Bruce Byron is a popular character in The Bill. He's about three to four stones overweight, nearing fifty and, in his own words, a heart attack waiting to happen.
'You see, I have a weight issue - the issue being that I have too much of it. Currently in the UK around six in ten men are medically defined as overweight and one in six as obese. Obesity in the UK has more than doubled in the past eighteen years, amongst blokes it's tripled and with this come increased risks to our health including heart disease - the UK's biggest killer. According to my friends at the British Heart Foundation, heart disease kills one in five males. It is responsible for 32% of premature deaths in males. Someone in the UK has a heart attack every two minutes. That could be me.
So, here we are. This is the documented journey of a soon to be fifty-year-old, seriously overweight man who works long hours and wants to be around to see his children grow up, a man who wants to play and do exciting activities with my family, enjoy growing old with my beautiful wife and be around long enough to enjoy the rewards of our very hard-earned success.
Today's the day I stop making excuses.'