After They Were Famous

Did You Know?

• Kelly was a former member of the Workers' Revolutionary Party.
• In his early forties, he studied at the Open University where he gained a degree in psychology.
• He was involved with Urmston Musical Theatre in Urmston, Lancashire, most notably playing the role of Louis in a production of The King and I in 1963.

Career

Matthew Kelly served as the narrator for the ITV series After They Were Famous from 1999 to 2005. This role was part of a period during which he also hosted Stars in Their Eyes and continued to act occasionally, including in the Channel 4 comedy Relative Strangers and the theatre production of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. His work on After They Were Famous ran concurrently with his tenure as the permanent host of Stars in Their Eyes, which he had taken over from Russ Abbot after original presenter Leslie Crowther suffered serious head injuries in a car crash in October 1992. Kelly remained host of Stars in Their Eyes until March 2004, while continuing to narrate After They Were Famous until 2005.

Personal life

Matthew Kelly married Sarah Gray in 1975. They have mostly lived separately, he in London and she in Cheshire and then West Sussex. In January 2003, he was arrested by police over allegations of child sex abuse as part of Operation Arundel, and was cleared of all charges the following month.