Brigstocke steps in for MCV Awards

The flight disruption caused by Europe’s volcanic ash cloud has meant a last minute switch of host for the MCV Awards.

Over 650 top retailers and execs from the UK games business will squeeze into The Brewery in London’s Barbican tomorrow night (Thursday April 22nd), but original presenter Dom Joly will not be one of them.

Joly is one of the 150,000 Britons stranded abroad since the on-going eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland caused the closure of UK air space.

And even though flights have now resumed, Joly cannot get back from Los Angeles in time for the awards.

Marcus Brigstocke will stand in. He is a coup for the MCV event, especially at such late notice, as his profile on a variety of TV and radio shows continues to rise, including an appearance on BBC 1’s Have I Got News For You just last week.

"We’re sorry to have lost Dom Joly. He is a games fanatic, as many Xbox Live users will already know, and was very excited about hosting by far the biggest night on the games industry’s calendar," commented MCV publisher and Intent Media boss Stuart Dinsey.

"But our agent has done a fantastic job to find someone as perfect as Marcus to take over. We used him at our Mobile Entertainment Awards a couple of years ago and he went down a storm. So we still look set for another exciting and entertaining evening."

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards are voted by the UK games industry, recogonising the very best across retail, marketing, PR, distribution and more.

All seats are sold out and a full list of winners will appear in print and online via MCV on Friday morning.