THE DIARY
It’s coming home. Football is, obviously, but so is Three Lions, its soundtrack.
“No lesbians were harmed in the making of this show,” says Denise Welch of her new role in upcoming series Different For Girls. Which is a relief.
“Normally lesbian and transgender characters are killed off in the first episode for some kind of male fantasy,” she adds. “This is normal lesbian life with normal people who happen to like girls.”
Thanks to England’s success, David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and the Lightning Seeds’ Euro 96 footie anthem is No.1 on itunes.
It also got more than 450,000 streams on Spotify in one day this week, and is inescapable on the internet.
Pranksters have mocked up Ross from Friends’ monkey Marcel playing it, Only Fools and Horses’ Del Boy phoning it through to Gareth Southgate and Russian President Vladimir Putin playing it on piano.
Pressed for a favourite, David insists: “I like them all.”
Even Frank is feeling love for the track again. He says: “I went quite a while thinking ‘Urgh,
God, they’re playing Three Lions’. This year, maybe it’s age or impending doom, I’ve started to get quite emotional with it.” A quarter of songwriting royalties probably helps... He adds: “I’ve got it into my head we’re going to win.”
But David, who saw Tuesday’s match with pal Frank, says: “I don’t know if football is coming home. Yet. But I believe, deep breath, it’s all right to hope it might be.”
Amazon’s Alexa is less positive. Asked if it’s coming home, the virtual assistant replies: “I hope it doesn’t go to penalties again. My circuits can’t take the stress.”
The track, which was No.1 again with updated lyrics during the 1998 World Cup, enters the Top 40 again today.