Keith Chegwin
|
|
Keith Chegwin (born 17 January 1957) is a British television presenter and former sitcom actor. He is the brother of radio disc-jockey Janice Long and for a period was married to fellow television presenter Maggie Philbin. For much of his career he has been known simply as Cheggers.
Chegwin was born in Liverpool. His early television roles were on children's television, appearing as Egghead Wentworth in The Troublesome Double and Egghead's Robot as a child and teenager. He moved into shows intended at adult audiences as minor characters in the first series of the BBC sitcom My Old Man (a vehicle for Clive Dunn) and in the ITV sitcom The Wackers (1975).
Shortly afterwards he moved into presenting, again for children's programmes, and became a household name. The live zoo format of Multi-coloured Swap Shop, Cheggers Plays Pop and Saturday Superstore suited Chegwin's happy-go-lucky style, characterized by a seemingly permanent ear-to-ear grin.
The fickle nature of popular television turned against Chegwin for the latter half of the 1980s and 1990s. He was no longer a 'cool' character to identify with, but regularly appeared on various talk shows, often as a figure of fun. However his star rose again for two years in the mid '90s when he presented the outdoor "on the doorstep" segment of The Big Breakfast. In 1999 he presented a revived version of the 1970s classic gameshow It's a Knockout!. The next year Chegwin caused tabloid glee by presenting a one-off edition of Naked Jungle - a gameshow where all the contestants and the presenter appeared naked. The show "plumbed new depths [of decency on television]" fuminated the conservative tabloid Daily Mail. Five, presumably delighted by the publicity, promptly repeated its show.
As of 2004 Chegwin presents an outdoor segment on GMTV similar to his earlier Big Breakfast role.
He has also been seen on Live TV on "House Invaders".
In August 2004, Cheggers was chosen to present "I'm Famous and Frightened!" on Living TV. The show included such luminaries as Handy Andy, and critics said that Cheggers gave a splendid performance.
Cheggers is a recovering alcoholic.
External link
- Keith Chegwin Appreciation Society (http://www.kcas.tk) - Ironic fan site