Lenny Henry says Dawn French part of the reason he decided to quit Comic Relief

05 March 2024 , 10:36

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Lenny Henry reckons his ex-wife, Dawn French, partly fuelled his decision to quit Comic Relief (Image: PA)

Lenny Henry reckons his ex-wife Dawn French partly fuelled his decision to quit Comic Relief.

The actor, 65, is stepping down from hosting the annual gig this year after co-founding the charity with Love Actually director, Richard Curtis, in 1985. Speaking about his reason for leaving ahead of his final Comic Relief this month, Lenny admitted he missed doing the show with Vicar of Dibley star, Dawn, who he was married to from 1984 to 2010.

Opening up about 'missing the gang' of fellow comics, who co-hosted the show with him in the eighties, including French and Saunders, Billy Connolly and the late Victoria Wood, he said: "We were like a little gang. But for a few years I’ve felt, 'Where’s the new gang?' [Comic Relief] is a baton to be handed on to a new group of people who are going to take on Comic Relief."

Lenny Henry admitted he missed doing Comic Relief with his ex-wife, Dawn French (Comic Relief via Getty Images)

Throwing names into the hat regarding his replacement, Lenny lauded Dr Who star, David Tennant, who hosted the show in 2019 while the actor was treading the boards. Speaking to Radio Times, he said: "I thought, well, actually, [David was] brilliant. And I think there’s other people, newer people, who are coming up like Romesh Ranganathan, Alesha Dixon, AJ Odudu. There are new people coming up now who can absolutely take the reins."

While we won't be seeing Lenny in front of the camera for future Comic Reliefs, the Comic Strip star did say he would continue working for the charity behind the scenes as it's Life President.

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Prior to founding the much-loved charity, Lenny met Dawn when they were both members of alternative comedy collective, The Comic Strip in 1980. With its irreverent skits, the alternative comedy show launched both their careers as well as Jennifer Saunders' and her husband Adrian Edmondson's.

The couple became one of the most famous duos in comedy when they got married in a 'fancy-schmancy chi-chi hall' before announcing their shock split 25 years later. Dawn and Lenny announced their "entirely amicable" divorce, stating their intention to "maintain their close friendship".

The comedians vowed to both co-parent their daughter Billie and have rarely spoke about their split since. They divorced on the grounds of his "unreasonable behaviour" in 2010. The statement issued on behalf of the couple read: "The separation is entirely amicable and they fully intend to maintain their close friendship. Their priority is to commit to the future joint parenting of their daughter."

There was no further comment made about the reason behind their split, however, Lenny told the Express in 2016: "There’s generally a situation where one partner wants the marriage to finish more than the other. I think maybe one of us did, then the other one did, and then the other did over a period of time and then, in the end, we thought, 'Oh, actually maybe we both do'. We knew it wasn't possible to continue."

* Comic Relief is on BBC One on March 15 from 7pm

Victoria Johns