No hesitation, Sue takes Just A Minute job

SUE Perkins is the new host of Just A Minute, following the death of long-serving Nicholas Parsons, it was announced yesterday.

The former Great British Bake Off presenter will front the 87th series of the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show in the autumn.

Miss Perkins, 51, (right) who has previously served as a guest host, said she is ‘beyond delighted’ by the appointment.

Stalwart host Parsons, who presented Just A Minute since it was first broadcast in 1967, died in January last year aged 96.

Just A Minute sees panel members each take a turn to try to talk for 60 seconds on random subjects without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Miss Perkins said: ‘I’m beyond delighted to be asked to host this most legendary of shows.

‘Nicholas’s shoes are way too big to fill, but I shall bring my own shoes, and work my socks off in them to keep our listeners entertained.’ Miss Perkins first appeared on Just A Minute in 2000.

She has gone on to appear as a panellist on the programme on 58 occasions.

Parsons’s widow Annie said her late husband ‘would be delighted to know that Just A Minute will continue long into the future under the superb guardianship of Sue Perkins who fully understands and embraces possibly the most often repeated five words on TV or radio; “Without hesitation, repetition or deviation”.’

Long-standing panellists Paul Merton and Gyles Brandreth will also return for the new series, from September 6.