All aboard f

The pop producer’s latest TV show canal tour of Britain. He talks can into the water… and out with his f

CRUISING the country’s most historic and picturesque canals with some top-grade celebrity talent sounds like the ideal escape from the hurly-burly of modern life. But Pete Waterman admits the tension between him and the other stars of Celebrity Britain by Barge was palpable.

Not that he’s complaining. In fact, he is unsurprised he found himself occasionally – and entertainingly – at odds with fellow narrowboat stars Jennie Bond, Anne Diamond and Bill Oddie during filming of the Channel 5 show.

“I was brought up in a tough working class environment and, blimey, there’s a big difference between the three of them and me,” admits Pete.

“There was lots of tension between us because I’ve always had to work things out for myself.

“I had a very different opinion on some of the issues that cropped up because they are all university graduates and I left school at 14 – that comes across.

“My school was alongside a canal although I’d never been on a narrowboat until I did the show.

“But as a kid I saw them every day. I went to school with barge kids and like them I couldn’t read a book. I could easily have been working on a narrowboat.

“These kids were tough and, when I mean tough, I mean tough. You didn’t cheat these kids because they didn’t suffer fools gladly.

“They were brought up in a harsh environment where they used their hands for everything. If they hit you, you knew about it.

“Bill, Anne and Jennie found out these kids used to make pegs for money when they weren’t at school and they had no toilet or washing facilities, which makes me look upper-class by comparison!”

Barging with Bill in particular proved a liability, claims Pete, although he was seen last night by viewers falling into the canal. “I had to watch Bill all the time because he really didn’t know his right hand from his left. I had to watch out for my shipmate falling in,” he says.

“Mind you he wasn’t that fell in – it was me!”

Tthe one

HE unfortunate accident happened during the stars’ first week in Scotland. Pete slipped on an icy jetty and faced the unwelcome prospect of either falling in, or risking being crushed by the boat. “So I figured jumping in the canal was probably better than being crushed,” he chortles.

“Everybody was worrying that I’d got some sort of disease from falling in but I’ve swum in canals that were in a far worse state than they are today. My major concern was getting my wet clothes off and being warm again.”

The show features its stars visiting places of interest, by canal naturally, then discussing their merits and history.

One preview claimed there were “no mishaps, disputes or outsize egos”, which Pete finds hilarious.

“Have they been watching the same show that I’ve been i because I fall out with Bill all th time,” he laughs.

“We’ve already had difference over the subject of Saltaire, Victorian model village located i Shipley, built in 1851 by Sir Titu Salt, a leading industrialist.

“Bill likened him to Donal Trump. It outraged me he coul compare somebody who too workers’ rights so seriously – an gave them houses and better work ing conditions – as being th Donald Trump of that era.

“We also didn’t agree over HS2 Bill just doesn’t see any need for