Frank Skinner breaks down on-air as he tells listeners ex-co-host Gareth Richards fighting for life

Frank Skinner broke down in tears live on his radio show as he informed listeners that comedian Gareth Richards is fighting for his life after being in a “very big road accident”.

The 66-year-old comedian told listeners of his Saturday Absolute radio show that “it’s not looking great” for his his former co-host and friend after the collision this week.

An emotional Skinner told listeners in the closing moments of his show that he did not want to do it without mentioning Richards.

“One thing you have to learn to do in this line of work is to put on a false front and the show must go on, and that’s what happened this morning,” he said.

He continued: “Gareth was in a very big road accident this week and it’s not looking great for Gareth.

"He is in hospital and he’s fighting but it’s not looking great.

“I didn’t want to do this show, we didn’t want to do this show, without mentioning him... Many of you will have seen him live, some of you will remember on the show if you’ve been with us that long - he is a fantastic bloke.”

Skinner recalled how Richards had co-hosted with him and Emily Dean when The Frank Skinner Show first went on air.

He said: “We’ve been doing this show for 14 years and when we first did the pilot for it, me and Emily, it was rubbish, just the two of us.

“We couldn’t do it, and we got a guest on the next one, who was Gareth Richards who was brilliant on here and we asked him to do the show, so for the first few years it was me, Em and Gareth.

“It was great, exciting times, we won an award and he in fact became a very close friend and he supported me on tour a couple of times.”

Skinner signed off asking listeners who pray to “give one to Gareth this week”.

He added: “I’m not going to pretend - it’s bad, but there is always hope.”

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