Alex is purring over cat clips

ALEX Zane reckons his hit series owes its success to cats.

The telly star has been hosting the Channel 4 show since 2008.

He said: “The most popular clips we show are people injuring themselves while doing stunts and scare pranks.

“But the winner on the internet will always be cats. Cat videos are the biggest thing for us.

“Every time we do a cat special people love it. Dogs are popular but cats really seem to know what they’re doing. You can almost see the cat thinking ‘Yeah, this is going to get three billion hits’.” The tenth series aired earlier this year and the show is still pulling in strong ratings. Alex said: “A lot of the viewers are parents who heard their kids talking about YouTube. The show gives them a window into what their kids are watching.”

Many episodes feature jawdropping stunts so shocking even Alex can’t believe what he is seeing.

He said: “I watched a guy land on a skateboard that snapped and his legs went so wide that he tore the skin that joins the front to the back. Every time I see that my eyes water.”

Last week Alex hosted the launch of Sky Box Sets Club. Visit skyboxsetsclub. co.uk for details. STAR Mark Strepan reckons the series is great viewing because it mirrors real life.

He said: “It feels very current – like these types of stories are in the newspapers and media every day.

“We focus on pharmaceutical fraud, we look at charity, and how the landscape of London keeps changing and whose decision it is to make these choices to build new buildings.

“The stories feel like they’re of now, happening right now, every day.”

Mark plays a junior investigator in the show, which premiered on BBC iPlayer before starting on TV last week. Mark Addy and Anna Chancellor also star.

New Blood continues on Thursday at 9pm on BBC One.