{"id":448864,"date":"2026-02-27T17:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448864\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T17:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:54:14","slug":"chucklevision-to-return-for-new-generation-with-both-brothers-says-legend-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448864\/","title":{"rendered":"ChuckleVision to return for ‘new generation’ with both brothers says legend Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul and Barry Elliott – better known as The Chuckle Brothers – worked together for 55 years, playing the ChuckleHounds on their own show, which launched in 1984, before masterminding ratings hit ChuckleVision on the BBC, which ran for 292 episodes between 1987 and 2009<\/p>\n

06:00, 27 Feb 2026Updated 12:39, 27 Feb 2026<\/p>\n

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(Image: Copyright unknown)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s always a risk that comes with mixing family and business \u2013 but for Paul Elliott<\/a> there was never any doubt that he and his late brother, Barry<\/a>, would go their separate ways as they carved out a career for themselves as legendary comedy act The Chuckle Brothers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paul was only 14 years old when Barry suggested they put on a show for the local kids in their back garden, charging a ha\u2019penny each for their performance, and a farthing for some homemade popcorn. The rest, they say, is history.<\/p>\n

Paul, 78, tells The Mirror<\/a>: \u201cHe was three years older than me so we grew up together. He\u2019d have his mates at school, and I\u2019d have mine, but we\u2019d put on shows in the summer \u2013 those six weeks seemed like forever when we were younger. We always got on, but we\u2019d row as well.<\/p>\n

“As siblings, you have fights and things but within five minutes you\u2019re playing together again. And it was like that all our working lives. We\u2019d never argue about work. We always agreed on what we thought was funny and wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Kate Middleton’s secret thrill in under-the-radar move – ‘It’s how I get my fix’<\/a>READ MORE: Gogglebox Pete and Sophie’s lives including acting past and secret siblings<\/a>\"Sadly,<\/p>\n

Sadly, Barry died of bone cancer in 2018 at the age of 73(Image: SWNS.com)<\/p>\n

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The double act worked together for 55 years, playing the ChuckleHounds on their own show, which launched in 1984, before masterminding ratings hit ChuckleVision on the BBC<\/a>, which ran for 292 episodes between 1987 and 2009. The show brought laughter to children and adults alike, and birthed the famous catchphrases \u2018To me, to you\u2019 and \u2018Oh dear, or dear.\u2019 In 2008, the brothers won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BAFTAs.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Barry died of bone cancer in 2018 at the age of 73. Paul continues to perform in pantomimes every year, and in 2025 he even appeared in gangster film Fall to the Top. But it\u2019s on stage where he feels closest to his slapstick partner of more than five decades.<\/p>\n

He shares: \u201cIt\u2019s like he jumps in my body, his spirit. I was always the straight man and Barry delivered the punch line. He was the comedian. But now of course I have to be the funny man, and he\u2019s not there. But I feel he\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In 2008, the brothers won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BAFTAs.(Image: Instagram)<\/p>\n

Of course, the children\u2019s TV landscape looks drastically different to how it did back in The Chuckle Brothers\u2019 heyday. But in 2023, there was talk of bringing ChuckleVision back to life in an animated version, which would use AI to help recreate Barry\u2019s voice. Having worked with the BBC for the best part of his career, Paul reveals the network would get first dibs should the cartoon go ahead.<\/p>\n

Paul explains: \u201cThe world<\/a> has totally changed. When ChuckleVision was first on, there were only four channels. We\u2019d get three million viewers at half past three in the afternoon. It\u2019d be great to get that on a Saturday night now.<\/p>\n

“Wherever I go, people say, \u2018I grew up watching you, you made my childhood, I used to dash home from school to watch ChuckleVision.\u2019 But that\u2019s all changed. I find there\u2019s no adult comedy programmes on anymore. It\u2019s just completely different. But you can’t turn the clock back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul continues: \u201cWe have a company called ChucklesWorld and hopefully the sale of books will generate enough money to make the cartoon and get it out there for the new generation. It will go to whoever will buy it, because that\u2019s how business works now. But BBC would get first dibs obviously, because ChuckleVision was on the BBC for 23 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul still feels close to his late brother, especially when he performs on stage(Image: officialpaulchuckle\/Instagram)<\/p>\n

\"Between<\/p>\n

Between 3rd and 11th March, Paul will be travelling across the UK to celebrate 40 years of Marie Curie\u2019s Great Daffodil Appeal(Image: ARTUR TIXILISKI)<\/p>\n

Ironically, Paul and Barry were told they were \u201ctoo old\u201d to succeed on the network back in the mid-eighties. He was 39 when the show began, while Barry was 42.<\/p>\n

He reveals: \u201cMartin [Hughes] told us he didn\u2019t know how long we\u2019d get, hopefully two or three series. He said there was a bit of ageism at the BBC, and that was back in the mid-eighties. We were seen as a bit old to do children\u2019s TV. But I don\u2019t think kids thought about how old we were. They all used to say, we’re just like a couple of grown-up kids.<\/p>\n

“Whatever job we were doing, we did it how kids would do it. If someone asked us to hang up a picture on the wall, we\u2019d get a hammer and a nail and go bang, bang, bang and there would be plaster everywhere!\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul and Barry followed in the footsteps of their father, James Patton Elliott \u2013 best known as Gene Patton \u2013 who performed on stage and live radio. James once worked alongside a teenage Peter Sellers in the No 10 Gang, performing in front of audiences around the country. Their mother, Amy, was a high-kicking dancer in Rodney Hudson Dancing Girls, a group that paved the way for the iconic cabaret troupe, the Bluebell Girls.<\/p>\n

The showbiz bug must run in the family, because Paul\u2019s great niece and nephew, Sophie and Pete Sandiford, star on Gogglebox. Paul would love to make a guest appearance on the Channel 4<\/a> show, or better yet, sign up to Celebrity Traitors.<\/p>\n

He shares: \u201cI\u2019d love to do Traitors. Me and my wife have watched them all \u2013 the American, Australian and New Zealand versions. We\u2019re in the middle of the Irish one now. I\u2019d definitely want to be a traitor!\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside his professional career, Paul is celebrated for helping raise millions for charity alongside his brother \u2013 and in December he was made an MBE in the New Year<\/a> Honours list for his charitable work.<\/p>\n

As a self-confessed \u201cout and out royalist\u201d, he\u2019s not nervous about coming face to face with the royal family<\/a> later this year \u2013 he\u2019s met them several times over the years. In fact, he proudly displays a picture of himself meeting King Charles<\/a>, or rather Prince Charles as he was known back in 2017, in his living room.<\/p>\n

He reveals: \u201cThe first one was Princess Margaret when we did the Children\u2019s Royal Variety Performance in 1994. She was walking along the line, meeting everyone. But then she asked me question and we ended up chatting for ages. I do that when someone asks me a question \u2013 she shouldn\u2019t have asked!<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to watch the Royal Variety another year and I met Princess Anne backstage. I actually bumped into her and said, \u2018Oops, sorry!\u2019 And then I told her I\u2019d actually met her Auntie Margaret several years ago. And after I thought, \u2018Should I have called her her Auntie Margaret?!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Between 3rd and 11th March, Paul will be travelling across the UK to celebrate 40 years of Marie Curie\u2019s Great Daffodil Appeal in his bid to raise \u00a340,000. And in true Chuckle Brothers style, he\u2019ll be making the trip with a quadricycle named the \u2018Daff bike\u2019 \u2013 a sweet nod to his and Barry’s beloved ChuckMobile.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul will be making the trip with a quadricycle named the \u2018Daff bike\u2019 \u2013 a sweet nod to his and Barry’s beloved ChuckMobile(Image: ARTUR TIXILISKI)<\/p>\n

Paul and Barry became official Marie Curie ambassadors in 2016, and Paul has continued to be an active supporter of the charity after experiencing the invaluable care that Barry received from Marie Curie at the end of his life.<\/p>\n

The charity also offers bereavement support for those left behind. As well as Barry, Paul has lost three of his other siblings over the past two decades, and heartbreakingly, his three-month-old daughter Nicola in 1974, whom he shared with his first wife Anna. Paul has previously spoken about how he had no choice but to perform on the evening of his daughter\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cBack then, it was like, \u2018Get on with it\u2019. But you\u2019ve got to talk about it, and have people with you to hold your hand, and let the grief out, which again, as a man, you weren\u2019t supposed to cry.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrief is hard – it’s not just sadness, it\u2019s a physical pain. You feel it inside you, it hurts. And what I do know is that you need to talk about it before it happens. Barry would always say to me, \u2018You\u2019ve got to keep on in the business. Don\u2019t just pack it in because I\u2019ve gone. You\u2019ve got to keep going, and I\u2019ll be with you.\u2019 And he has been, ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul’s ‘From Me to You’ thank you tour for Marie Curie takes place between 3rd-11th March. You can find out more information and donate to the Great Daffodil Appeal at mariecurie.org.uk\/frommetoyoutour<\/a><\/p>\n

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