Michael McIntyre's The Wheel - Michael McIntyre's Christmas Wheel - 6:45 pm Thursday, December 25 on BBC One London

Michael McIntyre (Presenter)

Born: February 21, 1976 in London

Best Known For: Coming from obscurity to being the biggest name in comedy seemingly overnight

Early-life: Born in 1976, in South London to a dancer and comedy writer Ray Cameron, McIntyre had a thoroughly middle-class upbringing that he describes as being entirely short of misery or material. He did his first open mic spot in 2001 having dropped out of a biology degree at Edinburgh University.

Career: Hailed as the best new stand-up to emerge in a decade, Michael has taken the comedy world by storm. He delivered electrifying sets on both We Are Not Amused (Prince Charles's 60th birthday celebrations on ITV1) and the Royal Variety Performance (BBC One), plus a stand-out performance as host on the first episode of BBC One's Live at the Apollo, leading to the Comedy Roadshow vehicle.

Quote: "Don't Man City and Man United sound a bit like gay clubs? 'Where you off to tonight? Man City? We're off to Man United. And a bit later we're off to the MEN Arena.'"

Trivia: His debut DVD release, Michael McIntyre Live & Laughing, became the fastest selling debut stand-up DVD of all time, selling more than 600,000 copies.

Richard Osman (Contestant)

Born: November 28, 1970 in Billericay

Best Known For: Pointless.

Early-life: Richard Thomas Osman was born in Billericay on November 28, 1970, but grew up in West Sussex. He was raised by his single mum after his father left home - they didn't see each other for 20 years. Richard studied politics and sociology at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his future Pointless colleague Alexander Armstrong was reading English literature. He claims that one of his proudest moments came when his mum and grandfather watched his graduation.

Career: Osman has worked behind the scenes as an executive producer on a number of TV programmes, including Deal or No Deal, 8 Out of 10 Cats, and 10 O'Clock Live. As the UK creative director of TV production company Endemol, he pitched the quiz Pointless to the BBC. As a way of explaining the rules, he played the co-host during a run-through. He was asked to do the role for real when the show was commissioned. Pointless started on BBC Two in 2009 and was an immediate hit. It quickly made the switch to BBC One. Since being in the spotlight on Pointless, he has made guest appearances on QI, Have I Got News for You and Would I Lie to You? He also guest presented an episode of The One Show alongside Alex Jones.

Quote: "Whenever I turn up to pub quizzes now, I see people going: ‘Urgh, that's the guy who knows everything.'"

Trivia: He is the younger brother of Mat Osman, bassist with Suede, and suffers from nystagmus, a condition that results in uncontrolled movement of the eyes.

Mel Giedroyc (Contestant)

Born: June 05, 1958 in Epsom, Surrey

Best Known For: Being the blonde half of TV personalities Mel and Sue.

Early-life: Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc was born on June 5, 1968, in Epsom, Surrey, and grew up in Leatherhead. Her father is a Polish-Lithuanian history writer who settled in England in 1947. Mel also has Belgian and Belarusian ancestry. She attended Oxford High School before going on to Trinity College, Cambridge, where she studied Modern Languages. Her sister, Coky, is a TV director whose credits include The Hour, Blackpool and What Remains.

Career: Like bread and butter, Giedroyc and Sue Perkins go well together - in fact, they're almost inseparable in professional terms. They were a hit at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993, and went on to write scripts for French and Saunders before presenting comedy chat show Light/Late Lunch and RI:SE. She was also in the children's sketch show Sorry I've Got No Head. More recently she has scored another hit with The Great British Bake-Off, alongside Sue, and daytime ITV show, Mel and Sue. Her radio work has included The 4 O'Clock Show on Radio 4 Extra.

Quote: On her relationship with Sue Perkins: "She's like Don Corleone with her friends, which I must say can at times be trying: she will always get the truth out of you, you can't hide anything."

Trivia: She has written two books: From Here to Maternity and Going Gaga.

Paddy McGuinness (Contestant)

Born: August 14, 1973 in Farnworth, Bolton

Best Known For: Phoenix Nights, his TV presenting work, and his catchphrases.

Early-life: Born Patrick Joseph McGuinness in Bolton on August 14, 1973, where he went to school with Peter Kay. He had various jobs including as a silver service waiter at JJ's A La Carte Restaurant, a warehouse worker for Morrisons, a building site labourer, a lifeguard at Horwich leisure centre and a job cleaning machines at Warburtons bakery.

Career: While still working at Horwich, he filmed two episodes of That Peter Kay Thing and the first series of Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights. He left his job when work on the second series of Phoenix Nights began. The show spawned a spin-off series, Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere. His popularity skyrocketed, and his ensuing stand-up tour was a major hit. McGuinness also released a fitness DVD titled Max & Paddy's The Power of Two. He went on to become a regular on TV, presenting Take Me Out, 71 Degrees North, Paddy's Show & Telly, Mad Mad World, Text Santa, Paddy's TV Guide, and Your Face Sounds Familiar. He's also guest-hosted The Paul O'Grady Show and featured alongside Rory McGrath in Rory and Paddy's Great British Adventure, which followed the duo's trips to remote communities where they participated in such sports as cheese rolling and bog snorkelling.

Quote: "It was never my conscious decision to go, 'I must put some catchphrases in here'. I just wrote it and did it to get something that people could be familiar with in the show, and it stuck."

Trivia: He has taken part in the charity football match Soccer Aid, which raises money for Unicef.

Gyles Brandreth (Contributor)

Josie Gibson (Contributor)

Big Narstie (Contributor)

Born: November 16, 1985 in Lambeth, London

Tim Vine (Contributor)

Born: March 04, 1967 in Cheam, London

Best Known For: His superb one-liners.

Early-life: Born Timothy Mark Vine in London, on March 4, 1967. The son of a structural engineering lecturer and a part-time medical worker, Tim demonstrated a love of performing from an early age. His elder brother is broadcaster Jeremy Vine and his younger sister, Sonya, is a painter. Tim first got into comedy when he used to take part in a weekly competition night at the Comedy Cafe in central London. As his reputation and confidence grew, so did his fan base and he soon branched out on his own.

Career: Vine burst onto the stand-up circuit by winning the Perrier Best Newcomer Award for The Tim Vine Fiasco at the Edinburgh Festival in 1995. Tim's solo shows in Edinburgh include Tim Vine Flat Out, I'm Vine Thanks, Tim Vine and the Minotaur, Punslinger and Joke-amotive. He was in both series of ITV's The Sketch Show and appeared alongside his friend Lee Mack in five series of BBC One sitcom No Going Out. They also took part in Let's Play Darts for Comic Relief, with Vine finishing runner-up to competition winner Mack. He's acted in Blandings and is a resident comedian on Celebrity Squares alongside Joe Wilkinson.

Quote: "Velcro - what a rip off."

Trivia: In 2004, Vine broke the record for telling the most jokes in an hour - 499. He held the record until November 2014, when Australian comedian Taylor Goodwin told 550 jokes in an hour.

Zara McDermott (Contributor)

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Contributor)

Joanna Page (Contributor)

Born: March 23, 1978 in Swansea, Wales

Best Known For: Gavin & Stacey.

Early-life: Born Joanna Louise Page on March 23, 1978, in Swansea. She's an only child, the daughter of a mechanic father and bank worker mother. She claims she felt adored while growing up, but that may have caused problems later on, because being turned down after auditions came as a shock. She left home to move to London at 18 to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada). She suffered from homesickness initially, but a friendship with fellow student Maxine Peake helped her settle down. They remain good pals.

Career: Page's first film was 1999's Miss Julie, the same year she made her TV debut as Dora in an adaptation of David Copperfield. She went on to have a regular role in The Cazalets. Page appeared alongside Johnny Depp in From Hell, but it was starring as the girl who steals Martin Freeman's heart in Love Actually that made her a famous face, although she didn't become a household name until tackling one of the lead roles in much-loved sitcom Gavin & Stacey. Other TV work includes appearances in White Van Man, The Syndicate, Gates and the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who.

Quote: "I don't go out a lot. The other day I was in the middle of doing the house cleaning and there was a knock on the door and I opened it to some man who went: 'Oh good God, it's you. What are you doing here?'"

Trivia: Page has also appeared frequently on stage, done panto and featured in numerous adverts.

Mathew Horne (Contributor)

Chris Power (Director)

Simon Adsett (Series producer)

Paul McGettigan (Executive producer)

Dan Baldwin (Executive producer)

Michael McIntyre's The Wheel: Michael McIntyre's Christmas Wheel

6:45 pm - 7:45 pm, Thursday, December 25 on BBC One London (1)

About this Broadcast

Michael McIntyre's Christmas Wheel
Season 6, Episode 10

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