Alex Brooker says Channel 4 has brought Paralympics to a larger audience
The TV presenter said Channel 4’s coverage has made him more comfortable with his disability.
The Last Leg presenter Alex Brooker said Channel 4’s Paralympics coverage has brought the event to “a larger audience”.
Brooker also told the PA news agency that working on the broadcaster’s coverage had made him “much more comfortable” with his disability.
The 40-year-old was speaking ahead of hosting the ParalympicsGB Homecoming event, which will welcome Team GB athletes back from Paris 2024, and said the way the London Games were covered was “revelatory” as it has led to larger British TV audiences.
Speaking about Paralympic coverage since the launch of The Last Leg, Brooker told PA: “Prior to London 2012 there hadn’t really been as much.
“There was highlights on the BBC, you got the odd live thing, I think, but it was never on the scale Channel 4’s done it on.
“And I think that that in itself has brought the Paralympics to a larger audience.
“Obviously, we’re lucky enough that our show was kind of born out of that, and we’ve had 12 years now of being able to, when we’re at the Paralympics and afterwards, actually talk about disability, and showcase it and celebrate it.
“I think that’s a big thing, a lot of people have always said it’s amazing to see and they feel represented when they watch us and the conversations that we have.
“That’s incredible, because when I was growing up there wasn’t anything, and that’s something that we will always be able to take from The Last Leg, is that, especially in these Paralympic shows, we’ve been able to represent disability in the mainstream, and I think that can only be a good thing.
“It’s certainly made me feel far more comfortable than the person that started at London 2012, to now, if I thought about my disability I couldn’t compare the two, I’m so much more comfortable with it.”
Brooker, who was born with congenital abnormalities of his hands and arm, and a twisted right leg which had to be amputated when he was a baby, began his career as a sports reporter on the Liverpool Echo.
He began his TV career as a trackside reporter for Channel 4 at the London Games and as one of the hosts on The Last Leg, after he entered the broadcaster’s Half A Million Quid Talent Search, which aimed to find disabled talent to cover the Paralympics.
Last Leg co-presenter Josh Widdecombe said there is “still loads of work to be done”, with Brooker adding: “Attitudes are improving but sadly the physical surroundings of the world we’re in need to match that.”
Widdecombe told PA that Channel 4’s Superhumans advertising campaign was “the moment it all changed” for viewer attitudes to the Paralympics.
He told PA: “I think the coverage is great when you compare it to when we were kids.
“I think the London 2012 coverage – and this is not about The Last Leg – but the coverage was just a revelation.
“I think those Channel 4 ads that said, ‘thanks for the warm-up’, about the Olympics, ‘meet the Superhumans’.
“I thought that advertising campaign heralded a complete sea change in how the Paralympics was covered.”
The National Lottery’s ParalympicsGB Homecoming, hosted by Brooker, Widdecombe and Adam Hills, will take place at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on September 12, with tickets still available.
It will also see performances from the likes of Sugababes, Aitch and Jonas Blue.
