Antony Cotton to host ITV daytime chat show
Actor Antony Cotton, best known for his role as Sean Tully in ITV soap Coronation St, is the latest talent to try and take on Richard and July.
The openly gay performer has been given his own chat format, called That Antony Cotton Show, to be broadcast on weekdays at 5pm on ITV1. It will start a five-week run next month.
The hour-long programme, described as a mix of celebrity interviews and topical humour, will pit him against the housewives’ favourites Richard and Judy on Channel 4.
Mr Cotton will continue with his role in Coronation St.
This year he won Best Actor at the British Soap Awards.
The 31-year-old first came to prominence in the role of Alexander in breakthrough gay drama Queer As Folk.
Mr Cotton said the new show will be “gossipy, light-hearted, chatty and irreverent, but most of all fun.”
He has been a strong supporter of gay charities and was the star attraction at the Stonewall Equality Walk in Brighton in May.
In February he donated a personal tour of the Coronation St set to the Terrence Higgins Trust Lighthouse Gala Auction, raising £5,000.
In January he won the TV singing competition Soapstar Superstar. beating Emmerdale star Hayley Tamaddon in a live final.
His prize was a £200,000 donation to the Elton John Aids Foundation.
Mr Cotton is the latest star that ITV have lined up to try and take on Richard and Judy. X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne tried and failed last year.
