The presenter Chris Serle, who has died aged 81, was a warm, wry and reassuring presence on a number of popular television and radio programmes, mostly for the BBC, in which he informed and entertained viewers with a relaxed affability.
Serle came to national prominence in 1979, when he and Paul Heiney joined the consumer magazine series That’s Life! as foils for Esther Rantzen, who had fronted the programme since its inception in 1973. Serle’s combination of languid cheerfulness and straightforward professionalism made him ideal for the Sunday night show, which pulled in millions of viewers.
That’s Life! skilfully juggled serious campaigning with quirky life stories and public interest pieces, seamlessly changing tone as segments on amusingly shaped vegetables, April fools’ jokes and funny pets switched to reports on child safety issues, injustices and corporate malfeasance. Serle’s serious journalistic instincts were worn lightly as, at ease in front of the camera, he fronted his own investigations, conducted vox pops and gave witty commentaries in the studio.
In 1982 Heiney and Serle left That’s Life! to co-host In at the Deep End, in which they took turns learning a new profession from scratch, and which ran on the BBC for three seasons, until 1987. Serle, generally a comfortable and engaging presence, could summon the requisite plucky naivety when the series pushed him out of his comfort zone as the tall, mopheaded presenter attempted ballroom dancing, rally driving, butler etiquette or opera singing.
For Windmill (1985-88), Serle raided the BBC archives (then housed at Windmill Road, west London) for thematically linked snippets from classic television shows. Appointment viewing for nostalgists on a Sunday lunchtime, it was pleasingly unencumbered by the patronising tone favoured by latter-day clip shows.
Born in Henleaze, a suburb of Bristol, Chris was the third of four children of Frank Serle, a clothing wholesaler, and his wife, Winifred (nee Pugsley). He grew up in the nearby Westbury-on-Trym and was educated at the independent Clifton college where he played the violin, viola and timpani in the orchestra, sang in the choir and was drummer in the school rock’n’roll band. He then read modern languages at Trinity College Dublin, where his musicianship led to him joining the Dublin University Players, and from there he set his sights on a career in show business.
With fellow Trinity graduates he performed in the revue show Late Nite for Three (1964), in which the Stage described him as “a young man possessing a good deal of gangling charm”. He became something of a revue specialist, which led to an early television break as a regular on ATV’s satirical sketch show Broad and Narrow (1965).
He joined the Bristol Old Vic theatre company for its 1966 bicentenary celebrations that included a Shakespeare tour of the US, Europe and the Middle East: he served as assistant stage manager and played small, mostly comic roles such as the Second Gravedigger in Hamlet and Peter in Romeo and Juliet.
Despite this promising start, a dispiriting spell of unemployment convinced him to turn his back on acting and he joined the BBC as a radio producer. He oversaw Radio 1’s arts show Late Night Extra (1969-74), but even so kept his hand in as a performer – on TV as part of the support ensemble in Dave Allen at Large (1971) and on stage as a regular drummer with the Crouch End All Stars Jazz Band.
Having produced various radio quizzes including Brain of Britain (1975), he moved to television and worked as a researcher on Jim’ll Fix It and Parkinson. Then, while he was working “in a sleepy little offshoot of the BBC” – BBC Further Education – the That’s Life! producer Patricia Houlihan, who recalled him tipsily singing songs and playing the ukulele at a BBC party, suggested he audition for one of the newly vacant positions on the show. He liked the programme so applied “just for a lark”, and his existing rapport with fellow applicant Heiney (they had worked together before) ensured that they saw off some stiff competition and were hired.
His later TV work included wrestling with audience feedback on the BBC’s Points of View (1994-97) and, alongside the IT expert Ian McNaught-Davis, showcasing the capabilities of computers in The Computer Programme (1982).
On radio he was often used as cover for hosting duties on BBC Radio 2 in the late 80s and was the regular presenter of the long-running audio highlights package Pick of the Week from 1991 to 1998.
He returned to Bristol in 1996 and worked on a number of programmes made there, as well as throwing himself into local events, becoming honorary president of Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service and hosting a long-running afternoon show on BBC Radio Bristol.
In 1983 he married Anna Southall, a museum director; they divorced in 2003. He is survived by his second wife, Ali (nee Fraser), a BBC producer whom he married in 2006, their three children, Oliver, Katie and Grace, his sons, Harry and Jack, from his first marriage, and his sister, Daphne.
• Christopher Richard Serle, television presenter, born 13 July 1943; died 16 September 2024
