Page 3 Profile: Andrew Marr, Broadcaster

(PA)

How’s he doing?

Marr returned full-time to our screens yesterday after suffering a stroke in January that left him hospitalised for two months. He looked in reassuringly good health as he opened his Sunday morning BBC show despite needing the aid of a walking stick and having a weakened left hand. He joked that he was grateful “to all of you who were frankly pleased to see the back of me, but never quite got round to writing to say so.”

Did the rest of the show go okay?

He was on form, and wasted no time giving George Osborne an uncomfortable grilling about the Tories losing the vote on Syria. “This was just complete incompetence form the House of Commons wasn’t it? … You blame Labour but in effect it was your own fault.” His interview with Archbishop of York John Sentamu, was a gentler affair.

So how did he prepare for his comeback?

Marr did in fact do a pre-recorded interview with Ed Miliband for his show back in July. He also made his first public appearance at a book festival in August, where he revealed he had been working on his book with the aid of voice recognition software, as he can no longer type. His BBC colleague Rory Cellan-Jones captured the mood nicely yesterday. “Great to see Andrew Marr back on air ... and what a weekend to return,” he tweeted.