Christopher Richard Serle (13 July 1943 – 16 September 2024) was a British television presenter, reporter, and actor, best known for being a presenter on ''

That's Life! ''That's Life!'' was a satirical consumer affairs programme on the BBC, at its height regularly reaching audiences of fifteen to twenty million, and receiving between 10,000 and 15,000 letters a week. The series was broadcast on BBC1 for 21 yea ...

Early life and career

Serle was born in

Henleaze Henleaze is a suburb in the north of the city of Bristol in South West England. It is an almost entirely residential interwar development, with Edwardian streets on its southern fringes. Its main neighbours are Westbury on Trym, Horfield, ...

, Bristol, on 13 July 1943. He was educated at

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

and

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, where he studied modern languages. He appeared as a foil for Irish comedian Dave Allen in his series ''Dave Allen at Large'' in 1971, but gained greater UK public recognition as one of the presenters on the TV series ''

''. He later presented a series in which he, and fellow former ''That's Life!'' presenter Paul Heiney, were pitched into professional situations with no prior knowledge in '' In at the Deep End''. In the 1980s, he presented ''

Windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

'' in which clips from the BBC archives on particular themes were shown (so called as the then base for BBC archives was in Windmill Road,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

). He also presented the viewer-response show '' Points of View'', ''

The Computer Programme ''The Computer Programme'' is a TV series, produced by Paul Kriwaczek, originally broadcast by the BBC (on BBC 2) in 1982. The idea behind the series was to introduce people to computers and show them what they were capable of. The BBC wante ...

'', and '' Monkey Business''. On radio, he was the regular host of '' Pick of the Week'' between 1991 and 1998, and a frequent guest presenter until 2006. He was also the interviewer and host of the BBC series ''Greek Language and People'' with Katia Dandoulaki. From 2005 he served as the honorary president of the Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service, a registered charity which provides a radio service to the hospitals of Bristol. Serle featured on an episode of the BBC

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

, '' The Adventure Game'', with Sandra Dickinson and Adam Tandy on 16 February 1984. He also presented

BBC Radio Bristol BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC's local radio station serving the cities of Bristol and Bath and the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC ...

's ''The Afternoon Show'' for several years. Serle also presented the first series of the ITV gameshow ''

Runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

'' (1987).

Personal life and death

In 1983, Serle married Anna Southall, a member of the

Cadbury family The Cadbury family is a British family of wealthy Quaker industrialists descending from Richard Tapper Cadbury. * Richard Tapper Cadbury (1768–1860), draper and abolitionist, who financed his sons' start-up business; married Elizabeth Head **J ...

; they had two children and divorced in 2003. He then married television producer Ali Fraser, and they had three children. He was president of the Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum. Serle died from a stroke on 16 September 2024, at the age of 81.

References

External links

*
Chris Serle, Esq's Biography

Debrett's Debrett's () is a British professional coaching company and publisher and authority on etiquette and behaviour, founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of ''The New Peerage''. The company takes its name from its founder, John ...

. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
Meet our Presenters: Chris Serle

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

. Retrieved 2011-03-10. {{DEFAULTSORT:Serle, Chris 1943 births 2024 deaths British television presenters Television personalities from Bristol People educated at Clifton College Alumni of Trinity College Dublin