Actors - Leigh Francis

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	Actors - Leigh Francis

Leigh Francis (born May 30, 1973) is a comedian from Leeds, England. He married Jill Carter on Halloween, 2003.

Francis was "discovered" by television presenter Davina McCall, who got him regular appearances on MTV UK. This kick-started his television career.

In postmodern fashion, Leigh Francis conducts every interview and arrives at every celebrity function in his character guise of Avid Merrion. He is never seen without being in character, and many have trouble understanding that Avid Merrion is a fictional creation and so Francis' name means very little in popular discourse.

Francis also plays many other celebrities, using comical masks and inappropriate accents, in sketches in his series Bo' Selecta!. His focus changed to character of "The Bear" (a rude teddy bear based on Ronnie Corbett), rather than Avid Merrion, as part of the new series A Bear's Tail. This follows the first use of Francis' real name at the head of the titles for the 2004 Christmas special.

Avid Merrion

Avid Merrion, Leigh's fictional character creation, is most famously known from the British television comedy sketch show, Bo' Selecta! as a Celabrity Stalker. Born in the small town of Arachnipus near Transylvania, Romania to a father who was a Dracula impersonator, Avid grew up to be the "number one super fan, here in the world". He came to England because of "something to do with the police".

Merrion lived in his London flat for a long time with his dead mother slouched in one cupboard and Craig Phillips from TV's Big Brother chained up in another. His only other friend was Ozzy, a refugee who used to operate a TV printing business in the flat beneath Avid's. Avid claims, in a distinct eastern-european accent, "I don't know what he is!".

With his slurred and broken English, ginger mullet, peculiar sexual fetishes and obsession with showbiz figureheads, he made one scary stalker of celebrities. He famously wears a neck brace, allegedly due to an encounter with Liza Tarbuck which resulted in her punching him in the throat.

Merrion won the 1997 Best Newcomer Award in the 13th Annual British Academy of Adult Movies and Entertainment for his performances in Baker's Dozen and Red and Ready.

Avid spends most of his time harassing celebrities at functions such as book signings or movie premiers. He doesn't see it as harassment though but rather affectionate worship. Due to his hanging around at these events, he became noticed by the media during the third series of Big Brother on Channel 4 after he repeatedly attempted to break into the house to get closer to his television heroes.

After this, he was allowed to play his own part in the comedy series Bo' Selecta!. By the third season of this show, his newly elevated status in pop culture allowed him to talk one-on-one with celebrities rather than stalking them so his spots on Bo' Selecta! were transformed into his own chat show.

Avid has appeared on many other TV shows including Big Brother's Little Brother and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. He gave his first-ever interview out of character on the The Frank Skinner Show.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Leigh Francis ]

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