Comedian Jason Manford is promoting padel, a fast-growing hybrid of tennis and squash, among schoolchildren in Berkshire, and the sport, invented in Mexico in 1969, is becoming increasingly popular globally, with tens of millions of players. Manford, who discovered the sport in Portugal, has launched the JM Padel Academy to make the game more accessible to children from all backgrounds, while he expressed concern that the sport might become elitist due to high costs at private courts, according to the BBC.

Manford’s Padel Academy

Manford visited The Padel Hub in Reading to demonstrate the sport to children aged 11 to 13, and he joked that the students were initially excited about skipping math class but soon learned the basics of the racquet sport. His goal is to have someone in the 2032 Olympic Team GB who first played padel at one of his academy sessions — Manford has also worked as an ambassador for the Lawn Tennis Association, according to the BBC.

West End and BBC Events

Manford will also star in the U.K. premiere of the musical “Something Rotten!” at the Manchester Opera House from June 16 to July 19, 2026, according to Playbill. He will play the role of Nick Bottom alongside Richard Fleeshman as William Shakespeare and Marisha Wallace as Bea — this engagement will precede a West End run. The production, directed and choreographed by Tim Jackson, is a musical comedy following the story of Renaissance writers attempting to outshine Shakespeare.

Plus, Manford will host the National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on March 28, 2026, at 7:45 p.m, but the event, now in its fifth year, will feature performances from West End shows, touring productions, and National Lottery-funded organizations. Over £1.4 billion has been awarded to more than 29,000 theatre-related projects in the UK over the past 31 years, according to the BBC.

New BBC Quiz Show

Manford will also present the BBC’s new quiz show “The Answer Run,” which will air starting on August 19, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. The 26-episode series, produced by BBC Studios Entertainment Productions, features three teams competing in each episode to answer general knowledge questions and win a cash prize. Manford described the filming process as “extremely enjoyable,” according to quotenmeter.de. The show requires contestants to choose between two options to answer questions, with two teams eliminated in each episode until the final pair can take home the prize money.