I don’t think I’ve ever been in a production where things have not gone wrong
You’ve done musicals, film, television and audiobooks during your career. How did your comedy play On The Ceiling become a hit in Barcelona?
IT started in Birmingham, went to the West End and we put it on radio. People I known in Barcelona did a translation in Catalan and the production is still on there now.
It’s about two men working on the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo. He fires them for mucking about while painting the chapel and they come back to chip off the bits they did.
You played hippie Neil in The Young Ones in the 1980s. Do people still shout Neil after you?
(LAUGHS) Every day. It’s incredible. The Young Ones made such an impact, but at the time it didn’t even have a million people watching. It’s become international as well in Englishspeaking countries like America, Australia... The translator I worked with in Barcelona was saying The Young Ones is really big in Barcelona, they are still airing it, and they really love it.
I was doing a TV programme there and the guy introducing it asked the audience to put up their hands if they were called Neil after the character. Neil is not a very Spanish name but 10 hands went up... and someone held up a baby. So right now in Catalonia there are people named Neil after The Young Ones.
DAVID Walliams’ Grandpa’s Great Escape Live is at Arena Birmingham on December 23, 24 and 26.
BAKER’S BIRTHDAY BASH
MATHEMATICIAN turned World Slam Poetry Champion Harry Baker, right, is set to embark on his debut solo tour with his spoken word comedy show I Am 10,000.
He will be touring the UK from February and celebrating the fact he is 10,000 days old.