(Picture: Virgin Radio UK/ Channel 4)
Chris Evans’ celebrity talk show, TFI Friday, is returning after over a decade off air and a controversial legacy.
The unfiltered chat show first launched in 1996 and found a home on Channel 4 for several years before being pulled from the air.
Aside from a brief revival in 2015, Chris hasn’t returned to the TFI Friday sofa until now, with the show making its comeback on its original broadcaster later this week.
The 60-year-old presenter’s iconic 90s show was rebooted earlier this year on YouTube alongside his Virgin Radio programme, and now it’s set to return to its original home as a six-part TV series.
‘TFI Friday was doing stripped-back, personality-led chat long before visualised podcasts were a twinkle in our eyes!’ Channel 4’s Cimran Shah said.
‘I’m thrilled that this deal brings TFI back to Channel 4, reimagined in a way that feels fresh, immediate and perfectly suited for a new generation wherever they watch Channel 4.’
Meanwhile News UK’s director of audio for news broadcasting Dennie Morris said the show was ‘one of those rare formats that never really left the cultural conversation’ and they ‘looked forward to audiences rediscovering what made the show so special’, wherever and however they choose to watch”.’
The first episode of the new series will feature singers Sam Ryder, Jack Savoretti and Shreya Ghoshal alongside actors Gemma Arterton and Cush Jump, Doctor Who legend Peter Capaldi, and comedian Sindhu Lee.
TFI Friday, which originally ran from 1996 to 2000 before a revival in 2015, was known for its chaotic interviews, live music and total unpredictability.
In February, after TFI Unplugged launched on Virgin Radio’s YouTube Channel, Chris hinted that there was more planned for the future.
‘We’ve got plenty of road still to run here before we run out of road. That’s what I’m saying to myself,’ he teased at the time.
‘Thank you so much for watching it in your tens of thousands on YouTube. 30 years ago today, Channel 4 allowed the TFI gang to play and here we are still 30 years on. Dare I say here’s to the next 30.’
The original run found itself subject to backlash in recent years after a resurfaced clip showed the DJ and presenter, 59, grilling Spice Girls icon Victoria Beckham over her weight shortly after she gave birth.
The shocking interaction happened in May 1999, just two months after the birth of Victoria and now-husband David Beckham’s eldest son, Brooklyn Beckham, was born.
Appearing on the show, Chris asked Victoria if her weight was ‘back to normal’ to which she said ‘yes’. He then pulled a weighing scale out from his desk, asking if they could ‘check’.
In July 2022, Victoria addressed the moment in a Vogue interview, reflecting: ‘He made me stand on the scales to be weighed. Can you imagine doing that nowadays.’
Then, after her Netflix documentary came out in October 2025, she recalled on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast: ‘I mean, it was so humiliating. David was there.
‘He was in the audience and the camera shifts to him and he looks a little horrified as well. Um, but back in the day those things were acceptable.’
Chris Evans TFI Friday controversies
More widely, the series wasn’t without its controversies.
- One competition to win a car for their parents put two children head-to-head in a staring contest, which ended in tears, outcry from viewers and an official reprimand.
- Both children were brought back onto the show as adults in 2015 where they were both gifted holidays to Barbados.
- In the first season of the show in the mid-90s, Happy Mondays lead vocalist Shaun Ryder dropped the F-bomb which lead to Chris giving an onscreen apology and the music artist from being issued a ban.
- Still Shaun did make a comeback and performed an expletive-filled version of the Sex Pistols’ Pretty Vacant which led to more apologies and consequences for Channel 4.
She continued: ‘We didn’t know as much about food in the 90s – I was terrified to eat any fat. I lost all sense of reality eating disorder – consuming, tiring, it takes over.’
The clip regularly resurfaces online, with viewers sharing their horror at the interaction. ‘Terrible. I actually remember watching that and I was dying inside,’ TikTok user Claire commented.
As well as Victoria, the first and second run of the show also saw him interview guests such as Ewan McGregor, U2 and Saoirse Ronan, to name a few.
On Friday, February 6, the revamped version of the star-studded series, TFI Unplugged, launched almost 30 years after the very first episode. Oscar-nominated Sinners actor Delroy Lindo appeared on the episode.
Comedian Ross Noble and band James, fronted by Tim Booth, also made special appearances in the inaugural episode.
The TV and radio personality, also known for presenting the rebooted Top Gear, is hoping to stick around for a long time, as he shared on his own Virgin Radio breakfast show on Monday.
Returning alongside original executive producers, Clare Barton and Suzie Aplin, he reflected: ‘How much juice do we have left in the tank? Well, hang on a minute.
‘When Rod Stewart came on TFI Friday he was only four years younger than I am now, so it’s all going to be fine.’
He shared: ‘Paul McCartney came on TFI again when he was just a few years younger than I am. Now he’s 83, Paul McCartney.
‘So listen, we’ve got plenty of road still to run here before we run out of road. That’s what I’m saying to myself.’
TFI Friday will be launching on Friday, April 17 at 11pm on Channel 4.
A version of this article was originally published on February 9, 2026.
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