Matt Lucas looked worlds away from his Little Britain days as he wowed viewers with his new look during an appearance on The One Show on Wednesday night.
The actor, 52, sported a ‘bizarre beard’ as he revealed he had grown the facial hair ahead of his stint as Fagan in the West End production of Oliver.
Joking about his new look, he told presenters Clara Amfo and JB Gill: “I’m growing this crazy beard.”
Clara replied, “Well, let’s talk about that. I don’t think we’ve ever seen you like this.’
Matt then explained, “Well, I’ve never tried it. I grew a mustache for three weeks during the pandemic, but I mean, you know, I’ve talked about this before. I have alopecia.
‘I lost my hair when I was six, shortly after that photo [a picture on screen] was taken, actually.
Matt Lucas looked worlds away from his Little Britain days as he wowed The One Show viewers with a new look and ‘bizarre beard’ during Wednesday’s episode
Matt pictured as Vicky Pollard in Little Britain in 2006
‘So seven weeks ago, when I knew I was doing this, I thought, “Okay, what happens if I don’t shave?” And this is what happened.’
He joked: “So my goal is to grow it down to my ankles, and then when I’m playing football and it’s freezing in the winter.”
Fans were shocked by his new look, writing on Twitter: ‘I didn’t recognize Matt Lucas, quite a change since I last saw him. Looks good though’;
“Matt Lucas looks like a different person. #theoneshow’.
Matt has been open about his lifelong battle with alopecia after he started losing his hair at the age of six a delayed response to the shock of being hit by a car in a traumatic accident.
In a column for The Guardian in 2017, Matt wrote that losing his hair “shaped his youth” and later his career.
“I woke up one morning to find several hairs on my pillow,” he wrote. ‘The next day the same thing happened, only this time there were many more. By the end of that summer, all my hair had fallen out.”
Although the actor said his childhood was “tough” and that he was “mocked and bullied” because of his baldness, he said it ultimately helped him in his career.
“Would I have gotten my big break in Shooting Stars as a baby if I’d had a full head of hair?” he wrote.
He said: ‘I’m growing this crazy beard… I’ve never tried it. I grew a mustache for three weeks during the pandemic, but I mean, you know, I’ve talked about this before. I have alopecia
‘My baldness has made me distinctive, but has also enabled me to transform myself. Put on a wig and I’m someone else. Change the wig and I’m a different person now.’
Matt has also spoken openly about his weight loss after switching from an XXXL to a medium.
In 2022, Matt revealed how his family’s medical history caused him to change his eating habits and become more conscious of his weight.
Matt was only 22 when his father passed away unexpectedly at the age of 52, something he says was a much-needed wake-up call as he got older.
Appearing on sports presenter Gabby Logan’s podcast at the time, he said: ‘I’m 48, my dad died when he was 52, very suddenly, his dad died I think at 56, so I was looking at the law of averages here.
“I was really big and I actually kept getting bigger during the pandemic.
‘Kind of not being very active, not really going out, not seeing people, just eating a lot of fried potatoes. I can’t tell you how many fried potatoes I ate!’
He said this realization caused him to lose weight, but the comic said he felt like he needed to exercise more and still get fitter.
He added: “I was so big I couldn’t really fit on the screen anymore. The thing is, when you grow up, and by the way, I still have a good stomach, I’m not skinny by any means, I just lost some weight…
‘I’ve gone from maybe an XXL, sometimes I was an XXXL, to a medium now I think. Although sometimes medium is big for me and sometimes small for me…
‘The only thing I have to do is get fitter, I have gained some weight, that is my next challenge to exercise more.
‘Maybe I should make it a game when I exercise to stay away from people. I don’t have a garden, so I have to find a way to do that.’
