Tragedy-hit hopeful on X Factor

Tragedy-hit hopeful on X Factor
Tragedy-hit hopeful on X Factor (Image credit: Ken McKay)

A man who missed out on last year's X Factor because of a family tragedy will finally get a chance to wow Simon Cowell and the other judges on this Saturday's show. Daryl Markham missed last year's audition to be his brother's best man, only to see him diagnosed with lung cancer soon after and die six weeks later. Viewers of tomorrow night's show, the second in the new series, will see the 40-year-old carpenter from East Sussex fight back emotions to perform Rod Stewart ballad I Don't Want To Talk About It. Daryl told judge Simon Cowell: "I applied to come on last year but it was my brother's wedding, but unfortunately shortly after his wedding he was diagnosed with lung cancer and six weeks later he passed away. "Me and my brother were inseparable, we did everything together, he was my best friend. Only six weeks after being told, he died, he was only 37." Daryl said he had worked as a carpenter for 24 years, sharing a business with his brother, but had always dreamed of being a singer. "I promised my brother I'd look after his young nine-year-old boy Kian, he's a very bright young boy but goes back into himself... We all have to be strong for him, that's why I'm here today, to make him proud." The next edition of The X Factor is on Saturday at 7pm on ITV1.

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.