(LWT/ITV) (1991–95) and, most notably, Stars in Their Eyes (Granada/ITV),[2] which he took over from Russ Abbot, who was brought in as a temporary host after original presenter Leslie Crowther suffered serious head injuries in a car crash in October 1992.
[3] Other work includes Ripafratta in Mirandolina at the Royal Exchange Theatre in August 2006,[3] which he swiftly followed by appearing as a well-received Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus.
[3] For a short period in summer 2007 he played the character Willie Thorn (not the snooker player) in the farce Out For Justice in Sydney, Australia's Royal Court Theatre.
[3] From December 2008 to January 2009, he joined Stefanie Powers, Craig McLachlan and Christopher Biggins at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton to play May, one of the ugly sisters, in the pantomime Cinderella alongside his son Matthew Rixon.
In 2009, he was on stage to high critical acclaim, in Howard Barker's Victory: Choices in Reaction, at the Arcola Theatre,[7] then as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
[3] In January 2010, Kelly replaced Simon Callow as Pozzo in the revival of Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, alongside Ian McKellen (Estragon), Roger Rees (Vladimir) and Ronald Pickup (Lucky).
[9] In March 2012, he returned to mainstream television by appearing in the ITV comedy Benidorm, playing Cyril Babcock, a judge for the hotel's dance competition; he reprised the role in 2014.
[3] In 2014, Kelly acted in a short drama called Cherry Cake,[10] and in 2016, he played a one-off role of a carer/grandad in the TV series Casualty.
[16] In the same year, Kelly appeared on The Frank Skinner Show to discuss the host's jokes, which took aim at his alleged abuse of children.