Popworld as paparazzo Barry Gibson. It was these two characters that persuaded Channel 4 to commission a series based around them called Bo' Selecta! The series centred around Leigh’s eccesntic impressions of celebrities, usually based around ludicrous rubber masks, catchphrases and broad Yorkshire accents (whether said celebrity was from Yorkshire or not). The show became a huge cult success and the catchphrases were heard in pubs, offices and student unions across the country.

After the success of Bo' Selecta! Leigh took one of the show’s characters, Keith Lemon to a series of his own on ITV2. Keith Lemon's Very Brilliant World Tour was another success and lead to the creation of the anarchic panel show Celebrity Juice. In turn Celebrity Juice has spawned The Bang Tidy Show, Coming in America, Shopping with Keith Lemon, and a comedy partnership with Paddy McGuinness which saw the two create film parody series The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, as well as starring in Keith Lemon: The Film.

Leigh hosts the podcast Back Then When alongside presenter Lucie Cave.