Chris Evans to front new eight-part series of TFI Friday
The new host of Top Gear has signed up to front a full run expected to begin on Channel 4 later this year
Chris Evans is to front a new eight-part series of TFI Friday, RadioTimes.com can confirm. The fully commissioned run comes after Channel 4 aired a one-off revival of the music-based chat show earlier this month to rave reviews from critics and fans.
The eight new episodes are expected to come to TV screens later this year. Evans will present once again despite his previous suggestion that new X Factor judge Nick Grimshaw might take the helm were the show to be commissioned for a full run.
The TFI special – which aired on 12th June – saw appearances from the likes of Liam Gallagher, Blur, Jeremy Clarkson, Amanda Seyfried and Lewis Hamilton, and earned Channel 4 an average of 3.4 million viewers.
At the time, the broadcaster confirmed they had "no current plans" to commission more episodes, but Evans had sent out some ambiguous tweets, appearing to shut down rumours of a revival before telling his 1.9 million followers: "I didn't say we weren't doing any more TFI Friday".
Today's announcement comes a week after Evans was announced as the new host of BBC2's Top Gear, taking over from Jeremy Clarkson. He said of his latest gig: "I’m thrilled, Top Gear is my favourite programme of all time. Created by a host of brilliant minds who love cars and understand how to make the massively complicated come across as fun, devil-may-care and effortless. When in fact of course, it's anything but and that's the genius of Top Gear's global success."
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2015 is shaping up to be a busy year for Evans who has quit his Friday afternoon gig on The One Show but will retain his slot presenting the Radio 2 Breakfast Show. Top Gear is expected to begin filming in a few weeks with Evans' co-hosts yet to be revealed.
