Hold The Front Page: Nish Kumar and Josh Widdicombe head to Bradford in latest Sky Max series on local journalism

Such papers are packed full of stories that affect their area, from heart-warming pick-me-ups to the weird and wonderful, and are, in many ways, a pillar of the community.

In Sky Max’s Hold The Front Page, comedians Josh Widdicombe and Nish Kumar traverse the UK to work at local newspapers, trying to find stories that are big enough to land a coveted front page spot.

The second series of the programme – readers may remember James Mitchinson, editor of The Yorkshire Post, putting the pair through their paces in the first series – sees the duo attend local festivals and competitions, immerse themselves in communities, and even check out some frankly bizarre small-town attractions.

This time, they’re also hunting for news in sunny Spain.

Where did The Last Leg’s Widdicombe, 41, and The Mash Report’s Kumar, 38, get to this series.

Kumar says: “We travelled the length and breadth of the United Kingdom and beyond. We’re in Devon, reconnecting Josh with his childhood; we’re in Cumbria, on the hunt for a big cat; we’re in Bradford, participating in a very heart-warming community clean-up; we’re in South Wales… Where have I missed? Oh, and we’re in Benidorm! The strangest place on Earth.”

He adds: “It’s like Disneyland but the theme is white people.

“It’s a fascinating immigrant community that under no circumstances wants to be referred to as an immigrant community.”

Widdicombe says: “It’s brilliant. It’s everything you’d imagine Benidorm to be. There’s no bit with it where you’re like: ‘Oh, this is not what I expected’. Never have you seen two fishes further out of water.”

But for Kumar, it was a Yorkshire story which he enjoyed the most.

“I loved the Bradford clean-up because it was a genuine good news story, community-organising, people trying to make where they live better. I found that story incredibly heart-warming.”

The Telegraph and Argus also sent the pair to Akbar’s Cafe on Leeds Road to try one of Bradford’s hottest curries.

"At the time of writing our sampler was still with us, but lying horizontal and groaning,” wrote Widdicombe for the publication back in October.

But elsewhere in the country, he was sent on more nostalgic errands.

Widdicombe adds: “I loved doing Gus Honeybun back from the dead, the children’s character that was on TV in the West Country when I was a kid.

"Bringing him back and seeing how popular he was with everyone my age in Devon, even though Nish found the whole thing absolutely baffling.

“If anything, Nish finding the whole thing baffling made it even sweeter.”

This being the second series of the show, do they think they’ve grown as local journalists?

“We might have got worse,” says Kumar. “I don’t really know how that’s possible. I think we went into it assuming we’d be better. But I think unfortunately, some of our skills had atrophied in the 12 months between series.”

What’s the hardest part, do they think?

Kumar says: “Well, I think because of the way that funding models are being squeezed for local newspapers, now the pressure is on local journalists to write articles, take photos, do video content, be doing Facebook Lives, like, you sort of have to be print journalist, photographer, and broadcaster. That is really, really difficult.

“And it’s part of the reason why I think, mainly, what we come away from all of these thinking is: ‘God, that’s a hard job, and aren’t they good at it?’”

Widdicombe says: “The most disappointing thing is we were the worst at being broadcasters, which is actually our real job!”

In episode one, Widdicombe has to go to a carnival and do a Facebook Live for the Isle of Wight County Press.

He “hated just being on Facebook and going up to people (who were) drunk, and trying to talk to them,” says the comedian.

"I found it incredibly difficult. You just feel very exposed, don’t you? And you feel like an idiot. And they think you’re an idiot. Maybe you are an idiot?”

Yorkshire’s arts and culture scene is thriving - our newsletter will put you at the heart of it

Meanwhile, Kumar found himself in more bizarre cirumstances, at the National Poo Museum.

How was that?

“It was a very interesting afternoon,” he says.

“It was eye-opening, and the guy did ask me if I would like to make a deposit, which I did not. I’m regular as rain and I’d already done my movement.”

Getting a bit more serious, this series does put a spotlight on local news. Has it given them a new appreciation for it?

“It’s a real connection to your own community,” says Widdicombe.

“So many of the people we talked to, it was about providing something for the local community to stick together, or helping the local community.

"It’s just about a sense of characteristic and pride… These people living in the same area together, whether that be Benidorm, or whether that be Dartmoor, you know, same thing.”

Kumar adds: “They’re really important parts of the local community.

"They’re not just sort of outsiders depicting what’s happening. They actually make themselves part of the fabric of all of these places.”

Hold The Front Page series two launches on Wednesday, April 24 on Sky Max and NOW.