Frank Skinner attempted to hold back tears during the closing moments of his radio show telling listeners that his former co-host Gareth Richards had been in a “very big road accident”.

The 66-year-old comedian struggled for words on his Saturday Absolute radio show as he announced that “it’s not looking great” for his friend after the collision this week.

An emotional Skinner told listeners on Saturday that he did not want to do the show without mentioning Richards.

“One thing you have to learn to do in this line of work is to put on a false front and the show must go on, and that’s what happened this morning,” he said.

He continued: “Gareth was in a very big road accident this week and it’s not looking great for Gareth, he is in hospital and he’s fighting but it’s not looking great.

“I didn’t want to do this show, we didn’t want to do this show, without mentioning him. Many of you would have seen him live, some of you will remember on the show, if you’ve been with us that long.

“He is a fantastic bloke.”

Skinner recalled how Richards had co-hosted with him and Emily Dean when The Frank Skinner Show first went on air.

He said: “We’ve been doing this show for 14 years and when we first did the pilot for it, me and Emily, it was rubbish, just the two of us.

“We couldn’t do it, and we got a guest on the next one, who was Gareth Richards who was brilliant on here and we asked him to do the show, so for the first few years it was me, Em and Gareth.

“It was great, exciting times, we won an award and he in fact became a very close friend and he supported me on tour a couple of times.”

Skinner signed off asking listeners who pray to “give one to Gareth this week”.

He added: “I’m not going to pretend, it’s bad, but there is always hope.”