Neil Simpson - Paul OGrady--The Biography: The Biography

Chapter Thirteen: Back in Business

INTRODUCTION

I t is easy to miss the car with the dark windows as it heads west from Tower Bridge towards the London Eye. Its easy to ignore it as it snakes along the roads beside the Thames and pulls up alongside The London Studios, the high rise building that was once called the LWT Tower. At first glance it can be equally easy to overlook the tall, thin and ordinary-looking figure that pulls himself out of the back seat. But if you are close enough to hear the rasping Liverpool accent as the passenger shares a final joke with his driver then there is no mistaking his identity. Paul OGrady has arrived at work. And in many ways it feels as if he is coming home.

Paul always smiles as he darts from the car to the studio door. It was in the vast studios of the south bank that a star-struck Paul first watched his showbusiness heroes and heroines perform. It was in the same studios that he would ultimately join the entertainment elite as Lily Savage. Today it is where he can finally be himself as the host of the award-winning The Paul OGrady Show. It is impossible to relax completely with an hour of live television to film. But for Paul there is nowhere on earth he would rather be.

It helps that he has so many old friends amongst his colleagues. And that so many of the same faces keep turning up in his audience. Andy Collins, his long-standing warm-up man, is normally the first to recognise the regulars. Andys job is to make sure the audience is relaxed, happy and ready for the main event. It has to be one of the easiest jobs in television because Pauls audiences are always desperate to see the star.

Okay, everyone. Hes going to be here in a minute. Are we ready for him? Thats what Andy normally shouts out after joking with the fans as the black-clad production staff rush around the set making sure everything is ready for the broadcast. A huge cheer always tells Andy that hes got nothing to worry about. On the other side of the plywood set Paul stands and soaks up the atmosphere. He takes a deep breath as the make-up artist does her final checks on his face and hair. Its almost 5pm and Britains favourite teatime television show is about to go live.

Its time to go crazy. Knock yourselves out and have fun! yells Andy as the theme tune begins to play. But the audience hardly needs reminding. Two hundred excited and noisy people are sitting ten deep in the studio. Andy has had everyone in tears of laughter from the moment the doors opened 20 minutes earlier. But its Paul the fans have really come to see.

The cheering begins again as soon as the opening credits appear on the twelve main television screens suspended from the studio gantries. The foot stamping starts when the days guests are announced and the theme music fades. And people really do seem ready to knock themselves out when Paul finally appears at the doorway to his set.

Taller, thinner and perhaps a little greyer than many first-timer audience members might expect, Paul looks up at the ten rows of seats, mouth open wide in a huge smile. He stretches his arms out to soak in the welcome, takes a bow and tries to be heard above the racket. Two minutes ago Andy had been worrying that the fans might be too quiet. Now he is behind the cameras trying to calm everyone down.

Insiders say that Channel 4s The Paul OGrady Show has been a television phenomenon and not just because of the millions of viewers who watch it at home. An extraordinary hardcore of fans try to be at as many recordings as possible, often arriving at the studios up to two hours before the advertised start time to ensure they get a good seat. For the shows that are pre-recorded just after lunch for one of the following afternoons, some three-dozen fans are often turned away when the studio reaches its capacity. For the live shows as many as 100 fans can be turned away.

The first time I came the ticket said: Doors open at 4.30pm, so that was when I arrived, says Paul OGrady super-fan Carole Roberts who first started turning up when the show was filmed at the BBC studios in West London. I didnt get in and realised that thats actually the time you need to be through security and safely inside the centre. When I got my next ticket I arrived an hour before the Doors Open time and I was still among the last people to make it in.

Carole and her fellow fans have now graduated to the yellow-tagged priority tickets, which can attract fierce bidding wars when they become available on internet sites such as ebay. And as often as possible she joins the surprisingly diverse audiences who want to see Paul perform in the flesh. Groups of middle aged women dominate but they are joined by beautiful twenty-something women with flawless make-up, flash City boys with Louis Vuitton briefcases, hip-looking students out for a good time and pensioners just wanting a laugh in the afternoon.

We come because Paul is just such a fantastic entertainer, says Essex-based Jean Lewis, who regularly spends nearly two hours getting to the studios. Hes funnier and more relaxed off camera than he is when hes being filmed. There are no airs and graces about him and hes always ready to tell jokes at his own expense. Jean says some of the funniest stories are told during the commercial breaks when Pauls microphone is still turned on. Then he talks about whats in the news, what he did the previous day, whatever comes into his heard first. She says Paul is always happy to laugh away with the audience while his production team fuss around moving the props, touching up his make-up and preparing for the next part of the show.

On or off camera it is the brilliant anecdotes about his life and the endless stream of trenchant opinions on the world in general that keep Pauls fans coming back for more. They are also the reason why Channel 4 was so keen to win the show from ITV back in 2006 and why it is so important to its schedules for 2008 and beyond.

But for all those anecdotes and observations, the real story of Pauls incredible life has never really been told. Millions of fans have heard plenty of stories and gathered many nuggets of information. But the full picture is only now coming together and its as astonishing as the man himself. Friends and confidants say that the Paul OGrady that the fans dont really know is the one who sat open-mouthed as a boy at some of the wildest parties that Birkenhead had ever seen. The one who ran wild and enjoyed lemonade cider as a child in Ireland. The one who won prizes for boxing and partied harder than any of his friends when they left school and had some spare cash in their pockets. Those in his inner circle talk of Paul OGrady the traveller, the carer, the father, the husband, the lover.

Then theres the Paul OGrady who was nearly sick with fear before he first went on stage in a rough south London bar a thousand midnights ago. The Paul who worked so hard and struggled for so long before proving himself as a full-time entertainer. The one who broke down so many barriers and faced so many refusals as he tried to make it into the mainstream. The chain-smoking clubber who has ended up as a modern-day country squire. Today Paul is both a godfather and a grandfather. But he is also something more. Far from the media glare, Paul is also one of the most loyal and protective friends anyone could have. Former Holby City actress Amanda Mealing has known Paul for more than 20 years and has valued every moment. He has always looked out for me, always been very protective of me. Hes been consistent and hes been loyal, which is pretty rare for people in this business. He is the one who is always there at two oclock in the morning when I need someone to talk to. Thats what makes a true friend, she says proudly.