Jason Manford says ex and current wife's teamwork makes family life work well

27 January 2024 , 17:00

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The comedian, 42, has four daughters and two sons (Image: Getty Images for the National Lottery)

Comedian Jason Manford says juggling his family of six kids takes a lot of teamwork. The star, who hosts The National Lottery's Big Night of Musicals tonight, has three daughters and a son with his first wife Catherine and a daughter and a son with current wife Lucy.

"It's a lot, it has its difficult moments like any family but at the end of the day there's more love to go around," said the presenter of his big family. "We get by and we've got a lot of help, my parents live nearby, my ex-wife, my wife, everybody pitches in and makes sure it works and it does for the most part."

The Starstruck judge, who jokes that being famous is a "by product of being good at your job", says his children's reaction to their dad being well-known varies from "not bothered to super proud". "It depends what I'm doing," he said. "Two of my kids came to the musicals show and absolutely loved it and the other two were like: 'I'll just watch it on telly'."

Jason is the proud father of six children

Jason starred in Jack And The Beanstalk in Manchester over Christmas, meaning he is attracting a whole new demographic of fans. "Post doing a panto I get a lot of kids," he said. "I was at the gym yesterday with my kids and some little kids came over, they'd seen the show and wanted a chat. That's really lovely.

"People want to talk about all sorts of things," he added. "Mainly the comedy, they might have a favourite bit of something I've said over the years. I always love a chat."

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The 42-year-old is returning to host the National Lottery's Big Night of Musicals for the third time, with the extravaganza filmed at Manchester's AO Arena in front of 12,000 fans. Viewers can expect amazing West End performances from musicals including Hamilton and a Chorus Line, with guest appearances from the likes of Alfie Boe and Daniel Mays.

"This year is particularly spectacular," said the performer, who will be starring in his own touring theatre show, A Manford All Seasons, from November. "It gives everyone a little flavour or a little opportunity to see something that's currently on tour or in the West End.

Jason is hosting The National Lottery's Big Night of Musicals for a third year (Getty Images for The National Lottery)

"There were some really great moments. Sit Down, You're Rockin' The Boat (from Guys And Dolls) was a knockout and having the four Jean Valjean's in Bring Him Home (Les Miserables) was a beautiful moment," he added. "Somewhere Over The Rainbow with Aviva Tulley was very beautiful too."

Jason is a huge musicals fan, starring in six to date and tonight he teams up with West End legend Beverley Knight for a song, joking: "It's hard, it's like doing kick-ups next to Ronaldo but she's just a wonderful professional". "I just love the people and the medium, it's a really beautiful way of entertaining," he added.

"The rest of the country can sometimes feel like theatre is a bit London-centric, that's where the West End is, that's where a lot of the awards are. What's lovely about this is it brings it out of London, obviously it's in my home town which makes it a little bit more magical and means I've got a little shorthand with the audience."

The star called Beverley Knight a "wonderful professional" (Getty Images for The National Lottery)

The performer would love to take on an iconic role in Les Miserables. "I always say I would love to be (Inspector) Javert in Les Mis," he said. "That just feels like a wonderful, complicated part. And I've often thought about the dentist in Little Shop Of Horrors, the Steve Martin role, that feels like a good comedy part with loads to do."

But the versatile talent would like to see how successful he could be behind the scenes. "I'd love to do some more acting and maybe some writing on TV," said Jason. "I feel like I've got something in me that would make a good TV show so once I've got a bit of time to do that I would love to see if I've got that skill."

The National Lottery's Big Night of Musicals will air at 7:50pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer tonight, Saturday, January 27, as well as on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds tomorrow, Sunday, January 28

Vikki White