Melanie Sykes: why's sexist Keith Lemon still on TV?

Her comments came as she revealed that Leigh Francis reduced her to tears by humiliating her in front of an audience in the guise of his alter-ego. Sykes said she was subjected to three hours of offensive comments while recording an episode of ITV's Through The Keyhole in 2018.

Keith Lemon hits back at Melanie Sykes

Mel Sykes said Keith Lemon had a "limited vocabulary". Now he's hit back, saying it hasn't stopped him winning "two BAFTAs and two NTAs".

Last year's specstacular saw Alan do impressions taking the mickey out of easy targets Cher Lloyd, the Beckhams and Wills and Kate.

This year he'll be getting up to more festive fooling around, party games and sketches with the help of his guest mates.

Former Radio 2 pal Melanie Sykes, Jonathan Ross, Jimmy Carr, Jack Whitehall, Christine Bleakley, Gok Wan and Bruno Mars join in the New Year fun.

Then there's Rylan Clark - one of the few guests who can make Alan look butch by comparison.

The line-up might not be as A-list as Graham Norton's, but this is exactly the kind of party you'd want to be invited to.

The lovable fairy of chat is hitching a lift on the Olympics bandwagon with a live party to celebrate all that's great about London 2012. Fun and cheekiness are pretty much guaranteed; his good-natured guests include fellow chatter Jonathan Ross, X Factor judge Tulisa, torch-bearer Paloma Faith and amiable music type Labrinth. Bringing the chaos is Keith Lemon, who will relish the chance to get close to Melanie Sykes, and there's a bit of sport involved as Olympian Fatima Whitbread sets the guests a series of challenges.

Tom Binns is perhaps most famous for his hospital radio DJ character Ivan Brackenbury, however this Radio 2 pilot focuses on his other comic creation: Ian D. Montfort, the Sunderland Psychic ("not to be confused with the Sunderland Psycho").

Binns' character is a parody of just about every TV psychic you've ever come across, complete with lame explanations of how his powers come about. Take Montfort's explanation of how angel cards work: "They're angel cards, that's how they work."

Due to the nature of the character, most of the laughs comes from interaction with his audience, and in this pilot his special guest, Melanie Sykes. Look out for the scenes in which he tries to embarrass the crowd...

Binns' characters are impressive, but can one, or even two, of his personas carry a whole radio series? Given the positive feedback to this pilot we might just find out...

Radio head: Going Out with Alan Carr

The banter between Alan Carr and Melanie Sykes makes for genuinely funny listening.