TELEVISION favourites the Chuckle Brothers said they were “honoured and excited” to be asked to guest edit The Northern Echo.

Following in the footsteps of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne, Barry and Paul Chuckle led the daily news conference to decide the best stories for tomorrow's (December 24) edition.

Keen to see a positive story on the front page on Christmas Eve, the pair chose to celebrate the success of the Darlington Salvation Army Toy Appeal, which has collected Christmas gifts for 400 children and teenagers.

The news conference started with a cake for Barry, who will celebrate his birthday tomorrow (December 24), before the sport and business editors outlined their chosen stories for the day.

The brothers, who are starring in the pantomime at Darlington Civic Theatre, were also asked to choose their favourite image for the front page, before the most important job of the day – picking the winning joke in the Echo’s Christmas competition.

Paul Chuckle said he and his brother had never been asked to guest edit a newspaper before and added: “We can put it on our CV now. It wasn’t what I expected, everyone was very nice – it’s not like it is in the films.”

Barry Chuckle said: “We always enjoy coming to Darlington – it’s been 12 years since we were last here for the panto. Darlington audiences are great.”