'Everyone is up for it'

Paddy McGuinness revived speculation  Phoenix Nights could be making a comeback after almost 20 years.

The Take Me Out host said that everyone involved in the Channel 4 comedy was ready to bring it back, saying: ‘There's always talk about doing another one.

‘It's just time, it's just getting everyone together. But everyone is up for it.’

Such is the anticipation over a possible new series that McGuinness’s cautious, non-committal comments made the front page splash of today’s Daily Star.

Creator Peter Kay has previously said that scripts had been written for a third series.  But he has been almost entirely absent from the public eye since cancelling a major tour due to unforeseen family circumstances in 2017. 

Kay wrote the series with Neil Fitzmaurice and Dave Spikey, as well as playing working men’s club owner Brian Potter and doorman Max alongside McGuinness’s character, also called Paddy.

The show ran for two series in 2001 and 2002 and featured a number of comedians from the circuit, including Justin Moorhouse, Janice Connolly and Toby Foster.

The cast made a brief return in 2015 for a run of five nights at the Manchester Arena to raise money for Comic Relief.

And a series of cinema-style screenings at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith and the O2 Apollo in Manchester early next month in aid of Cancer Research.

Published: 11 Nov 2019