Joe Lycett

Born in 1988, Joe Lycett worked the panel-show circuit for years - Live at the Apollo, Taskmaster, QI, 8 Out of 10 Cats - before finding an unusual lane: weaponised politeness. He became the announcer on Epic Win, narrated Ibiza Weekender, and took over hosting duties on The Great British Sewing Bee, a show about amateur stitching that somehow suited his arch, fussy charm. Then came Joe Lycett's Got Your Back on Channel 4, where he turned his attention on companies and institutions behaving badly, deploying stunts and legal threats wrapped in courtesy. He also picked up Travel Man, stepping into a format that had belonged to someone else and making it his own. As one of Britain's most visible pansexual public figures, he has used that platform - and the pranks - to advocate loudly for LGBTQ rights, often by making the powerful squirm in ways they didn't see coming.