Anintelligent,openlygayman, awarveteran,iseverything thecurrentUSpresidentisn’t.. Ican’twaittoseethatorange orangutandebatewithhim
I’m A Celebrity has restored the entertainer to our screens and, like his career, he believes that things are on the up
80s and 90s, he starred in musicals like Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard before becoming a children’s show presenter on Live & Kicking and acting in US series Central Park West. With TV work drying up, John returned to theatre before bursting back on to screens as Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who, opposite David Tennant, and the show’s spin-off Torchwood as the lead. During those years between 2005 and 2011, John became one of the most bankable stars on British TV. He returned to his theatre roots judging BBC reality shows How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, landed a role in Desperate Housewives and presented Saturday night variety TV series Tonight’s the Night.
Then there was a change at the top of the Beeb, with Torchwood and Tonight’s The Night cancelled in 2011. John’s run on British TV seemed over.
Instead, he got a job on superhero US TV series Arrow as baddie Malcolm Merlyn.
He went on I’m A Celeb after a woman complained about “crude” jokes during panto Dick Whittington in Manchester, where he was starring with the Krankies.
He said: “Janette and I had been doing the joke for years and no one said anything. This person got offended.
“The panto bosses didn’t ask me back so I thought, ‘Well I’m going to do something else and I’m a Celeb came up.’”
His time there has reminded people just why John is TV gold.
He said: “I am not talentless and I knew I could always do theatre and did panto. I’m not someone who will sit round and wait and I credit that to the work ethic I got from my Glasgow family.”
Since I’m a Celeb, John has presented All Star Musicals, filmed a pilot with Brooke Shields and directed by Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria – which they hope will be made into a series – will be a guest on another superhero show and is hopeful he and campmate Emily Atack will team up for a TV series. Which is why his Fabulous tour can run for only 13 dates, including Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on June 18 and Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on June 19. He said: “I need to be available if the Eva series gets picked up. If the Emily one gets picked up too it’ll mean me flying back and forth from America. “Bring back Concorde. It would be a lot easier.” ●For tickets, go to www. cuffeandtaylor. com