78p fee Barlow the belt

GARY’S HEARTBLEAT!

GARY Barlow made a whopping 78p in acting royalties this year due to his brief stint in ITV drama Heartbeat.

During his barren pop days, Gaz made a guest appearance on the ITV 60s-set cop show as hitchhiker Micky Shannon who gets into a spot of bother.

Recalling that eye-watering 2000 performance, Gary said: “Oh f***ing hell! I swear that thing will not leave me. It’s funny, when it gets repeated on something like Gold I get a cheque.

“And I got one this year for 78p, so it wasn’t even a financial decision!

“It was just one of the worst things I’ve ever done, it really was.”

His acting was part of Heartbeat celebrating its 150th episode and was six years before Take That reformed.

These days Gary is only focused on music, and after last year’s orchestral solo album Music Played By Humans he might be going in the opposite direction with something more electronic.

Gary is, perhaps surprisingly, a fan of Depeche Mode and their hit Just Can’t Get Enough inspired him to be a pop star.

He explained: “Once I saw that on Top Of The Pops I wanted a keyboard.

“My music has never really reflected my passion for synthesizers, I do it as a hobby on the side, but who knows in the future?”

It could come sooner, fans think, as Gaz has held meetings with Depeche Mode and Erasure founder Vince Clarke. Gaz told Music Week: “He’s got a synth museum in his basement and, Christ, I was there all afternoon. We had a bloody ball!”