Paul O’Grady’s unwavering commitment to showbusiness across more than four decades is what has given him national treasure status. He’s the ultimate shapeshifter who can adapt from stage to screen to radio seamlessly, but he wasn’t always comfortable playing Paul O’Grady.
Having jump-started his career as the illustrious Drag Queen, Lily Savage, he’s perhaps most known today for his television and radio broadcasts. Paul first starred as himself in an ITV travel show Paul O'Grady's Orient in 2000, but the 67-year-old admitted it wasn’t an easy start after hiding behind the mask of Lily for two decades.
“I said to my partner and manager at the time [Brendan Murphy], who’s no longer with us, that I didn’t know what to do. He said ‘be yourself’. I didn’t know what ‘myself’ was, I’d always been hidden by Lily Savage.
Read more: Paul O'Grady announced as star in Annie the musical at Bristol Hippodrome - how to get tickets
“It took me a while to adjust to playing a character to being myself, because then it’s my opinion, it’s not Lily Savage’s opinion. What I said was what I meant,” Paul explained.
Paul’s presenting career oscillated from travel series to chat show host meeting great success with Blankety Blank, The Paul O’Grady Show and more recently For The Love of Dogs. His on-stage performances never stalled, however, coming to Bristol in 2003 for Snow White & the Seven Dwarves, and he became so enamoured with Clifton in particular that he almost moved to the city.
“I had a fabulous flat in Clifton. It was underneath a hotel in Clifton in what they called the suites. The ceiling was falling in but it had a wonderful garden that overlooked the bridge.”
He continued: “I got so fond of Clifton I considered moving there. I said to Carol Vorderman I can see why she likes it. Bristol’s lovely. I’ve worked a lot there in the clubs before I did theatre, so I’m really familiar with it.”
Now he’s returning to Bristol to a role he first played back in the 1990s for a run of shows in the 2023 UK tour of Annie the musical. Paul joked about being plied with whisky by his producer before accepting the role of Miss Hannigan when he made the announcement on his Instagram page, but in reality, he didn’t take much convincing.
“He was saying how he’d seen me as Miss Hannigan years ago. It was 1998 and I’m easily led, me, that’s the problem. So I said I’d do a few dates - I wouldn’t want to do the whole tour but seven weeks is just lovely.”
The famous musical that first came to the West End in 1978 features hits like ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘It’s a Hard Knock Life’. Paul remembered one of the role’s big numbers ‘East Street’ “nearly killed” him in 1998. “God knows what it’s going to do to me now,” he laughed. It’s also tough work for the children who make up most of the ensemble, but Paul said they all take it in their stride.
“The kids are great fun and so professional. I know they say never work with kids and animals but it’s all I seem to do,” he joked.
He’s also looking forward to returning to Bristol Hippodrome, not only to step back on the city’s historic stage but to see if the chip shop he visited every day back in 2003 is still there. “I’ve picked my venues carefully, the ones I like,” he laughed.
Having been on our stages, screens and airwaves for so long, Paul decided to end his BBC Radio 2 show Paul O'Grady on the Wireless this summer. He confirmed on his Instagram page that he “wasn’t happy” about sharing the 13-week alternate schedule with Rob Beckett at the time, so hung up his headphones after 14 years of broadcasting with producer Malcolm Prince.
He admitted it’s strange not having his Sunday show and still gets approached by his former radio listeners who miss him being a part of their weekends. “I do miss it though, to tell you the truth. It was really good fun to do together, me and Malcolm.”
His on-screen work shows no signs of stopping, with Paul heading out to Thailand to film with elephants for a new series. There will also be a Christmas edition of Paul O’Grady: For The Love of Dogs in which he’ll appear alongside Camilla Parker Bowles, The Queen Consort.
Speaking about Camilla, he said: “I don’t know what her title is I’ll have to ask her when I next see her. I’ve always called her Camilla, I get on really well with her, she’s patron of Battersea, so she comes down quite a lot. She’s always very easy to get along with and she’s great with people. I think she’s what the Royals need actually.”
On top of this, Paul has recently released the second instalment of Eddie Albart and the Amazing Animal Gang, a children’s book series that incorporates his love of animals. His home in Kent is packed with dogs, pigs, sheep, chickens, goats and even alpacas.
“I wanted to show children that animals have feelings. They feel lonely, unhappy, happy, sick - they have all of the emotions we have. So that’s why I made them talk. Basically, you write for humans but it’s actually a hamster. The hamster in my book has been in the RAF so it all gets very tricky,” he joked.
“I can only write when the house is quiet and the dogs are asleep. You find yourself at three o’clock in the morning fretting over dialogue for a crow or a hamster, you want to get it right.”
Is there anything Paul O’Grady hasn’t done that he’d like to do? “I don’t think there is,” he said after a pause. “I’m not very ambitious, I drift in and out of things.”
Paul O’Grady comes to Bristol Hippodrome for Annie on November 20-25, 2023. Tickets are available to purchase here
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