Matt Lucas looked worlds away from his Little Britain days as he stunned 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 has grown the facial hair ahead of his stint as Fagan in the West End production of Oliver.
Joking about his new look, he told hosts Clara Amfo and JB Gill: ‘I’m growing this bizarre beard.’
Clara replied: ‘Well, let’s talk about that. I don’t think we’ve ever seen you this way.’
Matt then explained: ‘Well, I’ve never ever tried. I grew a moustache for three weeks in 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 stunned The One Show viewers with new look and ‘bizarre beard’ during Wednesday’s episode
Matt pictured as Vicky Pollard in Little Britain back in 2006
‘So seven weeks ago, when I knew I was doing this, I went, “Right, what happens if I don’t shave?” And this is what happened.’
He joked: ‘So my aim is to keep growing it down to my ankles and then when I’m at the football and it’s freezing in the winter.’
Fans were shocked by his new looks as they took to Twitter writing: ‘Didn’t recognise Matt Lucas, quite a change since I last seen him. Looking good though’;
‘Matt Lucas looks like a different person. #theoneshow’.
Matt has been open about his lifelong battle with alopecia after he began losing his hair aged six in a delayed response to the shock of being knocked down by a car in a traumatic accident.
In a column for The Guardian in 2017, Matt penned that losing his hair ‘shaped his childhood’ and also his career later on.
‘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 a lot more. By the end of that summer all my hair had fallen out.’
Although the actor said that his childhood was ‘tough’ and that he was ‘mocked and bullied’ because of his baldness, he said it has ultimately helped him in his career.
‘Would I have had my big break as a baby in Shooting Stars if I had had a full head of hair?’ he wrote.
He said: ‘I’m growing this bizarre beard…. I’ve never ever tried. I grew a moustache for three weeks in the pandemic, but I mean, you know, I’ve talked about this before. I have alopecia’
‘My baldness has made me distinctive, yet also allowed me to transform myself. Stick a wig on and I’m someone else. Swap the wig and I’m now another person.’
Matt has also spoken openly about his weight loss after he dropped from an XXXL to a medium.
Back in 2022, Matt revealed how his family’s concerning medical history made him change his eating habits and become more conscious about his weight.
Matt was just 22 when his father unexpectedly passed away 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 very big and I was getting bigger in the pandemic actually.
‘Sort of not being very active, not really going out, not seeing people, just eating a lot of roast potatoes. I can’t tell you how many roast potatoes I ate!’
He said this realisation caused him to lose weight but the comic said he felt like he needed to do more exercise and become fitter nonetheless.
He added: ‘I was so big I couldn’t really fit on screen anymore. The thing is if you’re big, and by the way I’ve still got a proper tummy, I’m not skinny, by any means, I’ve just lost some weight…
‘I’ve gone from maybe an XXL, sometimes I was an XXXL, down to a medium now I think. Although medium is sometimes big on me and sometimes it’s small on me…
‘The one thing I need to do is get fitter, I have put on a little bit of weight, that’s my next challenge to do a bit more exercise.
‘I might have to make a game of it when I go out and exercise to stay out of people’s way. I don’t have a garden so I have to find a way to do that.’