The One Show's Alex Jones choked up after reading a letter that Tom Allen wrote to his late father during the episode that aired on Wednesday, November 9. The comedian stopped by to talk about his new book, Too Much, which features the letter as a tribute to his father, who died in late 2021.
"There's a bit at the end where you write a letter to your Dad and it's just lovely. There's a particular paragraph in there and I wondered if you would mind if I shared it with our viewers?" Alex asked, to which Tom replied: "I wouldn't mind at all."
The 45-year-old then read out part of the letter, which said: "We were different weren't we, in lots of ways, you always accepted me though. Our differences taught me what love is, it doesn't matter how we expect it to be, it just is.
Read more: The One Show's Alex Jones shares the weird way she reads books on Between the Covers
"I lived with you for so long because I wanted to be around you and mum and that was it. I just wanted us to be together, in life that's all any of us have, isn't it? Each other."
After reading the letter, which saw Tom discuss how much he admired his father, an emotional Alex choked up and said: "See? It's such a lovely sentiment and when we were in the pandemic and we came to do an interview, you were in your mum and dad's then. It makes so much sense to me. I really empathised with that."
Tom, who moved out of his parents when he was 38, then described how grief is something we "rarely ever talk about". He added: "There are moments where you feel quite light around it and you can laugh, and then there are times where you feel sad and you cry and sometimes it just feels complex."
Tom also opens the book with a lovely quote from his dad, explaining it, he told Alex: "He always had the advice, you can never have too much love, which is true isn't it, because it's not something that runs out, it's not like fossil fuels, it's not something we're going to exhaust, it's something we all have, so I started the book with that."
The synopsis for Tom's book reads: "Too Much is a hilarious joyride of stories as well as an emotional ode to Tom's beloved dad, and a touching manifesto on how to navigate the complexities of grief.
"With moving honesty and wit, Tom writes beautifully about those days, weeks and months following his family's loss, and about how bewildering the practicalities of life can be in the wake of an upheaval - those moments, really, when everything can start to feel a bit too much..."
The One Show airs on BBC One on weekdays at 7pm. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
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