Nigel Havers tells
SHERNA NOAH about new TV series The Bidding Room and why he would never sign on the dotted line for another reality show
THE Bidding Room, with Nigel Havers as host, is an antiques show with a difference. The public bring in some very unusual objects, from a vintage hairdressing contraption to a movie prop, to woo the experts at an emporium in West Yorkshire.
Dealers bid against each other to snap-up the treasures on the daytime, BBC1 series.
An 11-year-old who hopes to sell a scooter and grandparents who want to raise cash to help their grandchildren through university are among those who walk through the doors.
Here, former Coronation Street star Nigel, 68 – who will guide the sellers through the process – tells us more.
What made you want to join The Bidding Room?
I REALLY liked the idea of it, meeting people with possessions that they want to sell. It’s feel-good and amusing and good, easy watching. It’s a good time to come on telly. What really intrigued me is who came through the door. We have no idea who they are or what they’ve got, so it’s an adventure every time.
Were you tempted to sell any of your own possessions?
MY wife takes me around our house and she says, ‘You can sell that, that, that!’ But when I did the pilot I came back with a whole load of stuff because I said to the dealers, ‘I’ll have that if you don’t want it’.
My wife said: ‘If you do that again I’ll scream!’, so I was very disciplined – I was very tempted to buy lots of things I didn’t.
Do you collect things?
I WILL go to an antiques shop and go mad. What you’ve bought over the years makes a home – it’s important to have your taste or stamp on a room.
I have a collection of stuffed fish (from the late 19th century).
I know it sounds a bit odd. But they’ve gone up a great deal in value and I have about 30.
They’re on the kitchen wall. They look fantastic actually... well to me they do!
How do you interact with the sellers?
I WANT to be very kind to people. I want to guide them through the whole day.
I can’t bear TV when people are nasty. I hate that. I think that probably has gone out of fashion.
I think even Simon Cowell has got a bit nicer!
How are you coping with lockdown?
THERE’S nothing we can
How have you survived the entertainment industry for so long?
I PRETTY much do everything I’m asked to do and most of the things I’m asked to do I really like. So I’ve been very lucky.
Being in the right place at the right time also has a lot to do with it.
You famously walked out of I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2010. Would you do Strictly?
I DIDN’T like I’m A Celebrity. If I’d stayed any longer I might have killed an ex-politician... (Lembit Opik) so it was best to leave.
My wife said, ‘If you ever do one of those sort of programmes again I’ll kill you!’ So I’ve never mentioned another reality show again.
I’ve no burning desire to do any.
How do you feel about getting older?
I’M at an age I can just do what I want to do. I don’t have to pretend to be anything other than what I am. The only good thing about being old is you can do what you want, pretty much, as long as you’re not hurting anybody.
I just eat carefully, don’t drink too much and be sensible.
A ‘nip and tuck’ is fine if other people want to do that. It’s just I think I’d be laughed at.
My wife would laugh at me.
■ The Bidding Room starts on BBC1 on Monday, at 3.45pm.