Story behind the man who's always behind the news (reporters)

In fact such is the regularity of Paul Yarrow's TV appearances that his identity has become the subject of feverish online speculation, with one website recording his on-screen cameos.

But despite many television viewers now exclaiming "He's behind you" whenever he appears on screen, Mr Yarrow today insisted he was not a pantomime figure.

Instead, he claims he wants to make a serious point as an antidote to the 'auto-cutie' culture among broadcasters of only allowing good looking people to appear on television.

The 38-year-old care worker from south London, who has been nominated for numerous awards for his work caring for infirm family and friends, told the Standard: "It is a statement about the image conscious media. I am overweight and people like me are treated as unsightly because of the way they look.

He added: "Here I am. I am sorry I don't have a suit and that I am not lovely and slim.

"Being overweight I get ignored. I could have a valid point about something but the microphone is always passed to the person alongside me.

"The point I am making is that the more you push me aside, the more I'm going to be determined to make my presence known."

He first came to mainstream attention when comedian Russell Howard featured him on his BBC show, introducing him as the "Fat guy who just wants to get on TV".

"I was really quite angry because that was not what I wanted, and that is the perception - fat people are treated as humorous or not bright and I am this comedy character but that is not the statement I wanted to make."

In order to get on screen, Mr Yarrow has attended protests outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington over the storming of aid flotillas travelling to Gaza and at Parliament Square in support of activists squatting on the grass.

He said: "I empathised with the Parliament Square protesters because everyone was trying to sweep them under the carpet because of how they looked.''

Mr Yarrow, a former security escort for the Ministry of Defence, who has been a carer since the age of 12, said he would be unlikely to continue his campaign because of all the attention.

"It has been terribly surreal. People are stopping me in the street wanting their photos taken with me and people have seemed to have taken me to their hearts."

Mr Yarrow has been looking after his 80-year-old mother Stella who has suffered from breast cancer, and cared for his father Patrick who died in 2008.