John Virgo makes Jim Davidson feelings clear after Big Break host 'cancelled'
The World Snooker Championship commentator fronted the popular BBC show alongside controversial comedian and presenter Jim Davidson in the 1990s
John Virgo has opened up on his friendship with his former Big Break co-host Jim Davidson, after the comedian and presenter's claims that he was 'cancelled'.
The duo fronted the supremely-popular snooker-based programme for just over a decade in the 1990s, with Davidson presenting and Virgo starring as a referee. It saw contestants team up with professional players to compete in various snooker-related rounds in order to win prizes. It proved a huge hit with viewing figures reaching almost 14 million at its peak.
The show arrived as Virgo, now 79, was starting to wind down his snooker career and move into broadcasting, and he admits that he was sceptical about the show's chances of being successful when he first landed the gig. However, he was soon happily proven wrong.
He said: "All of a sudden, I get this phone call, 'Would you be interested in doing this TV show, a quiz show with snooker, with this comedian, Jim Davidson'.
"I'd met him once a few years previously, but I didn't really know him. It was funny because we got there and he didn't know much about snooker."
Speaking to the Daily Express, Virgo added: "In all honesty, after doing the first couple of shows, I was thinking, 'I don't see how this works'. Anyway, we did eight [episodes]. We took over the slot from A Question of Sport on a Tuesday night and the viewing figures were better! That shows you the popularity of snooker at the time.
"Then I got another phone call and they wanted us to go back into the studio to do another 18!," he added. "We ran for 10 years and peaked at nearly 14million viewers. It was remarkable."
The show was also the start of a close friendship between Virgo and Davidson, as unlikely as it initially seemed.
"It's a funny thing about life. He's your crafty Conservative comedian and I'm your dour northern socialist. How do you come up with that? But obviously the chemistry worked," Virgo added. "Although Jim didn't know much about snooker, what a funny man and a very generous man to work with.
"We really got on well. Besides, when you're in those positions, the most important thing is that the show works."
The pair's friendship continued after the show aired for the final time in 2002, and they did pantomime together for eight years. However, since Big Break ended, Davidson has come under fire for a series of controversial comments and incidents, making numerous offensive jokes about women, racial and ethnic minorities and members of the LGBTQ+ community in his stand-up act.
He has gone on to claim he was unfairly "cancelled" by the BBC, alleging on GB News that he was paid £1million by the corporation to "go away" after his success as a presenter.
Virgo has since made his feelings clear on the matter, admitting that Davidson no longer being on TV is "understandable" but claiming it is also a "waste of talent". He added that the pair no longer speak regularly, but share "a warmth that I don't get with many people" whenever they cross paths.
"Jim is a comic genius and yet he can't appear on television, because he has a black mark against his name. It's understandable. I just feel it's a waste of a talent.'
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