Comedian Darren Harriott is to be the face of the West Midlands Tourism campaign for 2022.

The region is famous for Shakespeare, Peaky Blinders, Balti’s, Black Sabbath, Cadbury’s, The Specials, JRR Tolkien and Robert Plant. Plus Lenny Henry, Frank Skinner, Julie Walters, Joe Lycett. And Darren, of course, and he wants to shout about it. He has come a long way from being wrongly arrested and in gangs as a child/teenager in Birmingham.

“It’s the heart of the country. It gets overlooked too often, but it has so much to offer! Great restaurants, parks, fantastic shopping, nightclubs, we have it all” says Harriott.

The campaign, which starts this month, will be in cinemas, online, billboards and national press. It is partnered with Visit Britain and run by The West Midlands Growth Company.

Darren has just finished co-hosting The Obsessed With Peaky Blinders Podcast for BBC1 and earlier this year hosted Sky’s inaugural Comedy Rep at The Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Click here to listen to an episode of his 2019 BBC Radio 4 show, Black Label, about his Brummie roots.