He and Peter Kay have written scripts for their Phoenix Nights characters

Paddy McGuinness has hinted that he and Peter Kay could return to playing Phoenix Nights doormen Max And Paddy, saying: ‘We do talk about it… never say never.’

The comic and presenter said there were even a couple of scripts for Christmas specials of their spin-off Road To Nowhere that could be shot.

But appearing on Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp this morning, McGuinness admitted he was ‘inherently lazy’ and likes ‘doing as little as possible for as much money as possible"’

He said: ‘The interesting thing about Max and Paddy, and Phoenix Nights is now, we are kind of all of an age of the people we played back then.

‘We do talk about it and what have you, but I can't see it at the minute

‘But we never say never, and it's good to talk. Like Max and Paddy, for instance, we wrote a couple of Christmas specials, and we’ve still got them. We never got around to doing on for whatever reason back in the day. But we've actually got them.

When co-host Sian Welby asked: ‘They're written?’ McGuinness said ‘yes’ but when it was suggested people could start campaigning for Max And Paddy’s return, he added: ‘These days, I'm inherently lazy. So I like doing as little as possible for as much money as possible.

‘If you're doing a scripted comedy show, it does take a long time. So to do something like [this], you have literally got to blank out 12 months of your life.

‘He [Kay] is on tour. I've got all kinds of stuff going on, and it’s just sort of going "right, let's get together. Let's get our diaries together. And let's blank out for that time"’

When Welby raised the suggestion ‘for argument's sake if we were to get thousands of texts coming in pleading for the Christmas special…’ McGuinness cut her off by responding: ‘Won't make a blind bit of difference.’

Just six episodes of Road To Nowhere aired on Channel 4 in November and December 2004, following the exploits of Maxwell ‘Max’ Bygraves (Kay) and Patrick ‘Paddy’ O’Shea who became fugitives when a Phoenix Club customer threatened to have them killed by hitmen.

•  Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp is on air weekdays from 6am to 10am across the UK and on Global Player. 

Published: 28 Mar 2023