Jason snubs Ice show for Call Midwife
Telly legend Derek Fowlds, star of Basil Brush, Yes, Prime Minister & Heartbeat dies at the age of 82
Jason Gardiner
FORMER Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner has had a fresh dig at the show – saying he prefers watching Call The Midwife on Sunday nights.
He made the remarks at the opening night of his new one-man show, In The Closet, in London, on Thursday night.
He said in a song: “Dancing on Ice? What do I do instead, watch Call the Midwife.
“And now I’m free. I’m available for bar mitzvahs and funerals.”
The 48-year-old Australian joined Dancing On Ice in 2006 and left ahead of the current series.
Talking about the show’s impact, he said: “We did not know it would go on to capture the heart of the nation.”
BELOVED Yes Minister and Basil Brush star Derek Fowlds has died at the age of 82.
Fowlds found fame as Brush’s sidekick, Mr Derek, in the late 1960s.
Yet he was best known for his role as put-upon private secretary Bernard Woolley in the BBC political comedy and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister.
He then became a fixture in Heartbeat, playing Oscar Blaketon for the ITV police drama’s entire 18-year run.
His career spanned six decades, but in his 2015 autobiography, A Part Worth Playing, Fowlds revealed he never thought he would be a paid performer.
Instead he acted “for kicks” as a child and “enjoyed mucking about on stage”.
The star recalled: “Growing up the thought of acting as a living never crossed my mind. I wanted to be a footballer or sportsman.”
Then a blunder in his first play, where he got his sword stuck up an actor’s skirt, brought the house down and he was hooked for life.
“I heard the sound of audience laughter for the first time in my life,” he wrote, “and I was just knocked out.”