Leigh Francis hits back at Craig David

Bo' Selecta star Leigh Francis has hit back at criticism from Craig David.

R&B singer Craig labelled Leigh as a "fool" and "one-trick pony" in an interview at the beginning of the year.

He has also admitted that he was unable to cope with being mocked on the Channel 4 programme, which depicted him as an incontinent Yorkshireman with an oversized head.

"Craig David was slagging me off in the Press over Christmas. It was bizarre, because he gave me free publicity every time he did it," Leigh told the Daily Record. "They didn't even use a picture of him, they used a picture of me in a mask. So I thought 'everytime you talk about me being rubbish then I'm going to do you'.

"He always harps on about 'proper' comedians like Ricky Gervais. He said I was damaging what he did. But I didn't write his songs, did I? What I was doing was the kid from the film Kes with Craig David's name and a daft voice. That's all."

Craig has claimed that Leigh eventually apologised for making fun of him, but the comic has dismissed this suggestion as "bull****".

He added: "But I think 'If you keep saying bad things about me, then I'll say what I think about you'. I never said anything bad about him before. I actually liked him. The weird thing about it all is now we've stopped making Bo Selecta, he still harps on about it."