A YOUNGSTER hoping to become the next Graham Norton has celebrated his 30th radio show.

Ethan Fletcher, 12, from the Barnard Castle area, set up his one man production, The Brit Kids Show, during the first lockdown as wanted a platform where youngster’s voices could be heard and realised nothing like it was on the market.

The talk-based radio show includes interviews, panel debates on current affairs quizzes and reviews – all suitable for children.

Ethan recently broadcast his 30th show where he interviewed The Marsh family who rose to fame thanks to their lockdown songs which have been an internet sensation during the pandemic.

His shows now earn hundreds of views on Youtube with his subscriber base growing with every episode.

Ethan said he hopes the show continues to grow and would like to interview more high profile guests as he gains more interview experience.

The young presenter said: “I want to continue to gain experience and grow the show as I want to one day to be a TV or radio presenter. I want to be a bit like Graham Norton and have my own chat show and thought this would be the best way to learn.

“One of the reasons I set up the show was because I was thinking at the start of lockdown and I realised there’s not really a radio show out there for kids or where the voices of kids are heard on radio so I decided to set up my own.”

His mother, Debra Fletcher said: "We are very proud of Ethan, the show has evolved from being pure radio to Ethan wanting to broadcast it on YouTube for people to see him and I think making that decision at age 12 is quite something.

"On his 30th show he played his welcome to the show jingle from his very first show and you can see how much his voice has changed.

"It's given Ethan a lot to do as when school work was a bit tricky during the the first two lockdowns his radio show motivated him to get through it ."

The audio version of The Brit Kids Show is broadcast every two weeks on Saturday at 1pm and the video can be watched every two weeks on Sunday at 1pm.

Find The Brit Kids Show online on YouTube via youtube.com/channel/UC3bKyCxwxThZkwYHWq_iTTA or listen on Spotify by searching The Brit Kids Show.