Presenters inspired by Matt Lucas' song

A fund-raising song released by former Little Britain star Matt Lucas has been given a North East twist by two Sunderland presenters.

Kai Valentine and Hayden Beckett, of Spark Sunderland – the University’s community radio station – decided to test out their writing skills with a new take on Thank You Baked Potato; released by Lucas with all proceeds going towards feeding NHS workers working at the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic.

Though Sunderland University stopped face-to-face teaching due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the station has stayed on the air with Spark’s student volunteers running the service from their homes.

And their take on the potato song – called Thank You Chicken Parmo – sees Kai, who presents the breakfast programme on the station, take to the camera and pay tribute to the takeaway treat.

Kai, 23, told the Echo: “After that went viral last week, we wanted to respond to it with a North East twist.”

“We wanted to release this song as an ode to the greatest discovery we have found since moving to the North East ... the wonders of the Chicken Parmo.

“We hope that this song gets stuck in people’s heads, and is a welcome distraction to the craziness in the world right now.”

The music video sees Kai take a delivery of a Parmo, cuddling up to it and bed and yearning after the food on his computer.

Fellow presenter Hayden, 24, produced the video. Both men are Masters radio students at Sunderland University.