Star impersonates famous faces of sport to raise awareness of the alarming odds of getting prostate cancer...
Impersonator Jon Culshaw has added some famous faces from the world of sport to his repertoire for the first time for a series of groundbreaking ads aimed at raising awareness of prostate cancer.
In three humorous ads - with a serious message - Culshaw appears by turns as football manager Harry Redknapp, racing pundit John McCririck and Italian sports journalist Tiziano Crudeli, in a bid to get men talking about the disease, which is the most common cancer in men in the UK.
The trio of innovative adverts, created by Prostate Cancer UK, use various betting scenarios including two spoofs of well-known ads to warn men, using their language, that the likelihood of getting the disease is 8:1.
These ads also feature footballing pundit Mark Bright and TV personality Tommy Walsh - committed supporters of Prostate Cancer UK - starring as themselves.
The series, which has been developed to make men think about their health, will be shown throughout the sports season on Sky Sports and ESPN.
Jon Culshaw said: “When I heard that the odds of getting prostate cancer were 8:1 I was shocked.
"I had very limited knowledge about the disease before I made these ads and I know there must be many people out there who are the same.
"If this publicity drive can shift prostate cancer up the agenda and encourage people to support Prostate Cancer UK I will be happy.
“This type of advert is a first for me and a great idea.
"I’ve never done impressions of Harry Redknapp, John McCririck and Tiziano before, so I hope they like it - and Mark Bright and Tommy Walsh were brilliant and very funny starring as themselves.
"I hope that using comedy in this way will prompt men to think twice and put a knowledge of prostate cancer in their minds for as and when they need it.
"I hope it will make men stop and think and realise that one day it could affect them, to maximise the chance of detecting it early.”
Prostate cancer kills one man every hour and the number of men with the disease is rising at an alarming rate.
While it is already the most common cancer in men, it is predicted to become the most common cancer of all in the UK by 2030.
Not only that, but due to a prolonged period of neglect and underinvestment, diagnosis and treatment is still decades behind where they need to be.
As Culshaw’s Redknapp warns in the ads “I can do you prostate cancer at eight to one - that’s your chances of getting it. With short odds on incontinence, impotence and full infertility.”