Doc Brown presents an episode too

Paul Merton and Doc Brown are to present the BBC’s flagship movie programme Film 2016.

The show will be using guests hosts when it returns tomorrow, with Zoe Ball in the hotseat for the first episode.

Comic rapper Doc Brown will be presenting next week’s show under his real name Ben Bailey Smith. And Paul Merton – a passionate fan of silent comedy movie –  will be presenting episode 5 on November 30.

Other hosts are Mariella Frostrup, Camilla Long, Edith Bowman and Antonia Quirke. Each episode will feature resident critic Danny Leigh with a guest reviewer.

Film… was first broadcast in 1971 and has been hosted by Barry Norman, Jonathan Ross and Claudia Winkleman.

Strictly Come Dancing presenter Winkleman announced in September that she would not be returning, saying the show ‘deserves someone who can give it their all’ – although that now seems not to be the case.

But the new series is  also a return to its original 1971 format, which used rotating hosts  Joan Bakewell, Frederic Raphael and Ian Johnstone before Norman took over.

Published: 1 Nov 2016