28 September 2023 , 18:24
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He is Britain’s most popular stand up and has been one of our biggest comedy TV stars ever with hilarious hits like Phoenix Nights and Car Share.
So it should come as no surprise that Peter Kay has plenty of stories, anecdotes and laughs along the way in his career. In his brilliant new book, Big Adventures on the Small Screen, Kay talks us through what he says are his “TV memories and adventures”.
He entered and won Channel 4’s So You Think You’re Funny? contest in 1997 and it was around that time he also began on TV in a 1997 episode of New Voices, a comedy series which showcased rising talent. The same year he got a slot entitled “Peter Kay’s World of Entertainment” on BBC Two’s The Sunday Show.
His first live stand up special Live at the Top of the Tower in 2000 also made him a mainstream star. And as success on stage and screen continued, he had his own series on Channel 4 called The Peter Kay Thing which then led to hit sitcom Phoenix Nights and he has never looked back.
Peter Kay's Car Share (PA)The book comes after Bolton-born Kay returned to the spotlight last year beginning his first live comedy shows in 12 years in December as part of an arena tour spanning to 2025 due to public demand. It is his first live tour since 2010, when he scored the Guinness World Record for the biggest selling run of all time, playing to more than 1.2 million people. Kay cancelled his last tour in December 2017, citing “unforeseen family circumstances”. Here are some of the highlights, anecdotes and stories from the new book about his career.....
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ON CAR SHARE
Kay’s most recent hit was Car Share which saw him star alongside close friend Sian Gibson. The BBC show which aired from 2015-2018 was set around supermarket assistant manager John Redmond (Kay) and promotions rep Kayleigh Kitson (Gibson) who drove to work together.
The show was filmed in and around Manchester mainly in a car and the three series were a huge success winning three NTAs and two BAFTAS. But there was one problem they hadn’t thought about; potholes. Kay says: “One thing we never counted on was the shocking condition of the roads.
“So many potholes everywhere. We’d be juddering and banging over them constantly. All of the cameras would shake themselves loose. So we’d all have to pull over and re-tighten all of the equipment before it fell off.”
ON LOSING FRIENDS
Kay has kept a lower profile in recent years but he notably returned to the stage in August 2021 for two special charity events to raise money for Laura Nuttall, a then 20-year-old with an aggressive type of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme.
Victoria Wood (Getty Images)He has also done Dance For Life parties where he DJs at venues to raise money for Cancer Research. Discussing the death of some of his close friends, he writes: “I was so shocked and devastated when Victoria Wood died. It still grieves me to even type those words.
“I still can’t believe it and still can’t face watching any of her series yet. It’s too hard. F***ing cancer. I hope I live to see a cure for it in my lifetime. Then, a few weeks after Victoria Wood, we lost Caroline Aherne, also to cancer. Awful, no other way to put it.
“Two hugely talented people that made so many of us laugh. I’m telling you, soak up the comedians while they’re still here, these clowns that light up our lives, because when they’re gone, they’re gone. People are always surprised at the void they leave.”
ON GAMESHOWS
Kay is mainly known for appearing on his own sitcoms and shows but he has occasionally tried other projects. He writes: “I’ve only ever done three panel gameshows or quiz shows. The first one was called All Over the Shop presented by Paul Ross.
Angela Rippon (BBC/Kieron McCarron)
Kay's new book“This was a gentle daytime show and the complete opposite of cruel. So much so that I even brought my mum with me when I appeared on it. It was recorded in the afternoon at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham. The only reason I did it was because I got to be on a team with Dame Thora Hird and Angela Rippon. Who could say no to that? Plus, I got £700 for the privilege.
“All Angela Rippon did was moan about how the BBC had gone to rack and ruin: ‘It was actually cheaper for me to buy the soundtrack of Schindler’s List from an Our Price record shop in Shepherd’s Bush with my own money than it was to get it from the BBC library. The lunatics, Peter, have taken over the asylum.’
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“I hadn’t a clue what she was on about. I’d just sat down next to her in make-up and she was already on her soapbox. The second panel gameshow I did (which wasn’t really a gameshow as such) was called Night Fever. Do you remember that? It was a karaoke show presented by Suggs that used to be on Saturday nights at 7 on Channel 5. That was great fun.
“I did that five times because it was £900 a pop and you could help yourself to a buffet-style breakfast at the hotel the following morning. The show was easy to film, all you had to do was sing karaoke, and the panel of guests was a virtual who’s who (literally, because nobody knew who we were). Amanda Holden, Davina McCall, some wanker off The Bill, Handy Andy Kane, Jonathon Morris from Bread, Lionel Blair, Shaun Williamson (he loved it – a bit too much for my liking) and Keith Chegwin, to name but a few.
“We all took turns, boys versus girls, and Suggs dished out the points. What’s not to love? Easy TV while drying your hair, before going clubbing on a Saturday night. I was sat in the canteen once chatting to the lovely Keith Chegwin. He was being very candid about his drink problems and he was quite the sharer.
“He said things got so bad at one point he actually resorted to drinking the windscreen wash from his car’s wipers: ‘Maggie [Philbin, his wife at the time] got suspicious when I insisted on cleaning the car five times a day. She came outside and caught me spraying the wiper fluid while trying to catch it in my mouth.’”
ON JIMMY SAVILE
Whilst working on BBC Series The Sunday Show, Kay decided to “push the boat out” on his last episode of Peter Kay’s World Of Entertainment segment and get Jimmy Savile on. He agreed if he received £500 in cash and a box of cigars worth £1000 which Kay agreed to.
Savile in Kay video (Video Grabs)However the appearance didn’t go completely according to plan as Kay found him to be “very eccentric” and said that he “talked utter nonsense, spouting weird quotes, crap jokes, limericks” and making weird noises. Kay adds: “The only hint I got of Jimmy being immoral in any way was when he met our executive producer, Bridget Boseley.
"I remember she offered him her hand, which Jimmy took, then he flipped it round to kiss the back of it, but before his lips touched her skin I saw a quick flick of his tongue licking the back of her hand. Urgh! What was all that about? Bridget and I chatted about it later. She said, ‘He licked the back of my hand.’ ‘I know, I saw him, the dirty old perv’.”
Kay also had a second encounter of sorts with Savile many years later when he was invited to BBC Media City in Salford for an event that took place the day after a Savile documentary aired on ITV exposing his sick behaviour. He was joined by BBC execs, musicians and actors and the new BBC DG, although he left quickly to return to London as the Savile news meant things were kicking off at the corporation’s HQ.
Kay writes: “Everybody had gone apart from Peter Salmon (BBC Exec), Guy Garvey, Mr Tumble and me. The main corridor wall had a huge black and white mural featuring BBC icons from over the years. Michael Parkinson, Only Fools and Horses, Dad’s Army, that sort of thing. Just like wallpaper, the images repeated along the length of the wall.
“I’ll never forget Peter Salmon, he said, ‘Here, could you do me a favour?’ and he handed each of us a pile of big bright-yellow Children in Need Pudsey Bear stickers. ‘Could you find Savile and cover him up?’ So there we were, up step ladders trying to find every image of Jimmy Savile so we could cover him up (ironically just what the BBC had reportedly been doing for years). It was like some depraved Where’s Wally? Or Where’s Jimmy?”
ON MAX & PADDY
A spin off after Phoenix Nights, Max and Paddy’s Road To Nowhere featured Kay and Paddy McGuinness as two Bolton doormen Max Bygraves (Kay) and Paddy O’Shea (McGuinness) as they tour around the UK in their campervan. The Channel 4 series began in November 2004 and although it only ran for one series is fondly remembered by fans.
But the show did not go completely smoothly, partly down to Paddy’s timekeeping. Kay says: “All I can remember is a lot of laughter. Especially from Paddy and me. That’s when he managed to turn up for filming. He was a bugger for being late in the mornings.
“I know I was late on the first day filming That Peter Kay Thing, but Paddy slept in all the time. We’d get a message from his driver picking him up: ‘He’s not answering the door.’ Eventually, he’d get to us, and we’d all be sat waiting because we couldn’t film anything without him. We were in every scene together. A right pain in the arse.”
The other main problem Kay had was driving the motorhome which was a key element of the show. He describes it as being a “huge beast” and he found it difficult to park which proved expensive. Kay adds: “I was forever hitting walls and clipping other vehicles as we drove past, leaving the art department with their heads in their hands. They spent a lot of time leaving notes under people’s windscreen wipers with our insurance details or knocking on residents’ doors, apologising and advising that someone would be calling round to fix their wall or fence.
ON NODDY HOLDER
Kay had Noddy Holder working on Max & Paddy’s Road to Nowhere playing a character called Mick Bustin. And as well as doing a great job on screen he also gave Kay advice which may explain why we rarely see him in the spotlight these days or in public.
Noddy Holder (Redferns)Kay recalls: “What a lovely fella he was. We spent a lot of time together and he gave me some advice that literally changed my life forever. I was talking about the tour I’d done the previous year and that I’d made some money from it. He said you want to use that money to buy yourself some time with your family.
“Susan and I had just had our first child, and all I wanted to do now was be with them both. Noddy said that he was from working-class roots and spent most of his early career chasing the money. He ended up being estranged from his children and deeply regretted his decisions.
“Fortunately, he said that he’d been able to put things right and now had a great relationship with his children. ‘So think on it and don’t miss out like I did,’ he said. ‘They grow up so quickly and you really don’t want to miss it.’ I’m not being over-sentimental, but that conversation did change my outlook on everything.
“I’d been grabbing every opportunity with both hands in an effort to get my foot in the door, going from job to job for years and not considering what really mattered.” He later writes: “The series did incredibly well, but despite having so much fun I decided to heed Noddy Holder’s advice. Perhaps it was time to get my priorities right. Maybe that’s why we never did a second series.”
* T.V: Big Adventures On The Small Screen by Peter Kay is published by HarperCollins and is out now and is available to buy from Amazon.