Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Comedian best known for his anarchic double act with Vic Reeves, creating shows like Big Night Out and Shooting Stars.
On the island
Eight records
BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus, Sir Andrew Davis
The first bit of music is A C Symphony by Vaughan Williams and this is the track that we play before we go onstage and have done, you know, for 30 years.
I just fell in love with them and I'd found my thing, I'd found my heroes.
Down to YouFavourite
I always thought I'd never have a chance of seeing her live.
It hit me kind of just at the perfect time, because I was leaving my mum.
It's like sometimes music can inspire you to take a just occasionally to literally make a big decision in your life.
Hot on the Heels of Heartbreak
It reminds me of that wonderful six weeks when we were shooting that show.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:27How important is music to you in your life?
I had a heart operation and since I had that, I get slightly depressed thinking about all the great songs that have meant so much to me. But if I look back and say, Well, the last time I listened to that Roxy Music track was ten years ago, so if I take the average mortality, then I'm only going to listen to that once more. So I I tend to go through, just try and remember all those tracks, all those albums that I've loved, you know, in me teens and twenties and thirties, and make sure I listen to them again.
Presenter asks
12:51Can you tell me more about losing your father when you were seven?
I just remember coming back home, being ushered away by um policemen, not knowing what was happening, and then um a couple of weeks later being told that my dad had died. just crying and being very sad about it. And then kind of forgetting about it really and thinking that it hadn't affected me at all, you know, but then later in my life realizing it was, you know, it was pat probably the defining moment of my life really. It's kind of defined my personality and um I think it's just as simple as that something so precious has been taken from you. You you can feel very insecure. I think they call it compulsive helping. Just to make sure that people aren't gonna abandon you, you know.
Presenter asks
16:37How serious were you about becoming a professional footballer?
The keepsakes
The book
Paul Theroux
I think it's just the book I enjoyed most and I read it when I was a lot younger, and it meant a lot to me then, and I read it the other week when I was a lot older, and it meant something different.
The luxury
It's thin, soft and luxurious and has a lovely moisty smell to it that I've created that makes makes me feel at home.
That was what I was gonna do, you know. I captained my school team like three years early and then I shut off kind of thing and I played for Middlesbrough's youth team. But then at the age of sixteen, um I went into it was a shed actually, um at the training ground and was told that they weren't signing me on, so that was the end of that dream.
Presenter asks
23:22What is your first memory of Vic Reeves/Jim?
I went to a tiny room in a pub upstairs and there was about six or seven of his friends round a table and Jim on stage with a Brian Ferry mask on and planks attached to his feet tap dancing. and moaning, making high-pitched wails. And do you know I j I was hooked instantly.
Presenter asks
30:39What happened with your heart problems that caused you to delay the anniversary tour?
We just went to see my GP because I had a tiny little pain on my chest. He didn't like the, you know, he sent me to the heart specialist. Four days after that, I was on the operating table. Because sadly, you don't get any warning with heart disease, really. I'm a bit evangelical, might be the word about it. Is that fellas in their 50s, they all get their heart checked. So easy, you just need a treadmill test. You get no warning, and that's the frightening thing about it. You just drop. It does give you a shock and make you think about what's left to be achieved and what's important to you, you know. Scared stiff. What did you do? Got married. That was good fun because I had to get a special license to be married quickly. My heart specialist sent a letter really laying it on thick. Told me never, don't you dare look at that Bob. So I never have. And I got permission. So we got married. Just myself, my wife, and my two boys. Then we went to cafe for a cup of tea and my last bacon sandwich. And then I went to hospital for my operation.
Presenter asks
37:47How do you feel about your fame, and do you see it as cult or national treasure status?
I would think we always have been and always will be just a little bit of a specialist interest, a little bit of a cult. I think there was a time, you know, round about when we did Randall and Hopkirk on BBC One and we did a Saturday night, Saturday evening family show called Families at War, when I think around about that time, it maybe probably I would admit to it did bother us. We don't seem to be big stars and a lot of people who'd started on our show were massive stars and we're thinking what we, you know, like that we would like some of that as it were. But now, as I'm older, I think, no, we've got lucky. It's a really perfect place to be. You know, we live very ordinary lives and can live our lives unencumbered. You know, no one says hello to, you know, I'm not bothered by anyone or anything. And I think that's quite a nice place to be on reflection.
“I had a heart operation and since I had that, I get slightly depressed thinking about all the great songs that have meant so much to me.”
“I think they call it compulsive helping. Just to make sure that people aren't gonna abandon you.”
“You know, silly as it might sound, that's why I went to Brighton because of quadrophenia. No other reason.”
“I didn't think there was any chance of this show ever being recommissioned. We just thought it was a lovely little thing to do to be able to tell our kids we were once on telly.”
“There's nothing better than just staring at a buttercup struggling to make an impact on the world, you know?”
“I'll miss the television terribly. I'm so good at watching television.”