Peter Kay and Paddy McGuinness writing together again
Paddy McGuinness has revealed that he is working on a new project with Peter Kay. Few details are currently known, however it was confirmed the duo have written something new together.
Appearing on ITV show This Morning to promote the new series of dating format Take Me Out, Paddy McGuinness confirmed the news at the end of his interview, after co-host Phillip Schofield announced they had 30 seconds left.
The discussion started when Schofield asked "Are you going back with Peter Kay - is there a plan?"
McGuinness, dodging the subject, replied: "Well, you've only got 30 seconds, so we could start this off and then you'll go 'sorry, that's all'... and someone at home will go 'but, Phillip we wanted to hear that, but no, we've got to go to Gino in the kitchen'".
However the host pressed the topic, asking again: "Are you back together?", to which McGuinness replied "We are thinking about it, but there's no plans at the moment."
Holly Willoughby, who was presenting the show alongside Schofield, followed up with: "Have you written something?", to which McGuinness replied in a tentative manner "We have written something."
Willoughby commented: "That's pretty good going", to which the Take Me Out host said "It is, it is", before changing the subject to comment on the microphone, at which point the programme ran out of time and the presenters wrapped up.
No other details are currently known about the project, although the interview suggests that, whatever the script is, it is at an early stage of development.
Paddy McGuinness and Peter Kay have known each other since childhood, both having grown up in Bolton.
McGuinness became known to the public in Phoenix Nights (pictured), the 2001 to 2002 Channel 4 sitcom set in a northern social club. He was invited by Kay to play Paddy - one of the club bouncers - with Kay playing Max, the other doorman.
The characters proved popular, and in 2004 the pair wrote and starred in their own spin-off sitcom, Max And Paddy's Road To Nowhere. The show only lasted one series, however the duo did also produce a fitness DVD as the characters.
It has now been 12 years since the last series of Phoenix Nights was broadcast. The sitcom was written by Kay, Neil Fitzmaurice and Dave Spikey, with McGuinness providing extra material. Kay fell out with both Spikey and later Fitzmaurice after the show finished, but their relationships have since been repaired. Talking to BCG in 2011, Dave Spikey said: "That 'break-up' was massively blown up by the media... we did have a bit of a fallout, but it was something and nothing in a way. You know, when you're working together with people in close proximity you do have these big arguments no matter where you work."
In December 2012 Channel 4 interview, Kay, referring to his character Brian Potter, said: "I love that character, and I would love to go back and do him again. I would love to do more. I just didn't want the quality to wane and I had done two series back-to-back.
"Over the years I keep writing things down. I wrote something the other week - Brian books [the band] the Drifters, Jerry books the Drifters, someone else books the Drifters. There are 12 Drifters in the club, because there is always loads of Drifters... and four of them are in turbans. They are like 'what are we going to do with all these?'"
Malachy's Millions, a one-off comedy drama about the rich owner of a coach company written by and starring Peter Kay, is coming soon to Channel 4.
Meanwhile, Kay will also star in a new comedy series for the BBC. Car Share, created by Tim Reid and Paul Coleman, will see the comedian play John, a man who is thrown together with a lady called Kayleigh via a company car pool scheme.
In the below clip from Max & Paddy the doormen go clubbing: