Exclusive – Adam Hills on The Last Leg's future, favourite guests over the years and filming without a studio audience

Ahead of the new series, RadioTimes.com chatted to host Adam Hills who told us how it all started, the origins of the annual D**k of the Year awards, and why Danny Dyer is asked to come back each series.

We spoke to Adam the morning after he flew from into London from Melbourne and it turns out he was very close to not making it back here at all.

"I’m very lucky that I’m allowed out of Australia because I’m a UK resident, but only if I’ve spent more time here than there in the last two years. And when they checked my passport at the airport I scraped in by 16 days" he said with a sigh of relief, admitting that The Last Leg producers were "not happy" when he told them.

Switching the conversation to The Last Leg, Adam filled us in on how the show came together, revealing it was originally just meant to be him - but in a very different time slot, at midnight on More4.

That would likely have been the case had it not been for the producers catching him doing some comedy at a press launch, which made them think: "'There may be something more in this and that maybe it should be on Channel 4 a bit earlier'."

As for his co-hosts, Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe, they were only meant to be guests for the night when they first appeared in the debut episode in 2021, however, one of the editors liked them as a trio so much, they decided to keep the format.

"The commissioning editor, who we had never seen before, turned up and he said that the show had potential and he thought the show worked best when all three of us were on camera together. So, from that point on, it was Josh, Alex and Adam all together doing The Last Leg," Hills explained.

On how they all work so well together, despite not looking like they would on paper, he added: "You’ve got the young, naïve puppy dog from Ashford in Alex, you’ve got the guy with the west country accent in Josh, and then you’ve got the really blunt, funny Australian. And those three seem to be the perfect ingredients together."

The Last Leg went through a big change in 2020 when the audience was removed due to COVID.

It pushed them to get very creative, however, with Hills who lives in Australia, saying: "Those shows that we did from Josh and Alex’s homes and my garage in Australia, I don’t think people realise how much technical effort went into doing a live show that linked together three homes – one of them on the other side of the world at 7am in the morning. I opened a show from a garage in Australia and it somehow worked. If anything, I worry that we’re going to become redundant in 2021!"

The show hopes to have the audience back once lockdown restrictions are lifted on June 21st, but it wasn't all doom and gloom at the time.

Hills continued: "So we did the shows from our own houses and what we found is that it is much easier to do because you’re not worrying about whether the audience will find a joke funny – you’re just doing the jokes that you want to do. And when we finally got back to the studio without an audience we found it was a really lovely atmosphere and most of the guests preferred it because the pressure is off. And now we have everyone in a semi-circle so we can all look at each other, it just made it a way more inclusive and conversational atmosphere."

If you are also a fan of this new arrangement, you'll be pleased to hear that it is here to stay even after the audience returns.

One of the major successes to come out of The Last Leg is the annual D**k of the Year awards - which was put in place to highlight the truly worst of the worst from the year. And it turns out the whole concept came from one line Adam said in a meeting all the way back in the first series.

"I'm pretty sure it was in our first series," Hills explained. '"We were talking about Kate Middleton being photographed pregnant while she was on holiday in a bikini. We had this big discussion around the table of what we wanted to say about it and whether there was anything to say about it. And I think someone asked me my opinion and I went, 'You know what, I just wish we could all stop being d**ks for a second.'"

Something that keeps the show fresh each week is the different guests, and there have been some amazing celebs over the years - including EastEnders star, Danny Dyer, who Adam says that they ask for every single series.

"The great thing about him is that when he was on the show and one of the producers called him up to say we’ve had an idea for a sketch and to see if he’s interested, I think his answer was ‘I’ll do whatever you like darlin’, I’m on your pay packet’. He’s such a good sport," he said.

As for other notable guests on the show, Kathy Burke, Russel Crowe, Al Gore and Charlotte Church were named, with Adam explaining: "Not enough people talk about how funny Charlotte Church is". But one of the most memorable has to be Chris O’Dowd who "had way too many wines in the green room and then realised live on air that he was way drunker than he thought he was."

As for how much life The Last Leg still has in it, as it approaches its 10th year on the air, well we should still have it on our screens for a while yet Hills says.

"The challenges we’ve faced with the show this last year have been exciting, difficult and horrible all at the same time," Adam explained.

"We’re writing the show over zoom, from home, and we only come in on a Friday. We can’t be in the same room together so we have our Friday meetings, still on zoom, but all in the same building. We do the show and then we go straight home now. Having said that, we know how lucky we all are so I’m definitely not complaining.

"But those challenges have made us push ourselves and try new things and, hopefully, make the show a little bit better. So yes I’m definitely still enjoying the show. As for how long it will go on for, who knows? At one point we said that if we made it to the Tokyo Olympics, we would be happy – but who knows when they’re going to be now!"

The Last Leg airs Fridays at 10pm on Channel 4. For something else to watch, check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Entertainment hub.