Alex Brooker knew he was at home in Liverpool moments after he arrived in the city. The Last Leg star is originally from Kent but made the move to Merseyside to study at John Moore’s University when he was 18.
The now 40-year-old had initially planned to make the long journey up North with with his childhood best friend, who had family from Huyton. His mate eventually decided against the move, but Alex was already sold on uprooting to Merseyside and made the long journey from Kent to Liverpool in 2003 to study journalism.
Moving to the other end of the country on your own at a formative time of your life is a daunting proposition, but Alex was immediately put at ease by a Scouser’s prank on his first day in the city. He told the ECHO in an exclusive interview: “I remember walking up Mount Pleasant to John Moore’s University campus.
“I was just following a map on this leaflet I had. I was next to Lime Street station following my map and the road was closed. In my head, I panicked.
“I was thinking, ‘How am I going to get there?’ I said to this geezer, ‘Why is the road closed?’ He just went, ‘It’s a bomb scare, welcome to Liverpool’ and started p******g himself laughing.
“He was just winding me up, but you should have seen my face. I just thought, ‘I like these people, this is my sort of place’.” Alex’s love affair with Liverpool was ignited and only went from strength during his time studying when he even worked as a junior sports writer for the Liverpool ECHO. He heaped praise on the city’s night life and cited former favourite, Slaters Bar, as place he used to particularly enjoy.
He laughed: “The memories I’ve made and lost in that gaff.” After he graduated, Alex applied for a journalist job at Liverpool FC and would have been happy to have settled on Merseyside. However, he didn’t get the job and eventually moved down to London to pursue his career in journalism.
He added: “Some of my best mates are still in Liverpool and I go up there as much as possible. If I’d have had my way, I’d have stayed there forever.”
Alex got his television breakthrough with Channel 4’s Half A Million Quid Talent Search, which aimed to find disabled talent to help cover the 2012 Paralympic Games. The broadcaster was born with hand and arm deformities, and had his right foot amputated when he was 13 months old.
However, he has never been beaten by his disability and has continued to break down barriers for opportunities for disabled talent in television. After the Paralympic Games, he soon landed a role on the smash hit Channel 4 show, The Last Leg, which has now been on the air for 13 years and remains as popular as ever.
Alex said: “With television, I got fortunate in that the first thing I did has lasted 13 years. That’s always quite ideal. You go in as a rookie on a new show and it goes on for like 350 episodes. That’s quite a big stroke of luck in terms of longevity.
“I think I’ve always tried to be myself. I’m still the lad that went to uni in Liverpool. That has slightly helped me in giving a different voice to The Last Leg to the other two [Josh Widdicombe and Adam Hills]. It was only a few years ago that I started to realise that I’ve had more years on telly than I did as a journalist. Still now, I still get called a journalist.” He laughed: “I’ve just dressed up as a whale on telly last week. I’ve been really lucky.”
Alex continues to be a proud ambassador for disabled rights and become the first disabled player to play in the Soccer Aid match in 2022. He is now a regular at the annual charity game in aid of UNICEF and is honoured to be taking part for the fourth time in the 2025 match on June 15 at Old Trafford.
He said: “It’s the best thing I do every year. I love everything about it. I feel passionately about the cause. I love being part of the training. As a football fan, it’s awesome. I can’t deny it’s like dream come true stuff.”
Tickets are on sale now for the event and Alex will be joined on the pitch by stars such as Wayne Rooney, Tyson Fury and Louis Tomlinson. Alex is privileged to be sharing the dressing room with sporting and musical icons, but said the most important thing about the game is raising money for charity, as the game has raised over £106m for UNICEF since it started 2006.
He said: “A couple of years ago I got to go away with UNICEF to Jordan and met some young disabled people. I’ve got to see where the money goes and the massive difference it makes and, for me, that’s a huge.
“I know the difference it makes to the most vulnerable in the world. It hammers home when I see kids my girls age and what they’re going though. I use the word privilege a lot, but it genuinely is.”