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Keith Lemon clears up Avid Merrion revival and it sounds even more bonkers than we first thought-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro
The pilot even involved Maisie Smith!
The pilot may not even be seen by fans! (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Keith Lemon has addressed rumours surrounding the reboot of his controversial show Bo’ Selecta!, clarifying that it’s not actually ‘a Bo’ Selecta! reboot’ and that the pilot may not even be seen by fans.
Celebrity Juice star Keith famously wrote and starred in the popular Channel 4 sketch show, which ran from 2002 to 2009.
And now, the comedian, real name Leigh Francis, has filmed a pilot starring Avid Merrion, which could be returning 13 years since the show was last on our screens.
Back in 2020, the Channel 4 pulled all episodes from its streaming services following backlash and accusations of racism, with Keith later reflecting on his characters, some of which saw him portray black characters such as Craig David and Trisha Goddard while wearing over the top latex masks.
However, he’s now focused on one character in particular – Avid Merrion.
Chatting exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Keith clarified: ‘Well it’s not a Bo’ Selecta! reboot, everyone keeps thinking it is. It wasn’t even called Bo’ Selecta!, it just had Masked Characters in, it were more about Merrion being a time traveller.’
He continued, talking about the pilot: ‘It was just a pilot but since then we’ve been developing new ways of doing things, like should he really be a time traveller, is that too much to imagine?
Keith’s Avid Merrion will be back, he teased (Picture: Channel 4)
‘I think originally I thought it was a great idea, because he was a character that had been 20 years old on Bo’ Selecta!, so we thought it would be funny, I imagined he was a virgin.
‘And we said, well, wouldn’t it be funny if the night he has sex and falls in love, that’s when it disappears and he ends up in 2022 [when the pilot was filmed last year], and he’s got a daughter and he had a daughter in the pilot and it was Maisie Smith.’
After explaining that wild storyline, Keith went on to tell us that viewers may not even get to see it.
Maisie Smith played Merrion’s daughter (Picture: BBC/Kieron McCarron/Jack Barnes)
He said: ‘I don’t think they’ll see the pilot, the pilot will probably turn into something else. But I just keep leaking bits of it on my Instagram and stuff. I think I’m allowed to they just said don’t show the whole thing, by Summer time I will have shown all of it!’
He went on to say it would be a ‘waste’ not to share those clips, having filmed the pilot ‘if no one ever sees it’.
Keith elsewhere teased a new project that viewers hopefully will get to see: ‘It’s Avid Merrion based, he will come back in a different form, I’m ready to be him, but he’ll be a different person, because so many years have passed, the world is a different place.’
Bo’ Selecta! saw Lemon portray black characters such as Craig David while wearing over the top latex masks (Picture: Channel 4)
Speaking in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement, Keith said in a tearful social media video: ‘It’s been a weird few days, I’ve sat and thought about things and what I could post to try and help things.
‘Back in 2002 I did a show called Bo Selecta, I portrayed many black people. Back then I didn’t think anything about it, people didn’t say anything, I’m not going to blame other people.
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‘Been talking to some people, I didn’t realise how offensive it was back then.’
He added: ‘I just want to apologise, I just want to say sorry for any upset I caused whether I was Michael Jackson, Craig David, Trisha Goddard, all people I’m a big fan of. I guess we’re all on a learning journey.’
World’s Most Dangerous Roads starts Sunday, February 12 at 8pm on Dave. Watch the full series on UKTV Play.
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