New York City Kop

Michael Brandon, formerly one-half of hard-hitting 1980s cop duo Dempsey and Makepeace, is surely the world's least likely radio phone-in host. But here he is, among the presenters on Emap's new Liverpool talk station, City Talk. How did that happen? "Last year after appearing in Trial & Retribution I read an interview with him in a Sunday magazine," says the City Talk station director, Richard Maddock. "He was talking about all the things he had done in his career and the very last line mentioned that the one thing he has never done but would love to try was doing his own radio talkshow. I made contact with his agent, met up with him and thought he was fantastic company with some amazing stories to tell. We tried him out a couple of times covering for Pete Price on Radio City 96.7 and were blown away by how engaging he was on the radio. We then offered him his own show on City Talk." See Michael in his sword-wielding pomp on YouTube here. Probably best, if you are lucky enough to get through to him, not to hum the theme tune down the phone, though.