Paddy McGuinness is replacing Gregg Wallace on 'Inside The Factory'.

Paddy McGuinness is heading back inside the factory

Paddy McGuinness is heading back inside the factory

The 'Question of Sport' host will join co-host Cherry Healey and historian Ruth Goodman on the BBC series - which sees them snoop inside Britain's biggest factories - next year after Gregg announced he was stepping down from the role after eight years to be there for his autistic son Sid.

Former 'Take Me Out' host Paddy, 50, said: “One of my first jobs was in a factory so I’ve come full circle. I’m fascinated by the machinery and the people who make it all tick. Hair nets aside, I can’t wait to get cracking!”

Gregg announced back in March that he was leaving the presenting job to focus on finding his three-year-old boy, who is non-verbal, an appropriate school.

Speaking on Gaby Roslin’s BBC Radio London show, he said: "So I’ve made a decision that I’m actually not going to do 'Inside The Factory' anymore.

"It’s a good time to stop doing it because there’s actually 12 episodes in the can … so I wouldn’t have been filming for a while anyway so it just seemed like a good idea to stop it."

The former greengrocer - who has Sid with his wife Anne-Marie Sterpini - continued: "Imagine a child that you can’t threaten or bribe and that’s basically what you’ve got.

"You’ve got a little boy who’s cuddly and happy and naughty, like any little boy would be, but he can’t speak, he can’t talk to you, so he gets frustrated because he finds it difficult to tell you what exactly it is he needs.

"Right now, we need to find education for him and I can’t just leave that to Anna – that’s a big, big decision.

"I mean, all parents worry about the schools that children will go to. Ours is even more highlighted because of poor little Sid’s issues."

Gregg - who also has Libby and Tom with his second wife Denise and has been married four times - is still a judge on 'MasterChef'.

The TV star first opened up about Sid's autism on panel show 'Loose Women' last summer to help raise awareness of the neurodevelopmental disorder.

He said: "He’s got something called global development delay, which means he is not speaking.

"But he is lovely, he is cuddly… If he wants something, he grabs your hand."

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