The Flynn actor, who has mild cerebral palsy, joins Claire Balding, Adam Hills and several other sports stars from multiple disciplines, with the coverage set to mark the largest number of disabled presenters ever seen on United Kingdom television. “I can not wait to witness them push themselves to the limit and be a part of Channel 4’s ground-breaking coverage”.
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Earlier this year, with Rio 2016 on the horizon, the IPC asked Channel 4 one simple question: “Can you produce a campaign for the Rio 2016 Paralympics that is better still than the one you created for London 2012?”
The commitment to on-screen diversity, enhanced by Channel 4’s support for the 2016 Year of Disability, is matched off-screen via the Rio Production Training Scheme.
Channel 4 plans to broadcast almost 120 hours of sporting action from the Paralympics on television plus almost 700 hours online – as well as the daily Last Leg.
“With our unique remit to champion diversity, innovation and new talent, the Paralympics is a public services bullseye for Channel 4”, Brooke said.
“Many disabled people believe that more disabled people in the media would improve attitudes to disability”.
“There are more disabled people in this advert than British advertising has ever seen across its entire history”, Channel 4 director of marketing and communications Dan Brooke declared at a launch event in London on Thursday.
The reporting team includes former wheelchair rugby player Steve Brown, 7/7 survivor and former sitting volleyball player Martine Wright MBE and former Paralympic skier Sean Rose.
RJ said: “I have nothing but admiration for these superhuman athletes who refuse to be confined by what nature has dictated”.
If Channel 4’s live coverage of the event can match this, then they’re on to a victor.
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The show “at the heart” of Channel 4’s primetime schedule, airing from 8pm to 9pm and promising to “bring together top-level sporting action and award-winning entertainment”.
