Lionel Blair stops pier jump

Veteran TV performer Lionel Blair and comedian Alan Carr helped stop a man from jumping off Blackpool pier on Wednesday night, it has emerged. The dancer and the comic had just finished filming a pilot episode of Carr's End-of-the-Pier show when the drama unfolded on the resort's north pier, according to reports. Blair, told the BBC that he and Carr, star of Channel 4's Friday Night Project, had rushed to the end of the pier after one of its staff members ran into the bar they were drinking in and revealed that a man was attempting to commit suicide. The 74-year-old entertainer said that the incident "really scared" him and that he and Carr had spent ten minutes trying to talk the man out of jumping from the pier, according to quotes reported in the Daily Mirror. "He just kept saying he wanted to end it all," said Blair. "Then someone said it was Lionel Blair from TV and he did a double take. The star said that he and Carr then grabbed the man's arms and pulled him back from the edge of the pier as police began to arrive at the scene. Carr, who said that he "thought someone was taking the mickey" when he first heard about the suicide bid, said he and Blair had found the man "hanging by his fingers".