0:00:02 > 0:00:03I love this job, you know.
0:00:03 > 0:00:05Talking to people about their faith,
0:00:05 > 0:00:06no matter what their faith is
0:00:06 > 0:00:09and discussing how it's influenced their daily lives,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11their decisions on their careers.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14And when I'm with them, I often take an awful lot of photographs,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17and I've got a card here I really must get printed up at some stage,
0:00:17 > 0:00:18but, you know, finding somewhere to...
0:00:18 > 0:00:20ORGAN PLAYS
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Oh, I say, that's a bit of luck.
0:00:25 > 0:00:26LAUGHTER
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Is that the 128 megabytes memory card or the 256?
0:00:29 > 0:00:31The 256.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Good, well, that's all very straightforward.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Should have those ready for you...
0:00:36 > 0:00:37..in about an hour.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40Perfect, that's the length of the chat with my next guest.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42See you in about an hour, then.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47A direct descendant of William the Conqueror,
0:00:47 > 0:00:48my guest this week
0:00:48 > 0:00:53is one of the most quintessentially English gentlemen there is.
0:00:53 > 0:00:54Alexander Armstrong made his name
0:00:54 > 0:00:57playing stiff upper-lipped characters
0:00:57 > 0:00:58as part of a comedy double act.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01The big thing about me is I'm just myself, and that's who I am, right?
0:01:01 > 0:01:03And if you don't like that, then you can just deal with it, girlfriend,
0:01:03 > 0:01:04because that's who I am!
0:01:04 > 0:01:07The quiz show he presents has such a devoted following
0:01:07 > 0:01:09that it's become a national institution.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11APPLAUSE
0:01:11 > 0:01:13Right, if everyone's ready, let's play Pointless.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15He spent his childhood immersed
0:01:15 > 0:01:17in the rituals of the Church of England.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20I think he would say he's a good churchman.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Church is part of who he is.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27And if that's not enough, he's also the new James Bond...
0:01:27 > 0:01:28Well, of the rodent world.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Saving the world's what I do, Penfold.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35But throughout his successful career of comedy and broadcasting,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Alexander has held another passion.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40One that he's been hiding in plain sight.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42# Your hair is cool
0:01:42 > 0:01:44# Your eyes divine... #
0:01:44 > 0:01:45Whenever he could,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Alexander Armstrong grasped the opportunity to sing.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53# You will get a sentimental feeling... #
0:01:54 > 0:01:58It's a love that began in the church pews as a choirboy.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03Now Alexander is finally hoping to take his singing career main stage.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07# I would be strong,
0:02:07 > 0:02:12# For there is much to suffer... #
0:02:14 > 0:02:18It will only cement him further in the nation's heart.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23But despite a charmed life of talent and fame,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Alexander hasn't escaped the blows that life throws at all of us.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30There are still things back there that I haven't really...
0:02:33 > 0:02:35..entirely dealt with, I think.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41I'm really looking forward to meeting Alexander Armstrong,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44and finding out if that affable, slightly bumbling fellow
0:02:44 > 0:02:48that we know and love so well on Pointless is really him -
0:02:48 > 0:02:52and has a childhood spent sitting in the pews of churches
0:02:52 > 0:02:55influenced the way he feels about God?
0:02:55 > 0:02:57And is he really that nice?
0:03:09 > 0:03:11As I arrive at Alexander's house,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14I can't resist meeting some of his rather unusual family members.
0:03:16 > 0:03:17So this is Denzel and Dennis?
0:03:17 > 0:03:19This is Denzel and Dennis.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22In another field, we have Delilah and Dominic.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24They're all beginning with D, you might have noticed.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28- OK.- There's a bit of a family soap opera going on at the moment.
0:03:28 > 0:03:29One of them suddenly turned on another one,
0:03:29 > 0:03:33and that one will be filthy because they all spit at it.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35It's so unfair.
0:03:35 > 0:03:36It's miserable, really.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39I think, though, I'm going to have to take you inside,
0:03:39 > 0:03:41- I want to talk to you.- OK. - Yes.- Let's go and do it.
0:03:41 > 0:03:42To the house.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong, known to all as Xander,
0:03:48 > 0:03:53was born on the 2nd of March 1970, the youngest of three children.
0:03:55 > 0:03:56You have an older brother?
0:03:56 > 0:03:57Yeah - older brother, older sister.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59There's only a year and a half between them,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02- and then a gap of three years and then me.- Ooh.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04So, yes, quite...
0:04:06 > 0:04:08I think, we're very close, actually, we're a very close family,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11but inevitably they always were the tennis players
0:04:11 > 0:04:14and I was always the ball boy, if you see what I mean.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16- The three...- And when their friends come round,
0:04:16 > 0:04:17they shut the door in your face?
0:04:17 > 0:04:22Slightly - and so my reaction was to be a pain, which I did very well.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27The Armstrong family lived in the wilds of Northumberland,
0:04:27 > 0:04:31his mother a magistrate and his father the village doctor.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33I imagine he spent his entire childhood
0:04:33 > 0:04:35running through hills, scrumping apples
0:04:35 > 0:04:36and playing the violin or something,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38that's my guess.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Well, I think he had a very old-fashioned upbringing.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45I think my upbringing is fairly old-fashioned,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47but not in comparison with his. He went to school on a donkey!
0:04:47 > 0:04:49I'm not sure they had shoes, sort of dirt floors,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51lived on a farm or something.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53I think they relied on their own invention a lot.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55I think that's probably where a certain amount
0:04:55 > 0:04:58of his creativity comes from, because,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01let me tell you, if you grew up there, you had to be creative!
0:05:03 > 0:05:06You were remote when you are growing up in Northumberland, weren't you?
0:05:06 > 0:05:10We were. And we lived, we really did live right in the middle of nowhere.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14I mean, I wouldn't have had it any other way, but we were about
0:05:14 > 0:05:18four-and-a-half miles away from our nearest village.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21Despite such a remote existence,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25community was at the heart of the Armstrong family.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27I think, when you're the son of a doctor,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30you are necessarily very involved in your wider community.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33And I think that has had a real impact on him.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36The highlight of the Armstrong's social life
0:05:36 > 0:05:39was their weekly visit to church.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Church was one of the events in our...
0:05:41 > 0:05:43You know, we lived in the middle of nowhere,
0:05:43 > 0:05:44we'd come into the village for church.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46It was quite exciting - we'd see people.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49You know, my father was a church warden,
0:05:49 > 0:05:51and...and his father before him!
0:05:51 > 0:05:53It just sounds like such a sort of...
0:05:53 > 0:05:57"Oh, here we go." But it was a big part of our week.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59You know, in parts...
0:05:59 > 0:06:02I think my father would very much see it as part of his,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05part and parcel of his job as a doctor, as well.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Talking of which, I mean, my goodness,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10the number of times medical emergencies would happen in church,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12because it would be Sunday morning, there'd be lots of people
0:06:12 > 0:06:15that would come from the old people's home and things like that.
0:06:15 > 0:06:16So at least two or three times a year
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Dad would have to jump over pews
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and we'd be sort of beaming with pride at our father,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24the great medical man who would then rush to the aid...
0:06:24 > 0:06:25Our father, who art a doctor.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Who art a doctor, yeah.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30I can't pretend that we didn't fidget and muck about
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and generally misbehave.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35It was great, I loved church.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38When Alexander was very young,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41he made a secret discovery in his parents' house.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44It would be the start of a lifelong passion.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48I would wake up before everyone else woke up,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50and I could never go back to sleep.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52I would always go downstairs and explore.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55The first thing I always went to was the record player,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58and I would just put a record on, which was completely forbidden,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00but down in the early hours I could put records on.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03- I just loved the act of... - Oh, yes.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06You'd bring the control down and the arm would then come down
0:07:06 > 0:07:09- in its own sweet time.- Oh! - I loved that.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13VIOLIN CONCERTO PLAYS
0:07:14 > 0:07:15And what were you listening to?
0:07:15 > 0:07:17I would listen to my parents' record collection.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20I'd work my way through, and it was largely classical music.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22But it just felt so grown up.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26I loved that. I think being the youngest, it mattered a lot to me,
0:07:26 > 0:07:31to be able to live in this rather grown-up world of classical music.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35So I would learn to love, from a very early age,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37Beethoven violin concerto -
0:07:37 > 0:07:39I remember listening to that.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Alexander's love for music
0:07:49 > 0:07:52would continue to grow throughout his life,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56but his idyllic rural childhood was not to last.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Like his older brother and sister before him,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Alexander was sent to boarding school.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06How old were you when you are packed off to boarding school?
0:08:06 > 0:08:10I was seven and a half when I went off to boarding school.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12- That's young.- It is young.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14And that will sound to a lot of people
0:08:14 > 0:08:18like an act of heartless brutality on the part of my parents, but...
0:08:20 > 0:08:22I mean, really, it absolutely destroyed them, as well.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26They absolutely hated us going off to boarding school,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29but we lived in the middle of nowhere.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31- Do you remember that first day... - Oh, God, I do...
0:08:31 > 0:08:34- When you turned up and had to wave your parents goodbye?- I do.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37I know. It was an evening, you'd turn up in the evening.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39And you'd sort of - you'd been looking forward to it,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41and you had no idea what it was going to be.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43I literally had no idea at all.
0:08:43 > 0:08:44You turn up and it's all fine,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46you're quite excited when you're going.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Because it is exciting, you're going off -
0:08:49 > 0:08:50it's one big sleepover
0:08:50 > 0:08:52with lots of people who are going to be your best friends
0:08:52 > 0:08:53and you have all your new kit
0:08:53 > 0:08:55and you've got stuff with your name written on,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57and you've got - you know, it's very exciting.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00There's a torch with Armstrong written on it,
0:09:00 > 0:09:04and a tuck box and things. It's...
0:09:04 > 0:09:06And then you arrive, and all that resolve just goes...
0:09:06 > 0:09:09"Gah..." You know, and...
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Everyone's desperately trying to be cheerful,
0:09:12 > 0:09:13and then the moment comes,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and your parents say, "Well, that's excellent.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20"We'll write. We'll write to you," and then off they go.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24It was pretty bleak. I mean...
0:09:24 > 0:09:27There's no getting around the bleakness
0:09:27 > 0:09:29of...of that.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32But, oh, God, you miss, you miss home.
0:09:32 > 0:09:33Home is almost a religious thing
0:09:33 > 0:09:37and everything to do with home you revere and you hold tight.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Home would remain precious to Alexander,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46but eventually he embraced boarding school life.
0:09:46 > 0:09:47You did end up loving it.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50Hogwarts is quite a good example - I can point to...
0:09:50 > 0:09:54You have to imagine the enormous adventures and camaraderie
0:09:54 > 0:09:58of that dormitory life, and wonderful friendships.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02I mean, really, truly wonderful friendships that you have,
0:10:02 > 0:10:08and actually, you do have a lovely time there, actually.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10You do, and you are looked after very well.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12It was at his boarding school
0:10:12 > 0:10:15that Alexander was given the opportunity
0:10:15 > 0:10:19to embrace his love for music and nurture a great talent.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22Were you singing at prep school?
0:10:22 > 0:10:24- Yes, that's where singing suddenly took hold.- Ah!
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Did you know you had a voice, before you got there?
0:10:27 > 0:10:29I sort of did, actually, I sort of did.
0:10:29 > 0:10:30I knew I could hold a tune.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33And then when I got there I was very pleased,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35because my brother had been in the choir there.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39The choir was run by this absolute saint of a woman,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42the headmaster's wife, Mrs Dakin, she was called.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45We were taught in their house, so it wasn't done in a classroom,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49it was done in a really nice - very sort of cosy,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53around the kitchen table, and you're allowed to eat biscuits and things,
0:10:53 > 0:10:55which no-one else was allowed to do.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59It just felt like a really exciting privilege to do music.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03So that was lovely, and music then took over.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09Alexander would sing as a chorister for the rest of his education.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Day after day he would spend hours in holy buildings,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16immersed in the long traditions of sacred language and music.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19It would have a profound influence on him,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23becoming the foundation of his Christian faith.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Like all little choristers,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29he grew up from a very young age caught up in that daily literature,
0:11:29 > 0:11:31that daily round of prayer
0:11:31 > 0:11:36in a cavernous and beautiful building in Edinburgh,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39at the Great Cathedral.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41I think, for Xander,
0:11:41 > 0:11:46and for many people who come to the church and religion through music,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48there's a quality to music-making
0:11:48 > 0:11:51that isn't just about notes and scores,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53it is very much about offering the gifts
0:11:53 > 0:11:56that they've been given by God in the service of the church.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01So I think music is far more than just an art form for him,
0:12:01 > 0:12:05I think it is part of his spirituality.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07What is your faith, how would you describe it?
0:12:07 > 0:12:11I don't know. For me, it's part and parcel with music, really.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15It's through having sung...
0:12:15 > 0:12:19I mean, not just sung a bit, but sung endlessly.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22I mean, pretty much every day of the week
0:12:22 > 0:12:25from...with a couple of breaks here and there,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27but from the age of about 11 to the age of 23.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30The service that belongs to you as a chorister is evensong.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32- Oh, yes. - That's the service that's yours.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34You do that one five times a week.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37CHOIR SINGS
0:12:41 > 0:12:43It's very ancient and very ritualistic, which I love.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49And it's full of beautiful music, which I love,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53and it's full of pauses for reflection and contemplation.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01It takes place at that lovely time of just when evening's coming in,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03in the gathering darkness, in the naves.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10I find that there's something...
0:13:10 > 0:13:14immensely powerful and comforting in that, and I draw...
0:13:14 > 0:13:16I draw huge comfort from that.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20It's something that I think is a sort of presence.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22I like going to church, I find it comforting.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24I like that it's a place I can turn to
0:13:24 > 0:13:26in desperate need.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35When Alexander was 17 he faced the hardest moment of his young life.
0:13:37 > 0:13:38Tragedy struck his family
0:13:38 > 0:13:42when his younger cousin Alistair was being driven home from school
0:13:42 > 0:13:46one day by his friend's mother and a drunk driver hit their car.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52Alistair, his friend and his friend's mother were all killed.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56I think when you were young you lost your cousin, didn't you,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- who was very young?- I did, I did.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02That must have been difficult, as a young man -
0:14:02 > 0:14:04- you were only about 17, I think?- Mm.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09Yes, I was 17 and it came out of a clear blue sky.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11These lovely cousins of ours.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15That was...
0:14:15 > 0:14:19I mean, just an extraordinary shock, really.
0:14:19 > 0:14:20Funny how...
0:14:22 > 0:14:24It's funny how the way life moves on.
0:14:24 > 0:14:25You...
0:14:25 > 0:14:29There are still things back there that I haven't really...
0:14:31 > 0:14:35..entirely dealt with, I think, in a funny way.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38I always know that it's a thing I can go back to and...
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Um...
0:14:44 > 0:14:47- Do you wish to stop? - No, it's all right.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51It's funny. One of the great...
0:14:52 > 0:14:57I think one of things about life is you do...
0:14:58 > 0:15:00..constantly move on.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03And there's so much grouting
0:15:03 > 0:15:08and so much weft and weave in our lives, um...
0:15:08 > 0:15:12that you, you are able to move on.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17It was just, yes, such an extraordinary shock
0:15:17 > 0:15:19because you think, with...with young people,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21you're always thinking of the future,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25that's what young people are, that's what they represent.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27So, yes, that's a, it's a...
0:15:27 > 0:15:29really, really...
0:15:31 > 0:15:37..harsh lesson in that ending, you know, in the reality of that ending.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40But in a funny way,
0:15:40 > 0:15:44it was the first time I started to think of...
0:15:47 > 0:15:49..I suppose, think of spirit, actually.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Alistair... There are things that'll never die,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54I'll always remember and always...
0:15:54 > 0:16:00having been alive, he's therefore always alive, he's alive, that's it.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Alexander had found comfort in a faith
0:16:05 > 0:16:07born from his time as a choirboy.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12As he got older he moved nearer home to Durham School.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16It's quite old-fashioned, lots of old Victorian values,
0:16:16 > 0:16:18it was all about sport, really,
0:16:18 > 0:16:19and if you weren't any good at sport -
0:16:19 > 0:16:21and I wasn't especially good at sport -
0:16:21 > 0:16:25you weren't really, you weren't really anyone, you know,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27the sportsmen were revered.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31To compensate for a lack of sporting prowess,
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Alexander began to develop another talent.
0:16:35 > 0:16:36Alex was always good fun in class,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40he was lively, responsive, very witty.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45He had wonderful impressions of the staff - very good mimic.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48In fact, I would say a brilliant mimic.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52I don't think he would object if I said he timed his efforts at A Level
0:16:52 > 0:16:54very, very well indeed.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56And I'll leave it at that - but he came out very well,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59I think he got a grade A in English -
0:16:59 > 0:17:02but in class he was good, outside of class he was better.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04One of your teachers, Mr Dias...?
0:17:04 > 0:17:07- Oh, yes... - He remembers you very well
0:17:07 > 0:17:11doing well in class but you were even better out of it
0:17:11 > 0:17:14when you were doing all your impersonations.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16Yes, it's funny how often comics say that.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22Actually, that story that comedy arose out of mimicry.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24It's a very easy way to win friends at school
0:17:24 > 0:17:27when you arrive at a big school,
0:17:27 > 0:17:32if you can actually get about five or six of the teachers off pat,
0:17:32 > 0:17:38your...you become, your worth, your value, goes up colossally.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41There was... We had a wonderful woman called Mrs Rollings,
0:17:41 > 0:17:42who used to teach pottery...
0:17:42 > 0:17:46- SOFT GEORDIE ACCENT:- Pottery - and she had a very particular way
0:17:46 > 0:17:51of talking. It's a smoker's... When people smoke,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53there's a very tight-lipped,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57sort of, you know, it's a smoker's way of talking.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02And Mrs Rollings basically would talk about pottery "as a craft".
0:18:02 > 0:18:06And I remember that we adored Mrs Rollings, she was lovely. Oh, God...
0:18:06 > 0:18:08That's a Newcastle accent.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10- That's right, yes. - So, you were up in Newcastle?
0:18:10 > 0:18:12That's right, I was in Durham.
0:18:12 > 0:18:13I was at Durham.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19After Durham, Alexander headed to Trinity College Cambridge.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25At university, the comic side of Alexander was given room to blossom.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27He'd got to Trinity on a choral scholarship,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31but it was now that he also joined the famous comedy club,
0:18:31 > 0:18:32The Footlights.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35He was a wonderful presence, because he was always acting,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37doing Footlights and things like that,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39and you could see how talented he was,
0:18:39 > 0:18:40and even then he was singing,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42and you could see there was something about him
0:18:42 > 0:18:45that made you think, "I'm going to keep an eye on this guy."
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Who were the names in your years?
0:18:48 > 0:18:53In my... In my gang, Mel and Sue, lovely Mel and Sue.
0:18:53 > 0:18:54Sacha Baron Cohen was there?
0:18:54 > 0:18:56Sacha was there, as well.
0:18:56 > 0:18:57I didn't know Sacha particularly well...
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Will Sutcliffe was another part of that gang.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03- Richard Osman?- Richard Osman! But he wasn't in the Footlights.
0:19:03 > 0:19:04- Oh, wasn't he?- No! I know!
0:19:04 > 0:19:06Funniest man, funniest man I've ever met,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08and he wasn't in the Footlights.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10We were in the same college together at Cambridge,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14he moved with a different crowd than I did - and he still does!
0:19:15 > 0:19:16It was in the Footlights
0:19:16 > 0:19:21that Alexander was given the opportunity to hone his funny side.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Oh, make no mistake, these were terrible...
0:19:24 > 0:19:25We used to write terrible things.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27I think that's why Footlights is so good,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29you get all these things out of your system.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Having written lots and lots of really terrible things,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34you then start landing on things you think, "Ah, that's...
0:19:34 > 0:19:36"Here we go, this is quite fun."
0:19:36 > 0:19:39You start to learn how to formalise your meanderings,
0:19:39 > 0:19:40that's probably it.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45In 1992, Alexander reached the end of his formal education,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48he had graduated, and now had to make a choice.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52I was thinking, "Actually, what am I going to do?"
0:19:52 > 0:19:53because I always imagined
0:19:53 > 0:19:57that during that three-year period there would be a great moment of,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01"Ahhh... Of course, I'm going to go and work for ICI,"
0:20:01 > 0:20:05or, "Ahhh, of course, I'm going to be a chartered accountant!"
0:20:05 > 0:20:07It's beckoning.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11These things I thought were going to be perfectly plain to me.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16Nothing, nothing at all, not a hint, a clue of anywhere I wanted to go.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18However, the music had been -
0:20:18 > 0:20:22you know, you're trained, you're trained,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25you work so hard, your technique, your discipline,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28everything is at its absolute peak,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31so you come to the end of your third year of singing
0:20:31 > 0:20:34in this semiprofessional capacity,
0:20:34 > 0:20:38right at the top of your game, 22, 23,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41I was the soloist on the last recording we did with Trinity
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and then, then what?
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Am I going to go on, go on and maybe study music?
0:20:47 > 0:20:49The other way was to go towards comedy -
0:20:49 > 0:20:52and that way I could instantly see what was going to happen,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55because a gang of friends of mine were setting up this comedy club
0:20:55 > 0:20:58in Notting Hill and saying, "Come on, come and be a part of it."
0:20:58 > 0:21:00So I went - I went comedy.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02And shortly after university,
0:21:02 > 0:21:06Alexander met the man who would become his first other half.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Ben was at Cambridge, I knew of Ben,
0:21:09 > 0:21:11Ben was quite well-known at Cambridge,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14he was a very conspicuous figure in the Footlights.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18He had a band, went out with Rachel Weisz.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20You know, Ben was a bit of a sort of golden boy.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22I mainly heard about Xander through reputation,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26because I heard about this very, very funny actor
0:21:26 > 0:21:29who was always laughing in the plays that he was in,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33he couldn't stop corpsing, basically,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37during any play that he was in!
0:21:37 > 0:21:39I'd seen Ben perform -
0:21:39 > 0:21:45and Ben has this lovely line in just acutely observed character comedy.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47He has a sort of mannered comic style
0:21:47 > 0:21:52which is so subtle, but once you've clicked into it
0:21:52 > 0:21:54it's just irresistible,
0:21:54 > 0:21:59and he's just a wonderful, wonderful, comic personality, Ben.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01Did you finally meet on a drunken night?
0:22:01 > 0:22:04We finally met on a drunken night, pretty much.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Yeah, and we went straight into writing, writing sketches.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11I used to write these little sketches and send them to him,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14IN the hope of sort of enticing him
0:22:14 > 0:22:18to, you know, come and be in a... come and do a double act with me.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22And yeah, eventually, we sort of decided to,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24one of the sketches I sent him,
0:22:24 > 0:22:26we performed it at a sort of sketch night.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28I think I walked on stage,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31immediately forgot all of the lines that I'd written.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34And we just laughed, we laughed and laughed and laughed
0:22:34 > 0:22:37and we both had the same sort of, slightly off-kilter
0:22:37 > 0:22:39sense of humour.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42It's a really, really fortunate thing,
0:22:42 > 0:22:43but something just clicked.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47Armstrong had met Miller -
0:22:47 > 0:22:49but to make it in comedy you first need to make it
0:22:49 > 0:22:52at the Edinburgh Fringe.
0:22:52 > 0:22:57We'd gone in 1994 and had, I think, the most bruising review -
0:22:57 > 0:23:01which I can still remember every word of.
0:23:01 > 0:23:02I remember it saying,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05"Armstrong and Miller have invented a new kind of comedy -
0:23:05 > 0:23:09"one which isn't funny and has no jokes whatsoever."
0:23:09 > 0:23:14And we'd been really quite... That had really cut us to the quick.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19But despite the slating, Alexander and Ben refused to give up.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21And we'd worked really hard for a couple of years -
0:23:21 > 0:23:25we didn't go back in '95, but in '96 we went back,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29feeling we'd really...and we were like a different act.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31It's very competitive, it's a cut-throat business now.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34And basically there's young guys like us...
0:23:36 > 0:23:37- Muscling in.- Muscling in!
0:23:37 > 0:23:38So, your career path could be
0:23:38 > 0:23:40presenting Edinburgh Nights in ten years.
0:23:40 > 0:23:41Yeah!
0:23:42 > 0:23:44And we had the most amazing time,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47and we got nominated for the Perrier Award,
0:23:47 > 0:23:51and we got given our own show, and it was amazing.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53Guys, if you're thinking of going out drinking tonight, OK,
0:23:53 > 0:23:55could you do something for us?
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Before you order a second beer, just think to yourself,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00do I really need another to have fun?
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Because the second beer can easily lead to a third beer,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09and before you know it, you've had four beers.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11That's a great night out for you guys, sure,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13but it's overtime for your liver.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16'The fantastic thing was the audience reaction,'
0:24:16 > 0:24:18people just laughed at us on stage
0:24:18 > 0:24:22and that's really what you, you know, that's sort of what you need,
0:24:22 > 0:24:24and you need, sort of, people just to be laughing
0:24:24 > 0:24:28at the combination of the two of you for a reason they can't explain.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36In 1997, Alexander and Ben hit our screens with Armstrong And Miller.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40I think my favourite Armstrong And Miller sketch
0:24:40 > 0:24:42is anything with the RAF pilots in it.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Here, have you heard about Chalky and all this?
0:24:45 > 0:24:47He's actually a spy for, like, that lot we're fighting.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50- The Germans or whatever.- No way!
0:24:50 > 0:24:51Chalky? A spy?
0:24:51 > 0:24:53- You mean Chalky?- Yeah, man! Chalky.
0:24:53 > 0:24:54Chalky Von Schmidt, a spy?
0:24:56 > 0:25:00The genius of it, to take the language of the modern teenager
0:25:00 > 0:25:03and put it in the mouth of a Battle of Britain pilot
0:25:03 > 0:25:05is a level of genius on a sort of Python level.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08I swear down. He's been giving the Germans
0:25:08 > 0:25:09all, like, spoilers about the war and this.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Oh, my days, that is so two-faced!
0:25:11 > 0:25:14It was a very particular thing we used to try and achieve
0:25:14 > 0:25:17with Armstrong and Miller which was to go very much for style,
0:25:17 > 0:25:22to try and pastiche style as well as we possibly could,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24so you'd almost get a laugh from recognition,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26rather than necessarily from gags,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30and then we'd put something... we'd put a slightly odd tilt on it.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35The train approaching Platform 2 is the 07:44 to Marylebone.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37I love you all.
0:25:37 > 0:25:38Let's hear it for commuting!
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!
0:25:41 > 0:25:45It's just two guys mucking about, two people who can really act,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48which is quite unusual for comics, two guys who can really write,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51which is less unusual, and two guys that had great chemistry
0:25:51 > 0:25:54and right from the start, you could tell it was going to be a hit.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Armstrong and Miller would prove to be a successful double act
0:25:58 > 0:26:01for the next 15 years.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Whilst working on the second series of Armstrong And Miller,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Alexander received some terrible news about a good friend of his.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13Tell me about Charlie Waller.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17I got to know Charlie very well because - through his brother,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21his brother Rick was a very good friend of mine at Trinity.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26He was just an absolute superstar, Charlie, one of the funniest...
0:26:26 > 0:26:31genuinely funny, funny people you could ever wish to meet.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35He would light up a room, Charlie, when he came in.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37He was a big lad, a bit of a sort of...
0:26:37 > 0:26:40He was a useful forward in rugby.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47It was the summer of 1997, the summer of Princess Diana's death.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51This is BBC Television from London.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54A short while ago, Buckingham Palace confirmed the death of Diana,
0:26:54 > 0:26:55Princess of Wales.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59I remember the day after the Princess of Wales' funeral,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01driving up to Sheffield.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03I was driving up on the Sunday afterwards
0:27:03 > 0:27:08and I remember the motorway just being lined with flowers,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11it was...it just felt a bit dreamlike,
0:27:11 > 0:27:12it was just a very odd thing.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15I suddenly got a call
0:27:15 > 0:27:18from my girlfriend, then, saying...
0:27:20 > 0:27:22..Charlie Waller's killed himself.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27And as I...
0:27:27 > 0:27:32I should think, far too many of us know what that sensation is like
0:27:32 > 0:27:36when you're... You know, we all get told snippets of news
0:27:36 > 0:27:39like that, that just... Thwang!
0:27:39 > 0:27:45And you are sort of thrown into a mad sort of, "What the...?
0:27:45 > 0:27:48"Who? Charlie? Why?
0:27:48 > 0:27:50"What?"
0:27:50 > 0:27:52It turned out Charlie had been suffering...
0:27:52 > 0:27:55suffering from depression for years
0:27:55 > 0:27:58and nobody had particularly known, no-one had really known about it.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01You know? But Charlie, of all people,
0:28:01 > 0:28:05this great rock of a man,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08should have been suffering all this time.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11So, what Charlie's family did,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13is they said, "Right, that's it," immediately, "We're not...
0:28:13 > 0:28:17"We're not going to spend all this time lamenting Charlie.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20"Charlie is too big a presence for that."
0:28:20 > 0:28:23You know, again, there's my theory about people,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26someone like Charlie, he doesn't die,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30Charlie's around, Charlie will be around for a very, very long time.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33Not least of all in the name of this -
0:28:33 > 0:28:35he lives on in the name of this trust,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust,
0:28:37 > 0:28:41which has been set up to deal with the issue of latent depression.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43You know? I mean, latent, only to everyone else,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46but depression that people keep under wraps.
0:28:46 > 0:28:47And it's so hidden,
0:28:47 > 0:28:51and young men don't have the dialogue to use and...
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Exactly - and, tragically,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57- it is young men that seem to be the most afflicted by it.- Yes.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00Extraordinary statistics.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02And, yes, it's just a matter of...
0:29:02 > 0:29:06As in, as in every area of life,
0:29:06 > 0:29:10it's all about making sure channels of communication are maintained
0:29:10 > 0:29:12- and always open.- Yes. Yes.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17Today, Alexander is a patron of the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21Our vision is of a world where people understand
0:29:21 > 0:29:23and talk openly about depression.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29Fantastic! A wedding!
0:29:29 > 0:29:31By 2002,
0:29:31 > 0:29:35Alexander had established himself as a regular presence on our screens,
0:29:35 > 0:29:37both on programmes and in between them.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39I'm not going to lie to you,
0:29:39 > 0:29:40as a man of impeccable driving skill,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43the reward for careful drivers tempts me.
0:29:43 > 0:29:44Hang on!
0:29:44 > 0:29:48Four of you, one of me - I make that Pimms o'clock, don't you?
0:29:50 > 0:29:52Then, one day in April 2002,
0:29:52 > 0:29:56he went on a shopping trip that would change his life.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00We met when I was an events organiser at Harvey Nichols
0:30:00 > 0:30:03and he was doing personal shopping
0:30:03 > 0:30:07with his friend and my boss wanted to set us up.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10I fell absolutely head over heels in love with her
0:30:10 > 0:30:14the first time I saw her. I thought, just the most lovely person!
0:30:14 > 0:30:16He took my number and he sent me...
0:30:16 > 0:30:19it was quite, sort of...
0:30:19 > 0:30:22quite an old-fashioned courtship in that he sent me texts every day,
0:30:22 > 0:30:23which is not old-fashioned,
0:30:23 > 0:30:26but we wouldn't see each other for a good couple of weeks
0:30:26 > 0:30:28and they were very funny - every day I got a text,
0:30:28 > 0:30:31very funny, telling me about his day and I thought,
0:30:31 > 0:30:33"Oh, maybe he's quite interesting."
0:30:33 > 0:30:35Did it all happen very quickly?
0:30:35 > 0:30:37- Engagement and wedding? - It did, really.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40The engagement happened very... Oh, God, I knew instantly.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43I mean, I really did know before terribly long
0:30:43 > 0:30:47that she was exactly the person I wanted to marry.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51Anyhow, I bit my tongue for as long as was decently possible,
0:30:51 > 0:30:53then I think, really,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56it was a year after we'd been going out I asked her to marry me,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59which I think is probably, most people say,
0:30:59 > 0:31:02"Well, that's a bit quick, isn't it?" But you know, I just knew.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04Absolutely knew.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09Today, Alexander and Hannah run a very busy household.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12He's got a lot of children. He's got four sons, they're all mini Xanders.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Yes, we like to have a lot of dependants
0:31:14 > 0:31:16dangling off us at any one time.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20In fact, he's such a good dad that one of the main reasons
0:31:20 > 0:31:21that I married my wife
0:31:21 > 0:31:23was so that Xander would be the uncle
0:31:23 > 0:31:25of my, as yet, unborn children.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28So, we have two unbelievably naughty dogs.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31- Hello!- This is Genghis!- Who's this? - Hello, Genghis!
0:31:31 > 0:31:32Here are the questions!
0:31:32 > 0:31:33Do you...?
0:31:34 > 0:31:36The animals are just crazy.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38Two cats, five chickens.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41I think they're just a family who can't stop.
0:31:41 > 0:31:42Two Shetland ponies.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46One old lady pony who's gorgeous, called Shimoo.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48And sometimes she sounds a little anguished.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50I think five llamas now.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55Because juggling children, Xander and llamas, now,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58is quite a burden for anyone to bear.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01Listen, I think Xander just likes to surround himself
0:32:01 > 0:32:02with life, you know?
0:32:02 > 0:32:05He's got as many kids as I think he's allowed to have,
0:32:05 > 0:32:07he tries to pack as many animals as he's allowed to have
0:32:07 > 0:32:09into his life, as well.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13You know, I think that tells you something about the man,
0:32:13 > 0:32:14that he just wants life around him.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16He wants to interact with it.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18That's where he's happy.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Xander is a proper family man.
0:32:21 > 0:32:26He loves his children and he is immensely kind and generous.
0:32:26 > 0:32:27Alexander is keen for his children
0:32:27 > 0:32:30to have the same Christian upbringing he had.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32I know church means a lot to Xander.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35We have Sunday lunch with him quite often and he's often late back
0:32:35 > 0:32:38with whichever of the children he's taken to church. He always goes.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42It's always lovely to see him with his boys,
0:32:42 > 0:32:45and I think he delights in trying to introduce them
0:32:45 > 0:32:47to the same tradition in which he grew up.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Of course, now he is so famous, he turns lots of heads -
0:32:50 > 0:32:53but he is pretty much part of the family here at Saint Paul's.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56It's a nice hour, just to sort of take out,
0:32:56 > 0:32:58and it's really good for - I think it's great for the children.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00It's good for the children to be a bit bored.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03I like the idea of going to church,
0:33:03 > 0:33:06and I like, as a result of having gone to church when we were little,
0:33:06 > 0:33:07I'm perfectly comfortable in church,
0:33:07 > 0:33:12and I therefore have great affection for the idea of church.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18By 2003, Alexander's personal life was coming together.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21But his professional life was starting to unravel.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26Armstrong And Miller had continued for eight successful years,
0:33:26 > 0:33:28but it was now showing signs of strain.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30They were heading for a big bust-up.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34Very good.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37Well, I read, and you can tell me if this isn't real or true,
0:33:37 > 0:33:39that you apparently had a bit of a hissy fit
0:33:39 > 0:33:42and you were the one who went, "I'm stopping this for a bit."
0:33:42 > 0:33:44- I did.- Did you? - I did have a hissy fit.
0:33:44 > 0:33:50We'd been working together for about eight years by that stage.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54I remember, we were working on a screenplay
0:33:54 > 0:33:57and the screenplay we had started on,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01we just got further and further away from the story that I really loved.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04I did just say, "Right, sorry, I'm not enjoying this any more,
0:34:04 > 0:34:07"la, la, la, la, la, I'm off." And...
0:34:08 > 0:34:11- Yeah, it was quite a cathartic moment.- Was it?
0:34:12 > 0:34:15I felt he was entirely justified at the time, to be honest with you.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18It really just deepens your relationship, I think.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Because if you don't voice those things,
0:34:22 > 0:34:24it'll just come out in other ways.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26You're better off just telling the person
0:34:26 > 0:34:29what really annoys you about them!
0:34:30 > 0:34:33It puts odd pressures on you, being a writer, trying to write -
0:34:33 > 0:34:36not just writing stuff that you hope is going to be funny.
0:34:36 > 0:34:37Mm.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41And you're... You know,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43to be sociable, your reaction if someone tells you a joke,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46you would always say, "Ha-ha, that's great!"
0:34:46 > 0:34:48If you are working and you are working with someone
0:34:48 > 0:34:50and writing jokes together, you end up going,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53"Mm, yeah, I think we need to lose a little bit from the middle
0:34:53 > 0:34:55"and tighten up the end of it there."
0:34:55 > 0:34:58It's not a great arena to be in.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00You can do it for a long time,
0:35:00 > 0:35:02but there comes a point when you just think,
0:35:02 > 0:35:05"Oh, God, why don't you like any of the things I'm...?"
0:35:05 > 0:35:07There comes a point where you do just...
0:35:07 > 0:35:10you have slightly tested each other's patience.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12There have been times when Xander's blown up at me,
0:35:12 > 0:35:14and there's times when I've blown up at him.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17It's not the kind of relationship where we then sit down
0:35:17 > 0:35:19and discuss that for weeks on end,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22trying to figure out who was right and who was wrong.
0:35:22 > 0:35:23It's like a sibling relationship.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25It's like, "OK, fair enough."
0:35:25 > 0:35:27- Are you all right?- Yes.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30After four series, the pair took a five-year break.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33Just I thought I was your main homeboy, isn't it?
0:35:34 > 0:35:35Harsh.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Alexander needed to find a new job.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47An opportunity arose to have a go in a new area of broadcasting.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49Good evening.
0:35:49 > 0:35:50Welcome to Have I Got News For You.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53My name is Alexander Armstrong, and if I seem familiar to you,
0:35:53 > 0:35:56it's because I'm a regular on ITV.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Footballers' Wives, Coronation Street, Emmerdale -
0:35:58 > 0:36:01you name it, I've done some adverts in the middle of it!
0:36:01 > 0:36:03Good evening and welcome to Have I Got News For You.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05I'm Alexander Armstrong.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07How many have you done? You hold the record.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10I think I've done 25, or something like that.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14I think, on the back of that, Countdown approached me
0:36:14 > 0:36:17and said would I be interested in doing Countdown.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20I liked the idea of that cos I love Countdown
0:36:20 > 0:36:22and I love the idea of A JOB! You know?
0:36:22 > 0:36:26I mean, this was an actual contract.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29In my line of work, as a sort of jobbing comedian,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32that's not really something you generally get.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34People often say, "Why did you do this?"
0:36:34 > 0:36:37or, "Why did you do this role? "Why did you do this programme?"
0:36:37 > 0:36:40The short answer was always, "Because I was asked."
0:36:40 > 0:36:44It's not like one... You're not sifting through things,
0:36:44 > 0:36:45going, "No. No. I won't do that."
0:36:45 > 0:36:47You basically just take... You get what you're given.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49You didn't take Countdown...
0:36:49 > 0:36:53I didn't take Countdown because the only thing about Countdown was,
0:36:53 > 0:36:54sort of enshrined within Countdown
0:36:54 > 0:36:58was Richard Whiteley's way of doing it.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02So I didn't see a great deal of scope for making it my own
0:37:02 > 0:37:03in that sort of way.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06So I very reluctantly, and after great thought,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09said, "No, actually, I won't do that."
0:37:09 > 0:37:11Then I think that's what Pointless grew out of,
0:37:11 > 0:37:13cos Endemol were just putting it together,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16and they thought, "Well, actually... Ooh, we hadn't thought of him!"
0:37:16 > 0:37:19Right, if everyone's ready, let's play Pointless.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23It would be the birth of a show with an unusual approach.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27All our players need to do is score as few points as they possibly can.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31And the start of Alexander's second on-screen relationship.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33I think we always thought at some point we'd work together,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36and every time we met up, because we knew each other from college,
0:37:36 > 0:37:38we'd always sit and have a gossip, and we'd always say,
0:37:38 > 0:37:40"We must work together, we must work together."
0:37:40 > 0:37:43I don't think either of us thought, 20 years later,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45it would be quite in the way that we have done.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47There's only one person left for me to introduce.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51He asks the questions that make the inside of your head itch.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53It's my Pointless friend, it's Richard.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55Hiya. Hiya.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58'There was an instant rapport because I've known him'
0:37:58 > 0:38:00for 20 years.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03It was one of those enormous bits of good fortune.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05We never had to work at our relationship,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07we never had to work at trying to make each other laugh
0:38:07 > 0:38:10cos we knew how to immediately.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12We went through, we did the top 70 most popular celebrities
0:38:12 > 0:38:14with the initials AA.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17It's great. I've got a whole list here if you want to see them
0:38:17 > 0:38:19- at some point.- Yeah... - ALEXANDER CHUCKLES
0:38:22 > 0:38:23Hold on a minute...
0:38:26 > 0:38:28I'm just thinking of you.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31It's interesting you weren't on the list.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33It is 70 - that's a lot of people on there.
0:38:33 > 0:38:34Yeah, that's a lot.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36Pointless, I absolutely love it.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39I think it's a very, very hard game to play.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42And I can tell you that with some...experience,
0:38:42 > 0:38:46having been out in the first round of Pointless Celebrities.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Hello, I'm Ben and I used to be in a comedy double act.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51LAUGHTER
0:38:51 > 0:38:52That's debatable!
0:38:55 > 0:38:56If you just played that game,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59it wouldn't be nearly so entertaining a programme.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02What's brilliant about it is that Richard and Xander are given
0:39:02 > 0:39:07the opportunity and the room to also enjoy what they're doing.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10- You used to do a show with Ben Miller, right?- I did, yes.
0:39:10 > 0:39:11- What was it called? - Armstrong And Miller.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14Armstrong And Miller? Terrific. Cos I used to watch it.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16I'm honestly a fan, I'm a fan,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20but, Ben, if I'm brutally frank with you,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23I mainly watched it for Ben because I liked the comedy bits.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27I liked your bit because you do
0:39:27 > 0:39:30the slightly dour, kind of straight man stuff.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32You know, "Oh, God, that's a bit depressing."
0:39:32 > 0:39:34Then Ben comes along and boom, boom, punch line, punch line,
0:39:34 > 0:39:37smashing it into the net.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39Then you think, cos when Ben does something, I'm laughing,
0:39:39 > 0:39:41I'm just doubled up like that.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Then I get a minute and a half where I can relax
0:39:43 > 0:39:46cos you're on and you're doing something.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50You think, here he is, like the comedy Grim Reaper.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52That's me. That was... Yeah...
0:39:52 > 0:39:55APPLAUSE
0:39:56 > 0:40:00Richard and I, we've just had such a lovely time across the series.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03I think lots of the most successful shows recently
0:40:03 > 0:40:05have been presented by duos.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08You've got Mel and Sue, Ant and Dec, and I think it's the same thing.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11When you've got two people who you know are friends
0:40:11 > 0:40:12and who you know like each other
0:40:12 > 0:40:14and who you know delight in making each other laugh,
0:40:14 > 0:40:16then it's something you can't fake.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Let's see how many of our 100 people said Podgorica.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23Despite the clear rapport between Alexander and Richard,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26in the early days, no-one knew if the show would be a success.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31Oh, it's a pointless!
0:40:31 > 0:40:33I told Xander from episode one Pointless wouldn't be a hit
0:40:33 > 0:40:36because I've made so many shows over the years
0:40:36 > 0:40:38and most shows aren't hits. It's very difficult.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40Every time you get a hit, you're very blessed.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43He would go, because Xander is enthusiastic about EVERYTHING,
0:40:43 > 0:40:44he's like a big puppy dog.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47Literally, everything he ever does, he thinks will be brilliant,
0:40:47 > 0:40:49which is such a nice way to live life.
0:40:49 > 0:40:50I mean, deluded, but nice.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53He would say, "No, I think this is going to run for ever,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56"I think we'll end up doing 500 of these."
0:40:56 > 0:40:58Now we've ended up doing 1,200 of these,
0:40:58 > 0:41:00and a bit of me is annoyed that he was right.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03I've got pastries, I've got tea. Would you like a cup of tea?
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Oh, I really would. That's just what I need.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08There you go. That's nice, isn't it?
0:41:08 > 0:41:09Isn't it?
0:41:09 > 0:41:11The audience quickly warmed to
0:41:11 > 0:41:14the awkward charm of Alexander and Richard,
0:41:14 > 0:41:16and the show became a hit.
0:41:16 > 0:41:17We started very small,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20hidden away in the afternoon schedules on BBC Two.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23Now we get to do it on BBC One before the news.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26I mean, it's the most absurd privilege to have that slot.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30How many times a day does somebody come to you and go,
0:41:30 > 0:41:32"You're... It's Pointless, isn't it?!"
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Um... That's...
0:41:35 > 0:41:37Yeah, it's a lot, it's a lot of times.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39It's nice. It means I have...
0:41:39 > 0:41:41People get a nice surprise, I think, when they see someone...
0:41:41 > 0:41:44Sometimes they think they know you. This happens quite a lot.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48I've done that many a time before when it's somebody who I think,
0:41:48 > 0:41:50"Oh, I definitely know them. Who's that?"
0:41:50 > 0:41:52"We know them." And it's not.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54- It's Robert De Niro. - Yeah, it's Robert De Niro.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57I'm always on the train with him after Marylebone(!)
0:41:57 > 0:42:01Because we film Pointless in such a lovely environment,
0:42:01 > 0:42:07Richard and I are so completely and entirely ourselves on that show.
0:42:07 > 0:42:08So it's quite nice in a way.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11It does mean that people feel they know me quite well,
0:42:11 > 0:42:12and they genuinely probably do.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18Today, Pointless has become a national institution.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22I confidently predict it's going to be a cracking show today.
0:42:22 > 0:42:23I think so.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26And now it means so much to people.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31My father - he's 92 - he loves it! It's a point in the day.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33Students love it.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35Something to eat their breakfast with!
0:42:35 > 0:42:38But I understand that students do drinking games to it.
0:42:38 > 0:42:39I believe they do.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41I think every time I say, "Thank you very much indeed,"
0:42:41 > 0:42:43or something like that.
0:42:43 > 0:42:44Something I say all the time.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48It's terrible, the awful grooves you find yourself going up.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50When you're doing something so many times,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53even if I thought of another way of saying,
0:42:53 > 0:42:55"Could the second players now please stand up to the podium?"
0:42:55 > 0:42:57there's only a limit,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59there's only about five ways you can really say that.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02Xander and I are often given presents by people, which is lovely.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05The thing I most encourage is cake.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08- Oh...- Very...impressive.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12- Wow.- Look at that. - APPLAUSE
0:43:12 > 0:43:16People bring us some unusual things, shall we say.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18I'm retired now, but I do a lot of knitting,
0:43:18 > 0:43:19and I've brought you a present.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22- Oh, have you?- Yes.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24You do get a lot of presents on the show.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26- It's nice.- It is nice.- It's nice.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29- Poems, knitted animals... - Knitted things.
0:43:29 > 0:43:30We've had knitted versions,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33Richard and I have had knitted versions of ourselves given.
0:43:33 > 0:43:34Oooooh, look at that!
0:43:34 > 0:43:36APPLAUSE
0:43:36 > 0:43:38They're to scale as well.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41We had lovely knitted dolls on one show.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44People had knitted things that looked a tiny bit voodoo doll-ish -
0:43:44 > 0:43:45I'm going to be honest,
0:43:45 > 0:43:48but they were cute, and we had a little pretend fight with those.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52- Buh-chuh!- Urgh!- Boom!- Guh!- Ugh!
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Get off my desk!
0:43:54 > 0:43:56- And you keep them?- We do.
0:43:56 > 0:43:57Not in here?
0:43:57 > 0:43:59No, interestingly, perhaps not in here.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02I still have my knitted doll at home, which is rather lovely.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06Over the last few years, the gentle charm of Pointless
0:44:06 > 0:44:10has come to mean something very special to its viewers.
0:44:10 > 0:44:11For one of those viewers,
0:44:11 > 0:44:14it would come to mean something more than just entertainment.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19In July 2015, Pooja Raja woke one morning
0:44:19 > 0:44:22to find she had no feeling from the waist down.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26I had emergency surgery on my spine,
0:44:26 > 0:44:28and after a long investigation,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31it turned out I had a really rare tumour.
0:44:31 > 0:44:36It was difficult waiting, not knowing what was wrong with me
0:44:36 > 0:44:42and also, just going through the motions of the daily routine.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44Like, I couldn't lift things,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47or I could walk for five minutes and then I'd be in pain.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52During that time, Pointless meant a lot to me.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55It played a part in my routine,
0:44:55 > 0:44:58and I looked forward to 5:15 every day.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00I'd play around with my physio times
0:45:00 > 0:45:04so I could be sat on the sofa at 5:15.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06When you're on at daytime, at 5:15,
0:45:06 > 0:45:09you do become part of people's lives, is the truth.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11Especially if you are less mobile,
0:45:11 > 0:45:13especially if there are reasons
0:45:13 > 0:45:15why the television is very important to you,
0:45:15 > 0:45:18and I think you become part of people's routine,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20which is incredibly special.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24I think that if you do a show for people that they like at that point
0:45:24 > 0:45:29and if they like you, there's a very, very powerful bond.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Eventually, Pooja made a full recovery,
0:45:32 > 0:45:33and in September this year,
0:45:33 > 0:45:37she was able to be a member of the Pointless studio audience.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40Being in the audience, it meant a lot,
0:45:40 > 0:45:42just cos of what I'd been through last year.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45The amount of people who come up to us on the street
0:45:45 > 0:45:47and say that it's important in their day
0:45:47 > 0:45:50or in their parents' day or people have been convalescing
0:45:50 > 0:45:52or people who have just had a baby - all sorts of things -
0:45:52 > 0:45:55just say, "It's very important to me to be able to sit down,
0:45:55 > 0:45:57"have a cup of tea and watch that show."
0:45:57 > 0:46:00We both take that unbelievably seriously.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04Across the country, there are many viewers for whom the show
0:46:04 > 0:46:05has taken on great importance.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Amongst them was one of Alexander's childhood idols.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13During the last few years of his life,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16the legendary record producer Sir George Martin
0:46:16 > 0:46:19would always make a point of watching Pointless.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24George Martin, who, of course, the Beatles and...he was so very ill
0:46:24 > 0:46:27and he loved Pointless, and it got him through his final illness.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32I mean, there's a beautiful sort of cyclical thing here.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36George Martin was behind so many things I adored.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38I mean, obviously the Beatles.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41I mean, the Beatles... I became obsessed with the Beatles
0:46:41 > 0:46:43from the age of about seven, I should think.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46But he'd also done so many comedy things as well.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50He'd done lots of The Goons, Peter Sellers things later.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52He'd done lots of Beyond The Fringe stuff
0:46:52 > 0:46:54with Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57I have sort of love for George Martin.
0:46:57 > 0:46:58I mean, huge love for George Martin.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01Respect, admiration, all of those sorts of things,
0:47:01 > 0:47:03as this sort of ethereal figure.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06Not someone who really even lived in the same world,
0:47:06 > 0:47:08I always...I rather felt.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13And then, after he died, I got an e-mail from Giles, his son,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16saying, "Dad was a big fan,
0:47:16 > 0:47:21"And it would mean a lot to him if you read at his memorial service".
0:47:21 > 0:47:22And I just...
0:47:23 > 0:47:27- I mean...the honour of that.- Wow.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30- I mean, just wonderful, I mean, extraordinary.- What did you read?
0:47:30 > 0:47:32I actually did a Beyond The Fringe.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34There's a really lovely Beyond The Fringe.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37It was Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41Perkins, sorry to drag you away from the fun, old boy.
0:47:41 > 0:47:42That's all right, sir.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45- War's not going very well, you know. - Oh, my God.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48"We need somebody to pep up the war effort.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51"What we need at this stage of the war is a futile gesture."
0:47:51 > 0:47:52- Perkins.- Sir.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54- I want you to lay down your life. - Yes, sir.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58We need a futile gesture at this stage.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02"So what I want you to do is, basically, get on your plane,
0:48:02 > 0:48:05"pop over to Bremen, don't come back."
0:48:05 > 0:48:08That's basically, just what we need at this stage of the war!
0:48:08 > 0:48:11He had a very good, quirky, dark sense of humour,
0:48:11 > 0:48:12and that really, really appealed to him.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15Oh, it was lovely. I mean, it was extraordinary.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17It was like suddenly being invited into one of your dreams.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20Isn't it extraordinary - a piece of work that you thought
0:48:20 > 0:48:22might just pay a few bills for 30 programmes
0:48:22 > 0:48:28- has now brought you these untold gifts.- Extraordinary.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30We've been told that the Queen watches it - I love that.
0:48:30 > 0:48:32- Did you know that?- Does she?- Yes!
0:48:32 > 0:48:34Well, I don't know.
0:48:34 > 0:48:35All we know is that the music to Pointless
0:48:35 > 0:48:38is heard down her, down the little passage.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Oh, she'd be very good at the royal family rounds, wouldn't she?
0:48:41 > 0:48:42You've got to hope she'd be.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46I imagine she's probably very good at flags, capital cities.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49- Yes, yes. Anything to do with... - Horse racing.- ..the Commonwealth.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51Very good. Anything to do with the Commonwealth.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54- Nailing every single one of those, I should think.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56You should get her on.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59I think she and Phil, come on together.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02- Have you asked them?- We haven't yet. I mean, that's probably
0:49:02 > 0:49:05the only reason they haven't come on, I should think.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07Through the success of Pointless,
0:49:07 > 0:49:10Alexander had found fame and adoration.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13But there was a part of him that was still not fulfilled.
0:49:13 > 0:49:19His passion for his first love, music, had refused to go away.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23# Deck the halls with boughs of holly. #
0:49:23 > 0:49:25He knows that he's an amazing singer,
0:49:25 > 0:49:29and it really is his sort of... it's his biggest talent, really.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32And I think he's always been itching to show it off.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34I know singing's very important to Xander.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36It's a very big part of his life, and always has been.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38I know that he's always singing at weddings,
0:49:38 > 0:49:42and when I got married to his sister-in-law,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45we didn't ask Xander to sing at our wedding, cos we thought it'd be nice
0:49:45 > 0:49:47for him to get to go to a wedding where he didn't have to sing.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49And then afterwards, I sort of heard on the grapevine
0:49:49 > 0:49:51he was a bit offended we hadn't asked him to sing.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Cos I think if he goes to some big spiritual event, he likes to sing,
0:49:54 > 0:49:56to sort of connect with it.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00I think he spent most of his comedy career, if he's honest,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04trying to find ways to turn his comedy career and his acting career
0:50:04 > 0:50:05into a singing career.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07Xander's singing is incredibly important to him.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09It's where everything began,
0:50:09 > 0:50:11with being a choir boy and a choral scholar,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14it's the first time that people sort of looked and listened to him
0:50:14 > 0:50:16and enjoyed it, and he enjoyed them enjoying him.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19From there comes acting, comedy, and all those things.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22So it's a lovely way of things coming full circle now
0:50:22 > 0:50:24that people want to hear him sing.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26And because he'd become very famous,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29he had a sort of built-in fan base ready to sing to.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33# When true lovers meet in Mayfair
0:50:33 > 0:50:36# So the legends tell... #
0:50:36 > 0:50:40In 2015, Alexander decided it was finally time
0:50:40 > 0:50:42to give his singing career a chance.
0:50:42 > 0:50:48It was only last year when I started singing properly again,
0:50:48 > 0:50:54that I remembered, I remembered the pain of not singing any more.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58# There were angels dining
0:50:58 > 0:51:00# At The Ritz... #
0:51:00 > 0:51:04Last Christmas, Alexander's first album topped the charts,
0:51:04 > 0:51:08and he's hoping to do the same this year with his new album.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11Honestly, I can see in his eyes it's the thing that he really loves,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13and it's lovely when you see
0:51:13 > 0:51:15a friend and someone you like and respect
0:51:15 > 0:51:18doing the thing they really love, and he does.
0:51:18 > 0:51:24# Are you going to Scarborough Fair? #
0:51:24 > 0:51:28The latest album has been absolutely all-consuming.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31He's worked incredibly hard.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34I'm so proud of him.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37He really has taken the bull by the horns.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40# ..the one who lives there
0:51:40 > 0:51:48# She once was a true love of mine. #
0:51:48 > 0:51:52But now, AT LAST, you said that last year
0:51:52 > 0:51:55you were able to use your voice properly again,
0:51:55 > 0:51:56professionally again.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59You had an album that topped the charts
0:51:59 > 0:52:01- over this period, the Christmas period.- Yeah, yeah.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03And this year, you've done it again.
0:52:05 > 0:52:06Yes.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10The latest album not only demonstrates his vocal talent,
0:52:10 > 0:52:13but it also reflects Alexander's faith.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15CHOIR SINGS
0:52:15 > 0:52:17It's title is inspired by
0:52:17 > 0:52:20the annual carol service from King's College, Cambridge,
0:52:20 > 0:52:23and comes from a prayer about the Christian belief
0:52:23 > 0:52:25that death is not the end.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29We've called that album, we've called it Upon A Different Shore,
0:52:29 > 0:52:31Upon A Different Shore, but it comes from...
0:52:31 > 0:52:34I mean, that's a line that comes from the Bidding prayer
0:52:34 > 0:52:35of the King's carols.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39And it was written by Eric Milner-White in the 1920s.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41So when the Great War was still...
0:52:41 > 0:52:45only...I mean, so fresh in everyone's lives.
0:52:45 > 0:52:51Let us too remember all those whom we have loved, but see no longer.
0:52:51 > 0:52:56Those whose lives have influenced and enriched our own,
0:52:56 > 0:53:01and who now rejoice with us, but on another shore
0:53:01 > 0:53:03and with a greater understanding.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05It's just so beautifully put.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07"Those who rejoice with us,
0:53:07 > 0:53:10"but upon another shore and in a greater light",
0:53:10 > 0:53:13and that's one of those prayers that,
0:53:13 > 0:53:14every time I hear it, I just think...
0:53:14 > 0:53:18- HE CHUCKLES - "That's...that's just lovely."
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Just something that moves me profoundly.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22And it's doing it right now.
0:53:22 > 0:53:23I can't even say it.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Even talking about it brings tears to my eyes.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30# I never made promises lightly
0:53:32 > 0:53:36# And there have been some that I've broken... #
0:53:36 > 0:53:39And, listen, I rib him mercilessly about it,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42about the song choices and the kind of music he does,
0:53:42 > 0:53:43and all that kind of stuff,
0:53:43 > 0:53:45and I will never stop ribbing him about it,
0:53:45 > 0:53:47but I'm incredibly proud of what he's done.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51It makes you very happy to see how happy it makes him, as well.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55Over the last 20 years, Alexander has graced our living rooms
0:53:55 > 0:53:58with his comedy acting, presenting and now singing.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01It almost feels like he's an old friend.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03But what do those closest to him make of him?
0:54:05 > 0:54:07He's a proper toff.
0:54:07 > 0:54:12But he's also...one of the most down-to-earth people I've ever met.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14If I had to sum up Xander,
0:54:14 > 0:54:18I would say he's like a sort of lovely, enthusiastic puppy dog,
0:54:18 > 0:54:20who had the immense good fortune
0:54:20 > 0:54:23to be brought up on a lovely, big, open farm,
0:54:23 > 0:54:25full of other animals who he got on with.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28And he is genuinely hilarious.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31He's a very funny man, he's a very kind man,
0:54:31 > 0:54:33he makes me laugh more than anybody.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35And, you know, when you're going through
0:54:35 > 0:54:38bringing up children and life in general,
0:54:38 > 0:54:41having a funny soulmate is a real gift.
0:54:41 > 0:54:42I'm aware he has a faith,
0:54:42 > 0:54:44I'm aware he has a way of looking at the world.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47He wants people to be happy, he wants there to be justice,
0:54:47 > 0:54:51you know, he wants the world to be a more equitable place.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53His beliefs come from kindness,
0:54:53 > 0:54:55and anyone whose beliefs come from kindness -
0:54:55 > 0:54:57I don't care what faith they are or lack of faith they are -
0:54:57 > 0:54:58you know, those are my people.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02He's a very genuine person, a lovely person to be around.
0:55:02 > 0:55:03There are some people in life, when you meet,
0:55:03 > 0:55:06you think this feels a little costly,
0:55:06 > 0:55:09and there are other people who are very generous in the way they are,
0:55:09 > 0:55:11and it's always good to be in his company.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14He is like Mr Fezziwig in Dickens's Christmas Carol,
0:55:14 > 0:55:16the guy who throws the biggest, best Christmas party.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19In fact, he's probably the Ghost Of Christmas Present, Xander.
0:55:19 > 0:55:21He is a guy who just wants to make
0:55:21 > 0:55:24everything lovely as possible for everyone else,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26and if everyone else is happy, then Xander is happy.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28And I don't think you could have a better quality.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32And now Christmas, here we are. What Christmas means to you...?
0:55:32 > 0:55:34Christmas. Well, you won't be surprised to hear that
0:55:34 > 0:55:36Christmas is about music,
0:55:36 > 0:55:41from about the second week of Advent on.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44I think the Messiah, the Christmas Oratorio,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47there are various other Bach cantatas as well
0:55:47 > 0:55:50that I always think of as being especially Christmassy.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52In fact, you know, as autumn comes in
0:55:52 > 0:55:55and the nights start to draw in a bit,
0:55:55 > 0:55:57I always get very excited about
0:55:57 > 0:55:59the, not just the music of Christmas,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02the smells of Christmas I love.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05- Big on presents?- Yes.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07We try and drip feed the presents in.
0:56:07 > 0:56:09Otherwise you get this terrifying sort of "BOOM"
0:56:09 > 0:56:10with presents on Christmas Day,
0:56:10 > 0:56:13and the children literally just running around, going,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Throw away. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Throw away."
0:56:16 > 0:56:18Well, we thought we'd bring you something,
0:56:18 > 0:56:22- and this is because we know that on Pointless...- Yes.
0:56:22 > 0:56:27..people do knit you marvellous Richards and Xanders,
0:56:27 > 0:56:31which I know when you find them, you will put in here.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34This is something that you might like to go with them.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38How in...credi...
0:56:38 > 0:56:41- Oh, look at that!- Yes.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Look! And it's been sort of wrapped up with a...
0:56:44 > 0:56:46That could even hang on a tree, Fern, is what I'm thinking.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48- Yes, it's a knitted llama. - It's a knitted llama!
0:56:48 > 0:56:51And I'm so sorry, I will send a Christmas hat.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54I just didn't manage to have time to knit him a little hat.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57That's just... You didn't knit that, did you?
0:56:57 > 0:56:59- No!- No, I was going to say!
0:56:59 > 0:57:02"I just didn't have time to knit you the hat".
0:57:02 > 0:57:04But look at that!
0:57:04 > 0:57:06I think that's...lovely.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09This is closer than I've ever been allowed to get to a llama.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11- Yes.- Llamas are generally...
0:57:11 > 0:57:13they're lovely up to a distance of about six feet,
0:57:13 > 0:57:14and then they're a little bit...
0:57:14 > 0:57:16- a little bit spitty. - But that's the fun of them.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18Oh, how lovely! Thank you very, very much indeed.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20It's been lovely talking to you.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22- Great pleasure. - Thank you very much indeed.
0:57:22 > 0:57:23Good luck with the album, and happy Christmas.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25And to you! Happy Christmas!
0:57:30 > 0:57:32Well, Alexander's just gone off to make me a cup of tea,
0:57:32 > 0:57:33which is very nice of him.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35I'm sitting here in this gorgeous home,
0:57:35 > 0:57:36and I've just found his BAFTA -
0:57:36 > 0:57:39he doesn't mention that, that was just hidden away.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41That's for Armstrong And Miller.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43What a lovely man he is.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45Very sincere, very straightforward,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48and a kind of dashing 1950s hero.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50He's lovely, isn't he?
0:57:50 > 0:57:52And he makes a really good cup of tea.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56Next week, I meet boxing legend Nigel Benn.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01He talks about his troubled teens, following a family tragedy.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04I just changed, something in my heart was severed.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08How success opened up a world of womanising and drugs,
0:58:08 > 0:58:10which ended in an attempted suicide.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13I don't know if I wanted to die.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15I think I just wanted to sort of say, "You know what?
0:58:15 > 0:58:17"You're going to be all right."
0:58:17 > 0:58:21And how a belief in God has turned his life around.
0:58:21 > 0:58:22And so I stand close to him.
0:58:22 > 0:58:26Once I'm close to him... I can't go wrong.
0:58:28 > 0:58:34- ALEXANDER: - # Snow had fallen snow on snow
0:58:34 > 0:58:38# Snow on snow
0:58:40 > 0:58:46# In the bleak midwinter
0:58:46 > 0:58:52# Long ago. #