Liverpool Daily Post editor Mark Thomas had the tabled turned on him when he was interviewed by comedian Alexei Sayle.

Mark was answering the questions rather than asking them as part of a three-part documentary series on Liverpool that is due to be screened on BBC2 in January for the start of Capital of Culture year.

And the editor was not sure what to expect as the comedian and author had previously locked horns with the Post in 2003 when it broke the story of his criticism of Liverpool as a “philistine” city during a speech at the Edinburgh Book Fair.

At the time Mark was the paper’s assistant editor, and the comments, reported in an article written by freelance Lew Baxter, caused quite a stir – not least because Liverpool had recently won the European Capital of Culture 2008 title.

Mark (right) faces Alexei and the TV crew

Mark told holdthefrontpage that, as a paper, the Daily Post had been concerned that such a high-profile Liverpudlian was going around making unfair comments.

And it was for this reason that Alexei singled the paper out for a visit.

Mark said: “His team asked if he could interview me and he asked me why we ran the article and if Liverpool was a defensive city, which I said I didn’t think it was.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect as he has such a strong persona and in the shows like the Young Ones was this anarchic, controversial, in-your-face character and I wondered if I would be on the receiving end of this with a TV crew covering every moment.

“But he was quite gentle and laid-back and we had quite an agreeable exchange.”

He added: “What was unusual was that someone as well-known as Alexei Sayle was interviewing me, someone not so well-known, when you would normally expected it to be the other way round.”