LONDON (AP) — CNN star Piers Morgan may be known to Americans as an empathetic English interviewer, but it’s his past at the heart of Britain’s troubled tabloid newspaper world that is being trotted out before the cameras this week.

The often colourful and sometimes controversial story of Morgan’s rise to the top will be revisited Tuesday, when the former editor appears by videolink at a judge-led inquiry into the ethics and practices of Britain’s scandal-tarred press.

His appearance has been widely anticipated — not least because of the 46-year-old’s irreverent flippancy.

“So heartwarming that everyone in U.K.’s missing me so much they want me to come home,” he joked earlier this year amid demands he return to give evidence to the inquiry, set up by Prime Minister David Cameron following the disclosure that the now-defunct News of the World tabloid had for years illegally eavesdropped on the voice mail messages of public figures.

Actors Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and singer Charlotte Church are among those who have given evidence about press abuse, while executives and lawyers for Murdoch’s News Corp. have defended the newspaper.

Morgan shot to national prominence when he was picked by Murdoch to run the News of the World at age 28.