Freddie Flintoff is back this weekend, hosting a special celebrity edition of Bullseye for Soccer Aid for UNICEF, airing on Saturday 23 May at 5:55pm on ITV.
Famous contestants joining Flintoff for the charity special include former Hear’Say and Coronation Street star Kym Marsh and Yorkshire comic and Life with the Richardson’ Jon Richardson. Also competing will be TOWIE star Mark Wright (tenuous Northern cred points for being married to Michelle Keegan) and X-Factor runner-up Olly Murs.
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The special comes ahead of this year’s Soccer Aid match, which will once again see England face the Soccer Aid World XI, featuring the usual mix of big names from the worlds of both football and entertainment, and this year including the likes of “Britain’s most successful album artist” Robbie Williams, ex Everton and Man Utd striker Wayne Rooney, TV and radio personality Jordan North, the ubiquitous Paddy McGuinness (who was originally rumoured to be hosting the Bullsey reboot), Baby Reindeer and Half Man creator Richard Gadd and celebrity Leeds fan and comic Maisie Adam.
Eighties favourite Bullseye initially returned in 2024 for a one-off festive special, in part inspired by the unlikely but undeniable cultural phenomena that was Cheshire teenager Luke Littler’s rise to the top of the darts-playing world.
That reboot saw Flintoff taking on his first major presenting role since his life-changing Top Gear crash, although he did also appear in the critically acclaimed Field Of Dreams cricket documentary in the interim, and also returned to the game that made him famous with coaching roles at England and in The Hundred.
It was then commissioned for a full series return the following January, along with another Christmas Special, again hosted by Flintoff and shot at Manchester’s Versa Studios, after the Christmas special reboot pulled in nearly 7m viewers, becoming one of the most watched shows on ITV over the 2024/25 festive period.
The original series, hosted by the late, great Jim Bowen, regularly pulled in audiences of up to 10 million viewers for ITV during its peak between 1981 and 1995.
