Chris Tarrant . . . gone fishing

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“We finally got it to the surface and took a load of photos, but then we just took the hooks out and put it back. They all thought I was crazy, and said, ‘We can’t believe you’re putting a fish like that back!’, but what was I going to do with a 200 pound halibut 8000 miles away from home? I do like halibut to eat, and a nice little 30 pounder would have been great, but this thing was ridiculous, so we put it back. So, in the end they all cheered and were proud of me for doing my bit for conservation. In fact, we put most fish back these days.”

Fishing has been an important and constant feature of Chris’s life since childhood – something which has, no doubt provided some stability and reassurance at the various crossroads in his winding career path. Considering how much of a fixture he seems to be on our TV screens these days, it comes as something of a surprise that Chris was less than confident that he would have a long-term television career – despite the bluff and bluster of the cheeky letters that earned him his first audition.

“I didn’t really expect or intend to stay. I certainly didn’t think they would want me to stay very long - and when you consider that I’ve been doing it for 30-odd years now, it seems quite weird!

“I was so laid back about it. It was like, ‘Oh well, I’ve done driving lorries, I’ve done painting, I’ve done hod carrying, I’ve taught for a year… so this year I’ll try being on the telly or something!’ It really was very much like that.”
One of the causes of Chris’s early uncertainty about his move into television was how unsuited he seemed to be for news reading, which was one of his first roles.
“I’m sure I wasn’t a very good news reader, and not a very good reporter. I would interview politicians, mayors and councillors and I’d be thinking, ‘I don’t like you. Your lips are moving, so I know you’re lying…’ I’ve never really changed my mind on that. In fact, I think I would have just disappeared if Tiswas hadn’t come along.”

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