Chris Serle obit

Ex-BBC TV and radio presenter Chris Serle dies

 

He was not on the list.

Former BBC television and radio presenter Chris Serle has died aged 81, his family have said.

Serle, who was born and based in Bristol, worked on popular programmes throughout the 1970s and 1980s including In at the Deep End and as the long-time host of Points of View.

He was also well-known as one of the regular presenters of the BBC show That's Life, chaired Radio 4's Pick of the Week between 1981 and 1988 and was the host of a long-running afternoon show on BBC Radio Bristol.

In a statement released by his family, they said Chris was a "familiar and cherished figure on British television screens throughout the 1970s and 1980s".

Chris is survived by his wife, Ali, their three children, and two children from a previous marriage.

His family said funeral and memorial service details are being arranged and will be shared in due course.

Serle was educated at Clifton College and Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied modern languages. He appeared as a foil for Irish comedian Dave Allen in his series Dave Allen at Large in 1971, but gained greater UK public recognition as one of the presenters on the TV series That's Life!. He later presented and appeared in In at the Deep End, a series in which he, and fellow former That's Life! presenter Paul Heiney, were pitched into professional situations with no prior knowledge.

In the 1980s, he presented Windmill in which clips from the BBC archives on particular themes were shown (so called as the then base for BBC archives was in Windmill Road, Brentford). He also presented the viewer-response show Points of View, The Computer Programme, and Monkey Business. On radio, he was the regular host of Pick of the Week between 1991 and 1998, and a frequent guest presenter until 2006. He was also the interviewer and host of the BBC series Greek Language and People with Katia Dandoulaki. Since 2005 he served as the honorary president of the Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service, a registered charity which provides a radio service to the hospitals of Bristol.

Serle featured on an episode of the BBC game show, The Adventure Game, with Sandra Dickinson and Adam Tandy on 16 February 1984. He also presented BBC's Radio Bristol The Afternoon Show for several years.