Baddiel and Skinner back together for World Cup

Baddiel and Skinner back together for World Cup
Baddiel and Skinner back together for World Cup (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

David Baddiel and Frank Skinner are to kick off their partnership once more to hold court about the World Cup. The duo, well-known for their Fantasy Football League pairing on TV, are to front a series of shows from South Africa for Absolute Radio next summer. The shows, which will feature chat, commentary and news from the tournament, will also be available as podcasts. The pair began their TV series Fantasy Football League on BBC Two in 1994, later swapping to ITV for a World Cup version in 1998 and then a Euro 2004 series. Baddiel and Skinner famously teamed up with Lightning Seeds star Ian Broudie to record Three Lions - the Euro 96 anthem - which was updated for the World Cup two years later enjoying a five-week run at No 1. In 2006, they created a series of podcasts for The Times newspaper reaching around one million listeners. Skinner said: "I'm incredibly excited about Absolute sending us to the World Cup in South Africa. I fully expect to have three lions on my shirt and another couple chasing the Land Rover." And Baddiel joked: "I absolutely refuse to go to South Africa until they comply with The Specials' demand and free Nelson Mandela. What... When?" The station will make the daily podcasts available from 6am to allow people to download them before commuting. They will then be broadcast by the station later that day.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.