Across a near 30-year career, Russ Bray has become known as ‘The Voice’ of professional darts – for both his calling style, and his signature raspy tone.

He has been both a caller and a professional player, previously teaming up with Eric Bristow.

The star announced his retirement in November 2023, with the World Darts Championship final being his last ever match.

He now continues to be an ambassador for the sport.

Speaking ahead of the series launch, Russ talks about his decades supporting the sport, the evolution of the World Championships, and his most stand-out moments.

It's the biggest tournament in the world, with the biggest prize money and every darts player wants to be world champion.

It’s also the time of year it’s on - the run up to Christmas means the crowds are in quite a jolly mood shall we say?!

Very important – they get into their fancy dress and go there for a party.

Whenever I was waiting to go on stage they would sing my name, hold up signs, they’ve been fantastic to me. They are the perfect backdrop to the perfect darts tournament.

Before I refereed and called the game, I was a player, and so I’ve been involved with darts since 1975, and the first World Championship wasn’t until in 1978!

I’ve seen it change so much. I’ve seen it move from a cabaret venue called Jollees in Stoke-On-Trent, to a dedicated home at the Lakeside in Frimley Green, before heading to the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, which is where I first got into calling the game in 1996. That was a great venue and saw some fantastic World Championships – including, for me, the very best ever in 2007 between Phil Taylor and Raymond Van Barneveld (Van Barneveld won 7 sets to 6).

The Tavern was great, but it was basically an Essex nightclub and while it had a wonderful atmosphere, it was too small. It could hold maybe 1000 people and the PDC knew it needed a bigger place. Alexandra Palace is perfect – it has 3000-5000 people every day for every session.

Everyone knew it was going to be my last major tournament, so when Luke Humphries won it, he came over, put his arms around me, gave me a hug and said, ‘I really wanted to win this for you as it’s your last one.’ That was absolutely lovely.

He’s such a great lad. I know a lot of the focus that year was on the sensational young kid Luke Littler, but I tipped Humphries to win it and to see him overcome the adversity he faced and to maintain his form all the way through was a testament to him. It was a wonderful championship and very exciting to be around.

Having been in the sport for so many years – could you tell there was something different about Luke Littler that year?

Oh yes, he had pretty much cleared up on the youth scene. I’d called the Youth World Final a couple of years before - which he won - and even then, you could see he was a little bit special.

He had a fantastic attitude too – he was never flash – he just took it all in his stride and he brought that into the World Championship. He knew he had nothing to lose and everything to gain, so he went out there to have fun.

For me the turning point came when he beat Barney (Raymond Van Barneveld, who Littler beat 4-1 in the fourth round), you could see then that he had the X Factor.

No not really, I am the sort of person who – when they close a chapter – only wants to look forward and get excited about new challenges.

I still work in the game, in fact I am off to Calcutta, India soon to do their playoffs, and a few weekends ago I was in Manila as an ambassador for the PDC, so I'm still very active in the sport.

When I first used to call games, I’d be standing on stage, and I could feel my heart racing and my legs turning to jelly. That’s no exaggeration, I was as nervous as they came.

But over the years, you gain experience and then you start to look forward to games. You know the players well and instead I got a real sense of excitement - I couldn’t wait to get up there and have some fun.