TV prize delight for song duo

Dan Murphy and Joe Appleton celebrate being winners of Channel 4's Hunted

Joe Appleton and Dan Murphy showed they had the bottle – and ingenuity – to go all the way to a share of the £100,000 prize on Channel 4’s Hunted after a gripping 25-day chase which was broadcast over six thrilling episodes.

Joe, from St Annes and Dan, from Penwortham, near Preston, were among nine contestants looking to evade capture by a team of former police and intelligence professionals.

While five of the participants were captured over the opening five instalments, Joe and Dan, who have milk rounds in Lytham and sing together as the Brothers of Swing, joined Kent-based father and son Bob and Alex Ayling going into the last week with a chance of sharing the prize.

Dan Murphy from Preston (left) and Joe Appleton from St Annes (second left) were among the winners of TV's Hunted

All four won as they narrowly escaped the chasing hunters to board a ferry on the River Dart in Devon.

Joe, 30, who also works as a singing tutor and is renowned as a director of amateur theatre youth productions, said: “We are big fans of the show and were totally focused on trying our best to get to the end. But you need a lot of luck and a lot of helpful people along the way.

“A key tactic was to avoid using technology as much as possible and to think logically rather than emotionally.”

The prize money couldn’t have come at a better time for Joe and wife Amy, whose first child, son Frederick, was born just over a month ago.

The winnings are funding home improvements and Joe added: “It was a brilliant experience and a life-changing outcome with which we were absolutely delighted.”

Dan, 34, who combines a part-time teaching role at Acorns Primary School, Preston with his milkman duties, is also spending the prize cash on improvements to the Penwortham home he shares with wife Alexandra and children Ava, five, and Ed, two.

He said: “It really was a once in a lifetime experience and to be able to do it alongside my best mate made it even more memorable.

“Joe and I have known each other for years and we are like Yin and Yang, with personalities complementing each other so I think we worked really well as a team.

“We are both really big fans of the show and it was wonderful to win the prize money.

“We had a great time and it was just a shame that perhaps more of what we got up to ‘on the run’ wasn’t shown on the TV show.

“But I suppose that is a compliment to the way we were just quietly and efficiently getting on with evading the hunters.”