Wil Marlow finds out whatever happened to Justin Lee Collins...

The name Justin Lee Collins might not be immediately familiar, but his hair might be. The presenter's distinctive shaggy lion's mane and full beard are becoming increasingly familiar on TV.

And if you don't know his hair then you'll certainly know his voice. That thick Bristolian accent makes him stick out from the other pretty boy presenters who are his contemporaries, and has made an unforgettable impression on TV viewers around the country.

But what that impression is differs dramatically from person to person. Not for some time has a TV presenter elicited such startlingly contradictory opinions in people.

For those who are not keen on the 31-year-old, the word 'irritating' gets bandied around a lot. It might be the accent, it might be Justin's unabashed and relentless enthusiasm for everything he does, or it might just be the hair.

Whichever it is, when people don't like him, they really don't like him.

"I Googled myself and there's some horrible things on the internet about me," sighs Justin.

"I don't know why I did it," he laughs.

"I think a lot of people find my accent irritating. I don't know why, it's just my character isn't it? It's who I am so I'm not going to try and dis-guise it or hide it, it's just me.

"I think, actually, my voice probably gets me ahead in this game because of the way it is.

"But then if you want to slag someone off who's got something you don't often see on TV, like a Bristol accent, then I'm first in line. But then obviously I'm first in line for other things, particular jobs, as well. You've got to take it all.

"You want to provoke a reaction though don't you?" he adds.

"The last thing you want is indifference. You want people to have an opinion on what you do, good or bad."

One particularly vocal critic of Justin and his presenting style is Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles, who has said on more than one occasion he dislikes the presenter.

"Yeah, I knew he doesn't like me," nods Justin.

"The thing about Chris Moyles is that it's just part of his act, it's what he does. I don't think it's personal. I don't know whether he likes me or dislikes me, regardless of what he says.

"But like I say, that's what you want. You want people to be talking even if it's Chris Moyles slagging you off. If it's Chris Moyles then it's a show that's talked about and millions of people are listening. It's all good, it's fine."

Bring up his critics though and it's clear Justin is not completely fine with it, even though his trademark sunny demeanour doesn't drop for a second. It's that demeanour that the cognoscenti can't seem to take seriously, as Justin found in one review of his recent show Bring Back... The A-Team.

"This writer said he liked the show but he didn't like me," says Justin. "He said, 'Oh that Justin Lee Collins, all he ever says is, I love it, I love it'. It didn't bother me, but I did feel like getting the guy's phone number, calling him up and going, 'I do love it'.

"I'm not making it up. I'm not putting it on. I'm genuinely having the time of my life on these shows. It's not faked enthusiasm. If I didn't love it I wouldn't do it, I really wouldn't."

On the flip-side, the former stand-up comedian is doing incredibly well at the moment. For a start the Bring Back... series, in which he tracks down formerly famous faces - the casts of 80s period Grange Hill, The A-Team, one-hit wonder pop stars, for example - has become 'water-cooler' talking point TV.

And, after years presenting shows on digital-only channels, 2006 saw him graduate to mainstream terrestrial presenting when he took over fronting comedy and entertainment show The Friday Night Project, along with fellow stand-up comedian Alan Carr.

It could have gone the other way, though. Justin and Alan were taking on the second series of a show that, during its first series with Jimmy Carr and Rob Rouse, failed to do well with both critics and viewers. Justin agrees it was something of a poisoned chalice.

"I suppose there was a little bit of that," he nods.

"I think this time everybody wanted to get it right because it didn't go quite so well last time. Our brief was, it's Friday night, look like you're having fun. But we really are having fun.

"For me a show like the Friday Night Project can only work if you've got chemistry with your presenters, and maybe last time around, as a viewer, I don't think that was necessarily there.

"But I absolutely love Alan to bits. And if we're getting on then there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to drop in any celebrity host and it will still work."

Such was the success of the series shown in January that it's back already with another slew of celebrity guest hosts including Jerry Springer, Patsy Kensit and The OC's Mischa Barton. But the success is definitely not going to Justin's head.

Born and bred in Bristol (obviously), the presenter still lives in the city with his wife Karen and their baby son Archie. Although Justin's burgeoning career means he is spending more and more time in London, he steadfastly refuses to move to the capital.

"I love Bristol, it's my hometown and it's literally an hour and 40 minutes on the train from London," he says. "Bristol's brilliant. My family are there, my wife's there, my little boy's there, so I like to do the job and go home.

"Plus I want my son to grow up in Bristol. Both mine and my wife's parents are there and I want my son to be around his family. We're a very close family, so I want that for him."

Although Justin is enjoying his continued success, he's wary of over-exposure. He's aware of what that has done to previous Channel 4 favourites Graham Norton and Jimmy Carr, both of whom enjoyed periods where they never seemed to be off the telly. Justin insists he's not going to do the same.

"I don't think I'm doing quite as much as those boys were doing," he says.

"I'm just having the time of my life. I'm doing two funny, brilliant jobs. I love doing the Project with Alan, and I love doing Bring Back.

"I mean there's a few things in the pipeline. We're going to pilot a few things in the future. I don't know whether I want to be on every night of the week. I'm quite sure people would start to get sick of me.

* The Friday Night Project is on Channel 4 from tomorrow