TV presenter Sue Perkins has told how she hopes the late Sir Bruce Forsyth would be “proud” of her role fronting next year’s reboot of The Generation Game
TV presenter Sue Perkins has told how she hopes the late Sir Bruce Forsyth would be “proud” of her role fronting next year’s reboot of The Generation Game.
She will host the 2018 comeback series on the BBC alongside her former Great British Bake Off co-presenter Mel Giedroyc as they take over the job famously held by Sir Bruce in two stints between 1971 and 1994.
While filming for Saturday night’s episode of The Jonathan Ross Show, Sue said: “You can’t even think about it as filling his shoes because those shoes are unfillable. No-one can fill them.
“I hope he would be proud of the spirit of love we’re imbuing it with and the stupidness and silliness and (it’s) just packed full of the general public wanting to play and dress up and fart about. We’ll throw as much fun as we can at it.”
She added: “I really hope we do it justice. We have just started doing some of the game play and it’s really good fun so far, I can’t wait.”
Sir Bruce presented The Generation Game when it aired over the 1970s and 1990s, moving on to shows such as Bruce’s Price Is Right in 1995 and securing his role at the helm of Strictly Come Dancing when it launched in 2004.
He was also a regular guest on The Jonathan Ross Show throughout the early Noughties. He died in August at the age of 89.
Sue will appear on the ITV sofa alongside actors Kit Harington and Liv Tyler, as well as comedian Rob Beckett and singers Mary J Blige and Dua Lipa.
Commenting on working on her new show, The Ganges With Sue Perkins, she joked: “I had this idea that I would be outside the Taj Mahal, there would be wind blowing through my hair, the scent of spices from a local market.
“What actually happened was I got flown in and then an eight-hour drive up 3,000 feet or metres to a shack where a man asked me if I would like a ‘spa experience’, which was a joke. “It was minus 10 and they throw a bucket of boiling water over you. That’s the spa experience. You towel off really quickly.”
Admitting that she is “not very fit”, she told how she struggled with the demands of trekking in the Himalayas.
At one point, she said: “I crawled on my hands and knees, and there is just me shivering on a ledge, gesticulating with spew all down (me). It’s quite full-on.”
The Jonathan Ross Show airs on ITV at 9.45pm on Saturday.
