Bradley Walsh cements his British national treasure status in The Larkins, a new TV adaptation of The Darling Buds of May that premiered Monday (December 13) on Acorn TV. The Doctor Who favorite brings his customary twinkly charm to the role of Pop Larkin, a loving husband and father ducking and diving to make ends meet in 1950s England. To whet your appetite, here are some things you might not know about this versatile entertainer.
1. After leaving school at 16, he became an apprentice engineer at the Rolls-Royce helicopter factory in Leavesden, Hertfordshire.
Walsh spent two years working at the factory which, after closing its doors in the early 1990s, was transformed into Leavesden Studios: home of the Harry Potter movies! It's kind of a shame Walsh never landed a role in the franchise to give himself a "full circle" moment.
2. He then put in a stint as a professional soccer player.
According to his website, Walsh was signed to west London's Brentford F.C. – a team now in England's Premier League – for two years in the late 1970s. Sadly, he never got to play in the first team because of persistent injuries that ultimately ended his soccer career.
3. He's a BAFTA-nominated game show host.
Walsh has hosted the original British version of The Chase since its inception in 2009, which means he's now racked up more than 1,800 episodes (!) at the helm. Earlier this year, for the first time, he was nominated in the Best Entertainment Performance category at the BAFTA TV Awards. 
4. He also hosted the British version of Wheel of Fortune.
Albeit relatively briefly, for 50 episodes in 1997.
5. He's released two albums of jazz standards.
Released in 2016, Walsh's debut album Chasing Dreams did so well in the U.K., where it charted at number 10 and went gold, that he dropped a follow-up album, When You're Smiling, the following year. Check out his rendition of "Fly Me to the Moon" below.
6. He has turned down the opportunity to compete on Strictly Come Dancing, the U.K.'s equivalent of Dancing with the Stars.
Sharing his reasons for saying "no" on the Sliding Doors podcast, Walsh said: "Here's the trick of doing stuff you can get away with: you've got to be brutally honest with yourself. If you don't get it, you can't sell it. If you can't dance, you can't sell it, no matter how big a showman you are. Stick to what you know best. I've been asked a couple of times to go on Strictly but I'm not a dancer. I don't even think I'm a good dad dancer – I'm a bad dad dancer, which makes things even worse."
7. He proved himself on Britain's best-loved soap opera: Coronation Street.
Walsh played scheming businessman Danny Baldwin for 391 episodes between 2004 and 2006. Touchingly, the character was originally going to be called Viv, but Walsh asked the show’s producers if he could be named Danny in honor of his father, who had recently passed away.
8. He secretly wore a Doctor Who-themed badge during his time on the show.
As Walsh explains in this behind-the-scenes video, the badge may look like it represents London soccer team West Ham United, but actually has a clever, semi-coded message.
9. Even now, he describes himself as a "sort of odd-job man."
“I don’t mean the Oddjob character in Goldfinger," Walsh told The Sunday Post in 2019. "It’s just that since I was in my early teens, I have had an assortment of jobs to bring in some money for the family. As I’ve got older, I’ve never really got away from thinking that it is good to have a variety of hats to wear. Before I left school, I worked for a bakery and had to start very early in the morning. Then when I left school, I was a sheet metal worker, an engineer, a footballer, and I became a Bluecoat [entertainer] at a holiday camp... That was just the start of my career."
10. And finally, his son Barney Walsh is also an actor.
And you can catch him opposite dad Bradley in The Larkins. Barney has a recurring role in the series as local policeman PC Harness.
Are you looking forward to watching Bradley Walsh in The Larkins?