Jack Whitehall talks presenting the BRITs and who wanted to be introduced as "the biggest rock star on the planet"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

What’s the view from your sofa?

It’s now a television that has Peppa Pig or Bluey on all the time on rotation in a kitchen/living area that is just absolute carnage because we have a toddler [two-year-old Elsie]. Dolls and toys are strewn hither and thither. It’s like watching television in a brightly coloured, sensory overloading war zone.

What have you been enjoying watching amid the carnage recently?

I’m away from my family [filming The Fifth Wheel and launching The ‘Burbs in Los Angeles] so last night I binge-watched the Netflix documentary Take That, which I really enjoyed. On my own, in America, tired and jetlagged, I was getting rather glassy-eyed about Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams falling out. It’s still raw, it still hurts.

Who controls the remote control at home in London?

My fiancée [model Roxy Horner]. I start a lot of series with her and then get pulled away for work and travel. I’ve seen one episode of [Apple TV’s] Pluribus and the first four episodes of The Traitors. It’s quite a contentious issue in our house – she has absolutely no patience and just goes behind my back and finishes all of these series.

When did you realise that leaning into your poshness was comedy gold?

For the first few years, I used the fact that I was young as my USP. A few comedians pointed out that eventually that well would run dry. Until that point, I’d been trying to hide the fact that I was posh, but I don’t think I was fooling anyone. Then I decided it could be a funny thing to send up. So I just became closer to my authentic self – and then probably pushed it even further the other way.

You recently played a baddie in the Amazon Prime thriller Malice. Was it a challenge to land a dramatic role – and play such a dodgy character?

It was a bit of a journey to get there, and definitely something I had aspirations to do. That’s why I’ve tried to be a bit more selective in the amount of entertainment stuff that I do in the UK, just because I’ve done so much of it.

You’ve also worked on several shows with your dad Michael. How did that impact your relationship?

The key to any good double act is chemistry, and we had that inbuilt because we’re father and son. As he became the star of the show, I really enjoyed giving him the space to shine, and I loved that he had a second lease of life professionally and so many people enjoyed him on screen. It was great to spend that amount of time with a parent later on in life – more than most people in their 20s would get to do. I was very blessed that I had that opportunity to bond with him.

This is your sixth time hosting the BRIT Awards. Why is it such an appealing repeat gig?

I do a lot of other things – acting, other types of presenting and stand-up – but there’s something about the high-stakes, high-wire act of going on stage and trying to MC live television that gets your heart racing in a way nothing else does.

Does your script have to be approved?

It’s ITV, so there are some Ts&Cs, but they’re quite good. They let me say pretty much everything I want to. It’s normally the artists’ publicists that are more on it and try to apply censorship. But my tactic is to do a fake script in the rehearsal so none of them hear it until it’s too late.

Have you had any comments excised by overzealous music industry people?

Yeah, Jared Leto wanted me to introduce him as “the biggest rock star on the planet”. I didn’t want to do that, so wrote some jokes at his expense. Then, either he or his team went over to the autocue and tried to change it during the show.

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