It was a happy accident that one of TV’s most endearing double acts was formed. Johnny Vaughan was only supposed to be covering The Big Breakfast presenter Rick Adams’ job for a couple of weeks, but as soon as he and Denise van Outen joined forces on screen, they sparkled - and viewers demanded more.
Now 56, Johnny is celebrating his 30 years as a TV and radio presenter, and today he and Denise will be reunited as they co-host Channel 4’s lunchtime news show Steph’s Packed Lunch. To say he’s excited is a bit of an understatement - he’s positively fizzing as we catch up minutes before his Radio X drivetime show the day before.
“The Big Breakfast was kind of in trouble,” he recalls of what was meant to be his fortnight’s stint in 1997 - 23-year-old Denise, too, was standing in for host Sharron Davies. “We had this week together, it was probably doing an reenactment of the Dr Pepper advert when we realised, wow, this is just really good. TV shouldn’t be this much fun.”
